for a week to relax and catch some stockers. Easy catch and release with not too much work involved.

Pond is it or is there a river there?

A stocked with rainbow trout 1 acre or so pond at 8,500 feet asl got me into using fly gear. At times, visible trout would hang or cruise around the edges and rise or chase various things including a woolly bugger. There wasn�t much work involved either, just walk the edges and cast out in front of the fish.

This time of year it�s just nice to be someplace at high altitude to escape our relentless heat. I wish we had a nice high mountain range a little closer than New Mexico or Colorado.

Riodoso has a couple of lakes (Alto and Grindstone) and the Rio Riodoso. I fished Grindstone when I was there in April. It was all kinds of fun to watch the trout smack the hell out of a parachute adams in the early morning and late evening. The rest of the time I was catching them on the tried and true wooly bugger.




You and me both, brother.

I grew up fishing the Eagle Lakes in Ruidoso. Fished Alto, Bonito, Grindstone, Rio Ruidoso and Eagle Lakes was the better fishery. With the Rio a close second. It's actually two ponds...NOT lakes. But the catching is easier that way, especially with a fly rod. It's on the Mescalero reservation well past the other other lakes up the ski run road. When I was there I had to pay a daily use fee (it was like $5 back then) and the upper pond was the best of the two. It's a lot smaller than the lower pond and doesn't get as much pressure. Get there early and you can hear the elk bugling up in the mountains.

Nothing to report. Not enough water flowing in streams to make it worth while and water was very off color due to a recent rain. Lakes were packed with fisherman and had not desire to compete for a space to fish. So instead wife and I did some road trips and casino diving.