Jicarilla Fishing Blog

Fishing Report 5/4/2010

            The Jicarilla Fishing Lakes are lonely and need some attention. Angler pressure has been very low so far this season and therefore we are lacking in fishing reports to share. The weather has been the primary culprit, and again on Sunday we saw snow showers and cold gusty winds. Spring run-off is completely over for the year and the lakes are steadily clearing up. Stone Lake is ahead of the others and has excellent visibility right now. Mundo Lake is getting better with 2-3 feet of visibility, and Enbom is lagging behind with only 1-2 feet of visibility. The few fishing reports that we have received suggest that fishing is slow across the board at the Jicarilla Lakes. Spring trout stocking is almost complete for the year, and all three of the fishing lakes have been stocked.  

            Mundo Lake is clearing up nicely and has recently stopped overflowing. Most of the fishing pressure has been from bait anglers targeting trout and whether fishing the top or bottom it has been slow. I have not received any reports from anglers targeting Bass or Catfish.

            Stone Lake has been devoid of anglers lately. A few locals have been casting lures here and there but as far as I know, they are not catching fish. The typical spring cruisers are not around which is not that surprising considering that this year is anything but typical. Usually the Chironomidae midges would be hatching by the millions already, but so far there have only been a few coming off in the mornings. The water is very clear with 6- 8 feet of visibility and the surface water temp is hovering around 55 degrees.

            Enbom Lake is still quite turbid with 1-2 feet of visibility. There were a few reports this week from anglers using bait and lures. The bite on bait was very slow on powerbait, salmon eggs, and worms. Lures were also slow, and except for a few follow ups, action was nonexistent. I tried Enbom this morning with a brown woolly bugger and a slow retrieve. I fished for 30 minutes without so much as a bump.

            Things are bound to turn around any day now. I hope to see you out there when it happens!

Kevin Terry

Fisheries Biologist

Jicarilla Apache Game and Fish Dept.

             

Fishing Report 4/28/2010

 

          Spring stocking on the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes is almost complete. We stocked another 50,000 6 inch Rainbows into Stone Lake yesterday (4/27) bringing this years total to 105,000 fish. Enbom Lake was stocked last week with 8,000 8” Rainbows and 500 14-16” Rainbows. Mundo Lake also received 15,000 8” Rainbows and 500 14-16” Rainbows last week. Dulce Lake was stocked with 3,000 6 inch Rainbows (4/27) and will be stocked with Channel Catfish in May. The mystery is still unraveling at Stone Lake where the water quality is in great shape with approximately 6-7 feet of visibility. Both Enbom Lake and Mundo Lake are still quite turbid with less than 2 feet of visibility, but they are clearing up daily, and should be fishing well by the weekend. Overall, fishing pressure has been way down so far at the Jicarilla Lakes. The muddy water and the uncertainty of over winter survival at Stone have made an impact for local anglers and out of towners alike.

          Stone Lake continues to give us problems. The gill nets have only captured one fish, which was a nice Bass. This is the case even after 55,000 fish were stocked last week. So far we have observed 2 large trout and 4-5 Bass near the shore at Stone which means that at least some fish made it through the winter. We have also observed plenty of dead salamanders and 4 fish carcasses. The fish finder sonar still feels that there are a lot of fish in Stone but they haven’t shown up in the nets, on the lines, or near the shore as is usually the case in the spring. I believe that we had a significant loss of fish over the unusually long winter, but I also believe that there are still quite a few holdovers and will soon be a crop of aggressive stockers fattening up and growing fast. The few attempts at fishing besides those by the Jicarilla Game and Fish Department have been dismal. However, there certainly hasn’t been a very significant effort to date. The water quality is fabulous with 6-8 feet of visibility and temperatures are in the mid 50’s. I plan on testing the sonar at Horse Lake later today to determine its accuracy in a lake that hasn’t been stocked since 2007. An update will follow, but I think it is time to give Stone a shot.

          Enbom Lake is still very turbid with less than a foot of visibility. The fish that were stocked last week should be on the bite by now and they will be hitting on leech patterns and dark colored woolly buggers. The roads at Enbom have dried out and the boat ramp is in working condition. I have not received a report yet, but expect there will be some after the weekend.

          Mundo Lake has finally stopped flowing and the parking lot is high and dry. Visibility is around 1-2 feet and it has been improving daily. There have been a few folks at Mundo primarily using bait and the bite for trout has been slow. Catfish have been caught with worms and powerbait, and a few trout are showing up here and there with lures and flies. Expect the action at Mundo to pick up as the water clears.

          Dulce Lake is back in the trout circuit in a minor way. Dulce Lake is in as good a shape as it has been since the dam work a decade ago. Therefore, we decided to give a couple thousand small trout a shot. These fish should be catchable in a couple of months and we will manage them as a seasonal fishery much like Enbom Lake. The water is clear and cold and they should do quite well for now. Dulce Lake will be stocked with catfish in May.

          Let’s make up for a slow April with a great start to May. I hope to see you out there and can’t wait to get the year’s first good report.

 

Kevin Terry

Fisheries Biologist

Jicarilla Game and Fish Department

    Fishing Update 4/22

    The news at Stone remains a mystery. We spent the better part of yesterday searching for trout and spot sampling with the gill nets. My sonar unit decided that this would be a perfect time to crap out, just as has the rest of the technology surrounding me including this ridiculously expensive and completely ornery lap top which has made it a challenge to get this out to you. Again today I went to stone after talking to computer techs forever, and looked for trout near shore where they usually hang this time of year. NADA. However, I still haven't found any legitimate evidence to prove that there was a kill event. I am not giving up the search until all of you are satisfied. I have to be in ABQ tomorrow for a meeting, but I am planning to fish Stone on Sunday. 
    The other lakes have pretty much topped out for the year and will be clearing up over the next few weeks. The Stocking plan that was detailed in Tuesdays (4/20) report went ahead as scheduled. The parking lot/emergency spillway at Mundo is drying out and there are just a few muddy areas left, so park in the dry spots. The turbidity has been keeping most of the local anglers away from Mundo and Enbom, so I really don't know how they are fishing. The canary in the coal mine fish that I put in a net pen overnight at Enbom to test survival did enjoy the company of enough leaches to creep me out so if I was there, I would use a brown or black wooly bugger or leech pattern. If any of you decide to try the Jicarilla Lakes this weekend, please call or email a report to me so I can pass it along to the rest of the folks who love to fish here. I am working to get you answers!!!!!!!

Kevin Terry 
Fisheries Biologist
Jicarilla Game and Fish Department 

Fishing Report 4/20/10

            This week’s report begins with a mystery which reveals a deep pessimistic instinct that I am fighting against even as I write this. The Mystery is; where are all of the fish in Stone Lake? The reason I ask this is because we set the annual Spring Gill Nets last night and came up with a big fat blank on both nets. There have been times when they only catch a few, or when one fishes better than the other, but never zilch in both (at least during my tenure). The positive news which explains the mystery aspect is that Rosenberg and myself spooked a 20 + inch beauty on the North Shore as we cruised along swapping ideas of what could explain the phenomenon. We have been observing dead salamanders around the lake since the ice started to break up, but to date we have not seen even a single fish carcass. When winterkill does happen, there is often some evidence, but not always. Another hopeful rational is that we had several reports of fish caught in early March. As I am sure you can tell, I am trying to stay positive and am hesitant to even mention the dreaded term “winterkill”, but I am also pretty freaked out. If it weren’t for the one fish I saw, I would be bald by now. I took the sighting as a sign and decided to fish the north shore for 2 hours. I didn’t even have a bump and neither did Rosenberg or 2 out of town anglers who threw their entire box in at least an hour more fishing than we did. Needless to say, we are dropping all other obligations and focusing our efforts on investigating this situation. To start, we will be out there with sonar tomorrow and will also spot sample with gill nets. If that doesn’t turn anything up we’ll hit it hard with the electrofisher. I know that there are a bunch of you out there waiting to hit Stone Lake, and I promise to keep you updated as I learn anything, be it good or bad. With that said, we will be stocking 55,000 6” Rainbows into Stone Lake today (4/20/10) and will be stocking an additional 50,000 6” Rainbows on Monday (4/26/10).

            Mundo Lake and Enbom Lake are scheduled to be stocked tomorrow (4/21/10) with the year’s first trophy load of 1,000 lbs of 14-16” Rainbows. However, we may decide to hold off on that stocking due to very muddy water conditions that may affect survival. We will be experimenting with fish in a net pen tonight to evaluate survival of stockers in these conditions. If the fish do well, we will go ahead with tomorrows load and will also stock a load of 8” Rainbows into both lakes on Thursday (4/22/10). The rough numbers for that stocking will be 8,000 fish into Enbom Lake and 15,000 fish into Mundo Lake.

            As for the actual fishing report, there has been very little pressure at any of the lakes. The torrential rain of Friday created a flash flood that deposited a lot of mud and silt into the already turbid Mundo Lake. The visibility is less than six inches now, and should improve daily if we don’t get another heavy shot of rain again. The only positive report is from anglers using worms to catch catfish at Mundo. The action was reported as good with the average fish in the 13” range. I understand that this report leaves a lot of uncertainty. Therefore, I will be posting an update on Thursday (4/22/10) on the website www.jicarillahunt.com. Stay positive and keep your fingers crossed.

 

Kevin Terry

Fisheries Biologist

Jicarilla Game and Fish Department

Fishing Report 4-12-10

            Jimmy Houston; we have ICE OFF!!!!! As of today (4-12-10), all three of the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes are completely ice free. The water is still running and very murky, but we have open water at last. The t-shirt weather that we had over the weekend was the coup de grais for what seemed like an eternal winter. I still haven’t received any reports, but I am sure to generate one myself by the next fishing report. I am also sure that some of you will beat me to it, since I will be attending training for the majority of this week. Please send in reports and pictures so that we can all get a good start this season.

            Mundo Lake is extremely turbid with less than one foot of visibility. Mundo is also spilling over and the emergency spillway better known as the parking lot is inundated and at the verge of serving its function. The main feeder stream is just a trickle compared to last week, so I don’t expect things to get much higher. With that said, you should expect murky water to persist for at least a couple more weeks. If you are planning to fish Mundo, there are several spots near the spillway with good parking spots as well as parking area at the pullout off of j-8. The main boat ramp is inaccessible for the time being. A small boat can still be launched at the auxiliary boat ramp located at the northeast side of the lake. Please use caution with the mud at this ramp and beware that this is a shallow launch suitable for small lightweight boats only.

            Stone Lake is still capturing good amounts of water from its main feeder. This tributary is called Elk Stream and it enters the lake at the northeast corner where it will cause clarity issues for several weeks to come. However, the water in the southwest bay and along the west side of the lake is decent with 2-4 feet of visibility. The North Shore and Manghani point also have decent visibility (1-3 feet) and are known as hotspots for spring fishing form the shoreline. I did not see any of the cruisers that typically frequent these areas in April when the Rainbows go through their spawning cycle and behavior. I did observe active water boatmen and chironomidae larvae near the shore but did not see any aquatic insects hatching yet. With the clarity issues and spawning fish I recommend using bright colors this week. Common fly patterns for the spring include eggs, egg-sucking leeches, wollybuggers, and salamander patterns. Lure anglers often use big bright colored spoons and spinners as well as flies with water bubbles. The roads are in good shape at Stone Lake, but beware of mud holes here and there. The primary boat ramp at Stone Lake is located on Manghani Point on the east side of the lake and is fully functional at this time.

            Enbom Lake has not been stocked yet this year and is not expected to have any overwinter survival. The first stocking is scheduled for next week. Exact dates and sizes will be reported in the next Fishing Report. Open water is here at long last and the Jicarilla Game and Fish Department is excited for a great fishing year. Please pick up the 2010-11 Non-Tribal Fishing Proclamation when you get your new Jicarilla Fishing Permit or download it from our website www.jicarillahunt.com. Be aware of the fishing regulations and please respect the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes. I will see you all out there.

Kevin Terry

Fisheries Biologist

Jicarilla Game and Fish    

Fishing Report 4/6/2010

            Things are looking up at the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes. The ice is beginning to recede, but approximately 65-80% ice cover remains at the three fishing lakes. Mundo Lake and Enbom Lake are both at capacity already and they will continue to spill over for some time to come. Stone Lake is also receiving a lot of water via its main feeder stream Elk Creek. There is plenty of room for water in Stone, so I don’t expect it to spill over, but we stand to be in good shape when all is said and done. As for fishing, I don’t recommend traveling too far as the available open water is limited and the clarity is very poor with less than 1 foot of visibility in most places. The roads are in decent shape but there are muddy spots here and there that require 4wd and aggressive tires. There is still plenty of snow around, especially on the north slopes, so we can expect the mud season to last awhile this year. Yesterday, we had very strong winds out of the Southwest and consequently there is a deposit of fine dust on the snow. This dust will increase the melting rate of the snow and with the predicted good weather there is a slight chance that we will be ice free by the week’s end. Technically, the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes are now open for fishing from the shore or float tube and possibly from a small boat.

            Mundo Lake is very turbid with a visibility of 1 foot. The water is approximately 45°F and the ice is cover is approximately 80% of the lake. There is a ring of open water surrounding the ice and it is 40 feet at the widest. The Southeast area near the big snag has more open water and the willows in that area are inundated. The main parking area which happens to be the emergency spillway is shrinking in size by the day. If you decide to try Mundo this week do not park close to the water’s edge and keep an eye on rising water levels in the afternoon.

            Stone Lake is approximately 65-70% ice and the water temp is variable from 40-45°F. The Southwest cove has the most open water and best visibility. The South Boat launch is ice free with a little bit of open water to fish. The Northeast corner where Elk Stream flows in is also open water. However, this area has the color of chocolate milk and will probably not fish very well. If you absolutely must get out there this weekend I recommend fishing the open water sections in the SW cove and the West shoreline.

            Enbom Lake has not been stocked for the season and we do not expect any over winter survival there. For those of you that frequent the website, I will post a brief update on Thursday afternoon. I can’t wait either.

Kevin Terry

Fisheries Biologist

 

 

Fishing Report 3/29/2010

The Jicarilla Fishing Lakes remain closed this week due to unsafe ice conditions. There hasn’t been a lot of change over the past week, but all of a sudden today there is some hopeful news. At 4:30 pm I observed substantial runoff entering Mundo Lake, and there is some evidence of the ice slab thinning and lifting to compensate for the influx of water. Also, Stone Lake is beginning to break up on the north shore, where there is approximately 10 feet of open water. These are the first positive signs of spring runoff in a year that is anything but usual. Barring any more snow storms and cold snaps we should be on our way to open water fishing. At this point I would estimate complete ice off to be at least 2 weeks away. However, I will continue to watch the progress and report any substantial changes as they occur on the www.jicarillahunt.com website.

Kevin Terry

Fisheries Biologist     

Fishing Report 3/23/10

            The Jicarilla Lakes are still Closed to fishing due to unsafe ice conditions. There has been some pretty warm weather lately, but the ice and snow pack are holding out surprisingly well. I have been expecting Elk Creek (Stone Lake Feeder Stream) to break free for the past week, but it is still under snow where it comes into Stone at the NE corner. The same goes for Mundo Lake which is still locked up pretty tight. The forecast for tomorrow is for small amounts of snow but we might get some rain. If such is the case, maybe things will start to break up. I am as excited as all of you for open water, so trust me when I say that I will keep an eye on things and report as soon as anything happens.

            As some of you have surely noticed the website has changed a little bit and of course we are having a few problems. We are working hard to get everything resolved but please contact me at terrykev@gmail.com or 575-759-3255 if you are running into problems on the website.

 

Kevin Terry

Fisheries Biologist  

The Jicarilla Fishing Lakes are currently closed to angling due to thin ice. Ice is now completely covering all three of the fishing lakes, but the ice is thin and considered dangerous. The recent cold weather and storms will help the ice develop, but the lakes will be unsafe for fishing for an expected 2 weeks or more. We will begin to investigate ice depth and integrity starting the week of December 14th. As soon as the ice is stable and deemed safe we will post a report on the website and in the Albuquerque Journal. The Jicarilla Game and Fish Department is looking forward to another great ice season and plans for the 4th annual Jicarilla Ice Derby are underway. Don’t forget that anglers can purchase an ice season fishing permit from any of our vendors or at the Game and Fish office in Dulce, NM. The ice season is designated from 12/15/2009 through 3/15/2010. Also, 2 rods may be used during ice season at no extra cost. Remember that Stone Lake is barbless artificial flies and lures only, but is open to ice fishing. I hope to see you out there as soon as the ice is safe.
Kevin Terry
Fisheries Biologist

Hello all,
It appears that the open water fishing is done for the year at the Jicarilla Fishing Lakes. Overnight, Stone lake went from 90% open water to nearly 90% ice. Warm weather may open up the ice a little, but the trend is headed toward complete ice. Stay tuned for reports on ice thickness and sharpen the old auger blades. Hopefully we will be fishing again by the end of the month!!!!

Kevin Terry
Fisheries Biologist