Early spring a great time for fishing
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3/12/2008 - 3/13/08
Now is a good time for anglers to get in some early season fishing before the snowpack melts, sending torrents of high, muddy water downstream."Every spring there's this window of opportunity," said Jerry Burton, a fishing guide for the Reel Life Fly Shop.
Longer, warmer days bring out the trout, and opportunistic anglers can find some good fishing on area streams by following a few tips.
First, do your homework. Pay close attention to the state's stream flows on the U.S. Geological Survey's Web site at www.nm.water.usgs.gov.
Water flow below 150 cubic-feet-per-second will probably be fine to fish, Burton said.
Watch peak high- and low-water flow patterns to determine the best time of day to fish. This time of year, the best times are usually from 10 a.m. to about 3 p.m. on a stream like the Jemez.
Don't be put off by off-color water. Instead use it to your advantage to get closer without spooking the fish.
Fish an area methodically and use high-visibility patterns, like a prince nymph with a gold bead head or a black woolly bugger laced with crystal flash.
Work along the edge of currents, close to the banks and in spots where trout may be resting and waiting for food.
"They're not going to waste a lot of energy chasing stuff," Burton said. "So you have to get it right on top of them."
Fish open areas that are exposed to the sun. Trout will be more active there.
Those fishing with worms and salmon eggs have an added advantage when fishing murky water as trout rely more on their powerful sense of smell to detect food.
"There's a reason you always see a picture of some kid in the newspaper who's caught a big brown on a worm," Burton said. "It's the smell."
Burtons said both the Pecos River and Jemez Mountain streams could provide good fishing before the runoff gets to roaring. And when that does happen, Burton suggested heading south into the Gila for some prime fishing.
Runoff in the Gila is generally over by late March and early April providing anglers numerous opportunities to fish for rainbow, brown, brook and some Gila trout, he said.
And those lucky enough to catch a Gila trout have Burton to thank.
Burton, 67, is a retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist whose work in the state included the Gila Trout Recovery and Restoration Project.
The native trout was listed as endangered in the mid-1960s. Fishing for it was prohibited, and a long running and exhaustive project was undertaken to bring it back from the brink of extinction.
The effort resulted in a prospering Gila trout population which allowed the agency to downlist the trout from endangered to threatened.
And it was Burton, by then retired, who filed the petition to downlist the trout.
"You know, at what point do you say they're past the level of needing that level of protection?" Burton said. "We met all the criteria set in the recovery plan so someone had to say we're finished here."
It was he who, in 1997, petitioned his former employers to downlist the trout.
The State Game Commission has since opened three streams containing pure strain Gila trout to fishing. Many other streams in the Gila Wilderness are being stocked with Gila trout raised in a federal fish hatchery in Mora.
Burton said both the Gila Wilderness and National Forest provide great, early season fishing for those willing to head south. Check the state Department of Game and Fish and Gila National Forest Web sites for more information.
Burton, one of six children, was born and raised in Oshkosh, Wis. His mother, Helen, was a homemaker and his father, Joe, a machinist at the North American Rockwell Plant which produced farm machinery.
He grew up riding his bike to the Fox River or nearby Winnebago Lake where he would fish for walleye, perch and anything else he could catch. He took up duck and deer hunting as he grew older.
Burton said his dad was a Depression Era survivor who stressed his children's need for good jobs skills, so Burton took industrial arts classes, like machine shop, while in high school.
Burton was preparing for a career in manufacturing when he took the college entrance exams and discovered he was good at academics, too. He was accepted at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh and graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology.
During college he married his longtime sweetheart, Sue DeYoung, and worked second shift as a machinist at his dad's factory. The couple lives in Albuquerque, as do their two children, David and Stephanie.
Burton said that, in his 28 years with the service, he is most fond of his days working in North Carolina where he helped the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation develop a self-supporting, recreational hunting, fishing and camping program.
Burton said the tribe held more than 30 miles of prime trout streams, which were stocked with up to a ton of fish a week, with close to 90 percent of those being taken by anglers.
Burton said he discovered the stocking program had no ill effects on native trout, as they seemed to only eat corn on the drift rather than suspended upon a hook.
Burton said the reservation bordered the scenic Great Smokey Mountain National Park and Blue Ridge Parkway, which made for excellent working conditions.
Burton would later use skills he learned assisting the Cherokees when he was transferred to the state of Washington where he worked with local tribes on salmon and steelhead trout issues.
It was in the final stages of his career, when the Endangered Species Act became law, that he was transferred to New Mexico.
Burton remains active with local conservation groups such as New Mexico Trout and the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
Contact Karl Moffatt through his blog at www.outdoorsnewmexico.com.