finishing up another book

mac and I have another book, this one due to the publisher by Sept 30.  49 Trout Streams of Southern Colorado.  The toughest part wasn't collecting information (meaning 'fishing') or taking photographs of all the streams (meaning 'fishing') but deciding which of the hundreds of streams and rivers made the final list.  This book is for University of New Mexico Press, due out in the spring and will have 3-7 color pics for each selected river. 

Nice review in Trout Unlimited Magazine this month

Love to get some love.

Booksigning at Maria's in Durango, July 27th

Amy and I will be signing books at Maria's Bookshop in downtown Durango, July 27th, 6:30 to 7:30 pm.  We'll be signing Top 30 Things to Do in Durango, as well as Flyfishing Southwestern Colorado, So Many Fish and Colorado Flyfishing: Where to Eat, Sleep and Fish.  If you're around, come visit with us.

Another Day in Paradise (Santa Fe NM) La Fonda, Chimayo, Cross

In the last week of our research for our Santa Fe Guidebook --- We visited Chimayo (the Sanctuary, ate at Rancho de Chimayo), Santa Fe Opera, hiked up to the Cross of the Martyrs, took drinks on the Bell Tower of La Fonda to watch the sunset.   We had heard from some that the walk up to the cross was steep -- maybe if you are out of shape but it is a nice leisurely, switchback with stops kind of walk.   I did take home some blessed dirt from the Church.  I enjoyed a Santa Fe Pale Ale at La Fonda.  Doesn't get much better guys. 

Casa Olivia, Kokopelli Real Estate

 I don't often plug a place to stay.  All too often, I stay in tents or in the Aliner or in dives.  I'm ready to plug something.

 Amy and I are staying for a couple of weeks in Santa Fe to research a guidebook on the City Different.  We are writing it for University of New Mexico Press.

I like writing with Amy.  She's a great shutterbug (and she just got a new camera -- a Nikon d3100) and a diligent researcher and is as pretty as the scenery. 

So we're doing this book.  We got invited to stay at Casa Olivia, a Kokopelli Real Estate and Property Management property.  Amy and I have traveled the world and stayed in some pretty impressive places. Enchantment Resort in Sedona. Hotel Aiguablava in Costa Brava, Spain. Various hotspots in British Virgin Islands. And the list goes on.  But it stops here.

 Casa Olivia.  Understated but elegant.  We pulled up in the driveway and thought, surely this isn't it, it's way way too nice for us. Nearly 3000 square feet.
This fabulous East side adobe home was originally built in the 1870's and was completely restored and remodeled in 2007. Located less than one block from historic Canyon Road and short walking distance to the downtown Plaza area. Across the street from the Santa Fe River, this home is ideal for scenic walks and meditation. The spacious vacation rental features four bedrooms and three baths. The main level master and guest bedrooms have separate bathrooms. Sleeps nine with an additional two on the pull-out couch. The kitchen and breakfast table area open into the dining room; a perfect set-up for entertaining and family gatherings. The comfortable living room has a large fireplace and generous seating space. The lower level offers privacy with a separate living area with two bedrooms and bath. The house is approximately 2,800 net square feet, very private and includes a completely enclosed large outdoor area with over-sized outdoor fireplace. Beautiful mature, manicured gardens with patio--ideal for entertaining, perfect setting for weddings! Dogs are allowed.

No cost for internet, I can wash clothes, I have privacy, I can cook breakfast, I have a grill ....
If you were to design the perfect Williams Family Home, this is it.  Walking distance to the Plaza.  Great eats and art and parks all around.  We don't want to leave. 

Kokopelli Real Estate and Property has more than 100 properties.  Sure, it's fun to stay at La Posada or La Fonda or Don Gaspar but here's the thing -- stay in Santa Fe for a few days.  Stay at a condo or house and split the costs with a fellow couple or family and enjoy the washing machine, the kitchen, the grounds, the privacy.   The decor is more real (is that a legit term? you know what I mean) Comfortable elegance. Rugged richness.  Santa Fe splendor.  You get what i mean, right? Spoiled but on my terms.

I am not leaving.  Squatter's rights!!!!

If you want to know more about Kokopelli Real Estate, check this out     Kokopelli Real Estate Rentals

790 Sports Talk Radio interview by Doug Pike

second part of interview with 790 Sports Talk Radio Sat May 28

Fishing the Enchanted Circle

My latest article in the Globe News. Fishing the Enchanted Circle New Mexico

Check out a cool fishing site I've been lurking on for awhile

Wind Knots and Tangled Lines  Great site and they've got a friendly, obviously close, group of anglers that visit and comment.  I like that the blogger (Howard Levett) chooses to fish with vintage tackle, the fiberglass rods like I grew up using.  Next week, Mac and I'll be putting up an opportunity to win a book of ours (Colorado Flyfishing: Where to Eat Sleep and Fish) and my flyfishing app.  More on that later.  Give the blog a view and enjoy.

iPad and iPhone App Freshwater Flyfishing Tips from the Pros

iTunes Link to Freshwater Flyfishing Tips

The app is up and live in the App Store and has sold amazingly well in two days.  Enjoy!!!

Screen Captures from my Freshwater Flyfishing App

Link to the app in the iTunes store

app, book and fun stuff

Two cool things this week:

1) signed a contract with University of New Mexico Press to write 49 Trout Streams Colorado (South), the sister book to 49 Trout Streams New Mexico.  Will be writing / photographing with buddy Chad McPhail, of course.  We'll be traversing southern Colorado this summer getting new info and pics and generally causing havoc for trout. 

2) finished the first version of the app Freshwater Flyfishing Tips From the Pros, an adaptation of my Simon and Schuster book from 1997.  160 tips, 800 photos for now but with the next update, the app will have 250 tips and 1000 photos.  Above is a screen capture from the app. 

West Texas A &M STOP Filmfest

We entered four films in the West Texas A & M University Stop Filmfest.  We won two awards including Best in Category and Best Concept for Film.  Marisa's commercial about bullying (with Sarah O'Donnell in the hallway with the words stuck on her) won Best in Category.  Lyzi Wakefield's Little Red Riding Hood won Best Concept.  There were dozens and dozens of films entered. PDHS had 10 films entered. Lots of great young filmmakers in the Panhandle. Caprock, Randall, Canyon, etc. also participated.   I was proud as hell. 

This app crap sucks

I'm working with Sutro Media to develop some apps and their site has been in "update" mode for a couple of days so I can't work on those apps. I'm also now an Apple App Developer for IOS and am trying to go through AppMakr.  This getting a key chain and portal stuff and certificates --- well, there's a reason I'm an English teacher and not a code monkey.  And this is supposed to be streamlined and easy for the dummies like me.  Jeez.

The Perfect Fly Box

Latest article: The Perfect Fly Box

By Mark D. Williams / For the Amarillo Globe-News

I fish more than most. It's a curse wading streams in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah. But hey, someone's got to do it. If you were to peek inside my fly boxes, you'd be shocked at how messy they are. I know where things are, and one reason is that over the years I've simplified my inventory. I've learned what works on these rocky rivers and what doesn't.
Like most of you, I grew up fishing regional patterns like the Bloody Butcher, House and Lot, Royal Coachman, and Renegade. Materials got better over the years, and patterns evolved. I like dry fly-fishing but tend to begin with a prospecting rig, usually a dropper rig that consists of a sizeable floater, usually a big Stimulator.
Attractor flies work great on the bouncy swift waters so typical of southwestern streams.
The trout don't have a long season, and they don't have long to make a decision about your fur-feather offering either.
You want something that will float, will hold up to repeated use and mostly, will catch trout.
So here's what my fly box for summer fishing in the Rockies looks like:
n Stimulators: This is my prospecting fly, my go-to fly, the fly I use more than any other in Southwestern waters. I like a few in each color: orange, yellow, green, royal and, surprisingly, black, all in size 12.
These will work early in the season to imitate stoneflies (golden, Salmon), as attractor flies and especially as the top fly in your dropper rig. Consider having a few in sizes 8,10, 14 and 16, too.
n Royal Wulff: You ain't a fly fisher if you don't have this pattern in your box. This pattern imitates most anything and is a super attractor fly, and the trout love it. Sizes 10-18.
n Ausable Wulff: Yes, this is a foreign pattern to the Southwest. That's one reason I like it so much. Created in the Northeast for their bubbly streams and timely mayfly hatches, this up-wing pattern floats well, is visible and imitates any number of Rocky Mountain mayfly hatches. It's especially good on long flats or runs. My favorite Mayfly pattern. Sizes 14-18.
n Goddard Caddis: I prefer this pattern to the ubiquitous Elk Hair Caddis because it works more consistently for me and the size 16 Stimulators work pretty much as an Elk Hair Caddis anyway. Sizes 12-16.
nDoc's Cork: Indestructible Stonefly pattern that works to imitate caddis as well. Rapidly becoming my top fly in my dropper rigs, especially on streams that have super stonefly action. Doc's Cork is also a fine attractor fly.
It's sturdy as all get out so you don't need but two or three in your box. Size 10.
n Green Trude or Red Quill Gordon: Your wildcard fly. Both are seldom-used, but the Green Trude is a nice change-up when nothing is working; the Red Quill is ideal for when those big, skinny mayflies dance over the water. Size: 12.
n Beadhead Crystal Woolly Bugger in black: One size fits all. Sometimes, when all else fails, and trout are just not hitting your other offerings, toss out this fly and strip-retrieve. You'll hammer 'em.
n Doc's Hopper T: Any hopper pattern will do, but this is my favorite. Come August and September, especially on meadow streams, you don't want to be without hoppers in your box. This one floats well, is easy to see and holds up to trout teeth. Sizes 6-8.
n Hare's Ear Beadhead: The most generic of all nymphs. The worker bee pattern. Get in sizes 12-18.
n Copper John Beadhead: Ten years ago, no one in the West used this killer fly. I catch more trout on a red Copper John Beadhead than all the other flies combined. Sizes 14-18.
n Pheasant Tail Beadhead: You could sub in a Prince Nymph beadhead or a Caddis pupa of some sort, but I have an affinity for this pattern.

Nice searcher or mayfly hatch fly. Sizes 14-18.

Apps

I'm now working on two apps for a third-party app developer.  The first is an adaptation of my book Freshwater Flyfishing Tips from the Pros (Simon & Schuster, 1997) --- I've added no fewer than 30 new flyfishing experts to this app.  Second, Amy and I will be creating the first of a series of guidebook apps for Colorado Mountain Towns (starting with Durango.)  Fun stuff. 

Animas and Junction Creek in spring

On Frozen Pond

Pond near the Bayfield Cabin.

This summer, consider Little Blue Lake

Where is this little gem?  Northeastern NM, in the RCCLA land off the Valle Vidal.  One tough road but well worth the trip.  Find out more in the July issue of Southwest Fly Fishing magazine where Mark will have a feature article about this area and this lake. 

roaring river last pic

more pics from roaring river in rocky mountain national park

pics from roaring river and lawn lake trek

Reminiscing about the Roaring River / Lawn Lake trek two years ago

Fishing the Red River, New Mexico

Picture this: a snowy, March New Mexico day when it’s supposed to be getting warmer and we are six and we are about to descend into a six-hundred foot deep canyon.  Red River.  Three of us are flyfishers.  Doc, McPhail, me. One is a recent convert so we won’t call him yet a flyfisher. He is Crane.  Burly is the only true rookie.  We loves rookies.

Long hike in. We crowd the narrow trail, thin out then crowd again at switchbacks. Burly, at 6’ 2” doesn’t cover as much ground as 6’ 3” Crane.  His legs just don’t look as long.  Maybe Burly’s one of those ‘torsos-longer-than-they-should-be’ kinda guys.  Our descent into this increasingly-white wonderland/underworld is tentative, like going down the stairs of a friend’s dark basement to see if any of the rat traps have a new resident.   Plus, it’s cold as hell and getting colder.

I’ve seen the look before --- the ‘we’ve been walking an hour and we’re still not there yet’ look.  Their furrowed brows, especially Burly’s because he is bald so his forehead can really wrinkle up sharpei-good, showed that it wasn’t just the distance traveled or the steep incline but a concern for fishing in weather normally reserved for Malamuts.

Doc Thompson is my friend and he is a fishing guide.  Without asking, he gives flycasting lessons to Burly and Crane.  McPhail and I fish the Red, around the pewter-colored rocks.  Burly and Crane act interested in learning, give a moderately-decent showing and they are thrown to the Red. 

Burly fishes the confluence. He fishes downstream in the pocket water and has no chance in hell of catching a thing but he looks pretty good doing it.  He is wearing heavy neoprene waders which he later tells us chapped his inner thighs on his too-short legs. 

Crane is into it.  He has fished Rio Embudo once before and caught a trout so he thinks he’s an expert. He has his own rod, his own heavy neoprene waders, the kind with the wading boots sewn in, the kind that give you blisters on your shins and ankles and tops of your feet.  He is oblivious to his misery as the snow begins to bother our visibility. Hello Springtime.   

McPhail fishes upstream working around the big gray woolly mammoth-sized rocks.  He catches a big one and we rush to look.  Twenty inches at least and fat as the cigar that Burly smoked at Simpatico Lake near Bayfield, Colorado, the cigar so big and strong that it brought Burly to his knees after the hike and made him puke his guts out at the recreation center in the Forest Lakes subdivision.  Nice-sized rainbow, Mac. 

Doc catches an even bigger rainbow, colored so red and dark and green and fervent, the fish looked fake.  What Dreams May Come.  Twenty-two inches and several

So what we have here is a natural year-round trout fishery worth its weight in trout anywhere in the southwest. You can fish this gem when the snows are heavy or melting into sludge or when the summer heat hits, you need to visit the maelstrom of blue-green deep canyon waters of the lower Red River. From the rim at 7,000 feet elevation, the trails drop 800 feet into the canyon. At times, you feel like you are in a life-size terrarium, isolated in the red and green and tan and grey colors of the canyon with a narrow strip of blue sky hanging above the narrows at the rim.

Guide Doc Thompson never yells, quiet as the proverbial mouse, but he yelled at McPhail that cold afternoon in February to hurry up with the pics and put the hawg back in the water.  Doc’s protective of his fishery’s fish.  Bully for him. Mac was none too pleased though.  

The snow started big and wet, didn’t even give us time to argue about whether or not it was a good idea to hike out or not.  It was coming down like fleece, thick and white, heavy enough to cover my eyeglasses and paint us all alabaster in just minutes. 

            The hike that was treacherous downhill was even more so up, covered as it was by the snow.  We are Amarillo boys and although all of us are in good shape (if I say so myself), this was our first day in altitude so were sucking air with every labored step.  Watching Burly and Crane slug it out in those heavy sloppy waders was secretly funny. The hike out always takes a lot longer than the hike in and a lot longer than you think.

Burly didn’t catch a fish, didn’t come close. He whipped the water into a froth, caught up in the trees but by the end of it all, he started to get the hang of it. We had converted another angler to our band of brothers and the pain in my lungs felt okay, both when I breathed and when I laughed at the hoorahing back-and-forth as we wheezed up the trail.    

When the world above the Red River is a winter wonderland, the canyon is a refuge. And in summer, when the heat is like Hades, the canyon is cool and hidden from the oven above. When most every other New Mexico river is roily with spring runoff or inaccessible because of snowpack, you have the dependable Red. Descending along developed trails into the basalt-walled canyon is strenuous hiking, not for everyone. The views of the heavily-bouldered, freestone-river are eye-catching.  You just know there are some whoppers in those deep stairstep pools. 

And there are.  The lower Red River red is the primary feeder stream to Rio Grande, the main spawning tributary for wild browns, cuttbows and rainbows of the mighty river.  The Red holds its own healthy resident population of colorful wild browns and cuttbows but the prizes are those migrating lunkers, up from the big river to spawn in these spring-fed waters.

The river cut a canyon through the basalt over eons of time with its watery knife slicing ever downward.  The clear water churns over boulders, dropping off rocks and plunging into foamy pools.  Some of the rocks are as big as kiva ovens. Others are the size of watermelons.  And you won’t believe the size and depth of some of these pools even though the river isn’t all that wide.

Numerous warmwater springs feed the river below the hatchery keeping the water temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s in the fall and winter. In the summer, the canyon water around can reach mid-60s. These springs increase the volume of the river tremendously, tripling or quadrupling the flow. This is why the Red should be one of your top choices for spring and early summer angling.  Dependability. 

The Lower Red River is four miles of some of the wildest water in New Mexico. When you hear the term ‘lower Red River’, this refers to the Red River upstream from the confluence with the Rio Grande to a half-mile below the hatchery.  Four miles doesn’t sound like a lot of water but you won’t cover all this water in a day of hard fishing. These four miles fish like ten or twelve miles so productive is this fishery. Every pocket holds fish.

The Red River is one of those streams where you can do just fine on your own or you can do a lot better with someone looking over your shoulder; someone reminding you that despite the two fish you just caught in that big pool, you missed two other opportunities to catch even bigger trout.   That someone should be a guide. 

As Doc Thompson likes to say: it’s a whole different world down there. You will lose track of sense of time and where you are.  To fish the lower Red River you really need to want to fish it. This is not a drive-up river. You’ll need stamina, want-to. This is for those who need adventure in their flyfishing, or vice versa, one of the last of the wild rivers in the southwest, ideal for a getaway trip when all the tailwaters are full of neoprene-wading anglers from all parts of the world. 

Contacts:
Doc Thompson's High Country Anglers, Cimarron NM, 505-376-9220, www.flyfishnewmexico.com 
Ed Adams, http://www.edadamsflyfishing.com/

Los Rios Anglers, 505-758-2798

Dos Amigos,Eagle Nest 505-377-6226
Los Pinos Fly Shop, Albuquerque NM 505-884-7501

High Desert Anglers, Santa Fe NM 505-988-7688

Van Beacham’s Solitary Angler, Taos NM 505-758-5653   

Fishing the Red River, New Mexico

Red River  

Location:  northern New Mexico

What you fish for:  rainbow, brown and cutthroat/cuttbow trout

Highlights and Notables:  Canyon stream, a real southwestern gem, pools and pocket water, resident wild trout, and when they get the urge big trout run up the Red from the Rio Grande. 

Picture this: a snowy, March New Mexico day when it’s supposed to be getting warmer and we are six and we are about to descend into a six-hundred foot deep canyon.  Red River.  Three of us are flyfishers.  Doc, McPhail, me. One is a recent convert so we won’t call him yet a flyfisher. He is Crane.  Burly is the only true rookie.  We loves rookies.

Long hike in. We crowd the narrow trail, thin out then crowd again at switchbacks. Burly, at 6’ 2” doesn’t cover as much ground as 6’ 3” Crane.  His legs just don’t look as long.  Maybe Burly’s one of those ‘torsos-longer-than-they-should-be’ kinda guys.  Our descent into this increasingly-white wonderland/underworld is tentative, like going down the stairs of a friend’s dark basement to see if any of the rat traps have a new resident.   Plus, it’s cold as hell and getting colder.

I’ve seen the look before --- the ‘we’ve been walking an hour and we’re still not there yet’ look.  Their furrowed brows, especially Burly’s because he is bald so his forehead can really wrinkle up sharpei-good, showed that it wasn’t just the distance traveled or the steep incline but a concern for fishing in weather normally reserved for Malamuts.

Doc Thompson is my friend and he is a fishing guide.  Without asking, he gives flycasting lessons to Burly and Crane.  McPhail and I fish the Red, around the pewter-colored rocks.  Burly and Crane act interested in learning, give a moderately-decent showing and they are thrown to the Red. 

Burly fishes the confluence. He fishes downstream in the pocket water and has no chance in hell of catching a thing but he looks pretty good doing it.  He is wearing heavy neoprene waders which he later tells us chapped his inner thighs on his too-short legs. 

Crane is into it.  He has fished Rio Embudo once before and caught a trout so he thinks he’s an expert. He has his own rod, his own heavy neoprene waders, the kind with the wading boots sewn in, the kind that give you blisters on your shins and ankles and tops of your feet.  He is oblivious to his misery as the snow begins to bother our visibility. Hello Springtime.   

McPhail fishes upstream working around the big gray woolly mammoth-sized rocks.  He catches a big one and we rush to look.  Twenty inches at least and fat as the cigar that Burly smoked at Simpatico Lake near Bayfield, Colorado, the cigar so big and strong that it brought Burly to his knees after the hike and made him puke his guts out at the recreation center in the Forest Lakes subdivision.  Nice-sized rainbow, Mac. 

Doc catches an even bigger rainbow, colored so red and dark and green and fervent, the fish looked fake.  What Dreams May Come.  Twenty-two inches and several

So what we have here is a natural year-round trout fishery worth its weight in trout anywhere in the southwest. You can fish this gem when the snows are heavy or melting into sludge or when the summer heat hits, you need to visit the maelstrom of blue-green deep canyon waters of the lower Red River. From the rim at 7,000 feet elevation, the trails drop 800 feet into the canyon. At times, you feel like you are in a life-size terrarium, isolated in the red and green and tan and grey colors of the canyon with a narrow strip of blue sky hanging above the narrows at the rim.

Guide Doc Thompson never yells, quiet as the proverbial mouse, but he yelled at McPhail that cold afternoon in February to hurry up with the pics and put the hawg back in the water.  Doc’s protective of his fishery’s fish.  Bully for him. Mac was none too pleased though.  

The snow started big and wet, didn’t even give us time to argue about whether or not it was a good idea to hike out or not.  It was coming down like fleece, thick and white, heavy enough to cover my eyeglasses and paint us all alabaster in just minutes. 

            The hike that was treacherous downhill was even more so up, covered as it was by the snow.  We are Amarillo boys and although all of us are in good shape (if I say so myself), this was our first day in altitude so were sucking air with every labored step.  Watching Burly and Crane slug it out in those heavy sloppy waders was secretly funny. The hike out always takes a lot longer than the hike in and a lot longer than you think.

Burly didn’t catch a fish, didn’t come close. He whipped the water into a froth, caught up in the trees but by the end of it all, he started to get the hang of it. We had converted another angler to our band of brothers and the pain in my lungs felt okay, both when I breathed and when I laughed at the hoorahing back-and-forth as we wheezed up the trail.    

When the world above the Red River is a winter wonderland, the canyon is a refuge. And in summer, when the heat is like Hades, the canyon is cool and hidden from the oven above. When most every other New Mexico river is roily with spring runoff or inaccessible because of snowpack, you have the dependable Red. Descending along developed trails into the basalt-walled canyon is strenuous hiking, not for everyone. The views of the heavily-bouldered, freestone-river are eye-catching.  You just know there are some whoppers in those deep stairstep pools. 

And there are.  The lower Red River red is the primary feeder stream to Rio Grande, the main spawning tributary for wild browns, cuttbows and rainbows of the mighty river.  The Red holds its own healthy resident population of colorful wild browns and cuttbows but the prizes are those migrating lunkers, up from the big river to spawn in these spring-fed waters.

The river cut a canyon through the basalt over eons of time with its watery knife slicing ever downward.  The clear water churns over boulders, dropping off rocks and plunging into foamy pools.  Some of the rocks are as big as kiva ovens. Others are the size of watermelons.  And you won’t believe the size and depth of some of these pools even though the river isn’t all that wide.

Numerous warmwater springs feed the river below the hatchery keeping the water temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s in the fall and winter. In the summer, the canyon water around can reach mid-60s. These springs increase the volume of the river tremendously, tripling or quadrupling the flow. This is why the Red should be one of your top choices for spring and early summer angling.  Dependability. 

The Lower Red River is four miles of some of the wildest water in New Mexico. When you hear the term ‘lower Red River’, this refers to the Red River upstream from the confluence with the Rio Grande to a half-mile below the hatchery.  Four miles doesn’t sound like a lot of water but you won’t cover all this water in a day of hard fishing. These four miles fish like ten or twelve miles so productive is this fishery. Every pocket holds fish.

The Red River is one of those streams where you can do just fine on your own or you can do a lot better with someone looking over your shoulder; someone reminding you that despite the two fish you just caught in that big pool, you missed two other opportunities to catch even bigger trout.   That someone should be a guide. 

As Doc Thompson likes to say: it’s a whole different world down there. You will lose track of sense of time and where you are.  To fish the lower Red River you really need to want to fish it. This is not a drive-up river. You’ll need stamina, want-to. This is for those who need adventure in their flyfishing, or vice versa, one of the last of the wild rivers in the southwest, ideal for a getaway trip when all the tailwaters are full of neoprene-wading anglers from all parts of the world. 

Contacts:
Doc Thompson's High Country Anglers, Cimarron NM, 505-376-9220, www.flyfishnewmexico.com 
Ed Adams, http://www.edadamsflyfishing.com/

Los Rios Anglers, 505-758-2798

Dos Amigos,Eagle Nest 505-377-6226
Los Pinos Fly Shop, Albuquerque NM 505-884-7501

Link to our book

Looking at some spring fishing:  in the hopper?  Red River, Rio Hondo, Rio Grande NM, Gila Wilderness.