The annual stocking of Rio Grande cutthroat trout fingerlings in the Rio Grande gorge and at Eagle Rock Lake has become a favorite spring event in northern New Mexico, and for good reason. The weather’s always great – oh, if only it could be cold and snowy this year – and it fills us all with joy to release thousands of baby cutthroats that will hopefully grow big and strong.
This year’s date will be Friday, April 24. The Rio Grande gorge portion will begin at 10:00 at the Rio Grande del Norte Monument Visitor Center, where BLM and New Mexico Department of Wildlife (DPW, formerly Department of Game and Fish) staff will brief participants on safety and logistics. For mobility impaired or very young participants, the Eagle Rock Lake portion will begin at 11:00.
DPW will bring hatchery trucks full of thousands of cutthroat fingerlings. Each participant will receive a stout plastic bag filled with water and baby fish. Participants will then hike the fish into the gorge to release the fish into the river. Hopefully the weather won’t be too hot, as hikers have a limited amount of time to get fish into the water before bags get too warm for fish survival.
As always, make sure your fitness level is up to the task of hiking into the gorge and out again, with the understanding that you don’t need to match pace with the die-hards who like to take more than one trip. Just make sure you have enough gas in the tank to make it a fun day, fishing and picnic lunch included. The standard comfort items should also be in your pack, particularly sun protection and water. You can never drink enough water on gorge excursions, so bring an extra bottle or a water filter for fill ups at streamside.
If you plan on fishing, make sure you have caddis patterns in your box, as the Tax Day caddis hatch may still be in effect. I like elk hair caddis for dry flies in size 14 or 16. For nymphs and wet flies, I like caddis imitations with dark bodies, peacock being my favorite. Also in 14 or 16, sunken renegades are good as well as the caddis wet flies on offer at your local fly shop. Standard dark beadheads should work fine. With so many people likely to be fishing, you may need to hike a bit upstream of Big Arsenic or downstream beyond Little Arsenic.
On a dry year like this, it will be inspiring to see the hikers lining up to get their bags of fish. Usually limited to out of the way headwater streams, cutthroat will be especially vulnerable to these drought conditions. Knowing that a new generation will have a chance to flourish in the Rio, gives us much needed faith that the state fish of New Mexico will persist for generations.
