Fly Fishing in Northern New Mexico And Southern Colorado
NEW FOR 2024
Aurelio will no longer be guiding, but he can refer you to excellent guides depending on where you want to fish.
The lodge is temporarily closed due to renovations.
The Red River is fishing good right now.
Happy Easter Sunday 2021
The Red River is fishing very good. Using dry droppers in the morning and catching them on caddis dries in the afternoon Size 16.
The lower parts of the Costilla are starting to fish using a dry dropper.
The Culebra fished very good. It is low and the fish are spooky but we got into a really good hatch and were catching them on size 22 dries. Later in the day, I caught a couple on a Chubby Chernobyl Thank you Van Beechum.
4/5//2021
COSTILLA
The runoff has started. It won’t be fishable for a couple of weeks. The only options at this point are the Culebra and the Vallejos.
6/12/2021
The Costilla is starting to fish, picking them up on the edges in the afternoons on dries. Guided on the Culebra a week and a half ago and Phil and Joe did excellent. Caught them all on droppers and one on a big dry. I am going to fish Southern Colorado with some friends on Monday.
6/17/2021
Fished the upper part of the Costilla today and it was excellent. The stone flies, yellow sallies, mayflies and caddies were all out.
6/22/2021
I fished two spots by the lodge today. A lot of bugs coming off….big brown drakes, stone flies, ginger duns, yellow sallies. Still too much water down here by us. Had a 20″ cut bow break off. The upper Costilla in the RCCLA park is fishing great.
6/26/2021
Los Pinos
Fished the Los Pinos and it was excellent. Very good green drake hatch in the afternoon.
The Rio Costilla is still fishing very good in the park.
6/29/2021
Guided on private water on the Costilla. The water was good for this time of the year and the flows were acceptable. Cloudy cold weather and sparse hatches but the fishing was excellent on dries and some droppers.
7/19/2021
Went on a guided trip with Conejos Anglers on Treasure Creek. Randy Kees’ son, KK, guided me and had a great time . We caught a lot of fish–brookies and cutthroats.
7/29/2021
Got to fish the Adams’ Fork of the Conejos with Paul and Jeff today, We had a lot of fun and caught a lot of fish in the 12-13″ range. All were cutthroats.
9/6/2021
Fished the Costilla at the lodge today. The flows were perfect in the 30s. I released over 30 fish caught on droppers. One 20″ broke me off.
12/01/2021
This 5 by 6 elk was shot behind our house a couple of weeks ago.
4/22/2022
The Rio Costilla is fishing well. Jon, Bart, and Peter had a great day. They caught them on dries and droppers with most in the 14″ range.
The Rio Grande and the Cimarron are reported to be fishing well.
5/6/2022
The lower Costilla is fishing very good on dries in the afternoon. A lot of caddis are out.
6/5/2022
The Carson Forest and the RCCLA are still closed. I fished the Los Pinos yesterday and caught them all on droppers. I fished the Vallejos today and it was the best I have ever seen. I caught them all on a size 18 elk hair caddis. The largest one landed was a 15″ brown. I had 2 16″+ come unbuttoned. Last year I could not fish this stream because the poachers had cleaned it out. I guess this year maybe they left town.
6/12/2022
Justin caught a whole lot of fish on the Vallejos today.
He lost a 16″er.
6/23/2022
Good news, the Carson Forest has reopened starting tomorrow morning. Jack and Rafael had a great day on the Costilla. They caught a lot of fish on dries.
6/24/2022
Rafael had a 60+ fish day on the Vallejos. Over 15 were in the 12-14″ range. They were all big browns. He caught them all on dries–a size 16 elk hair caddis and a size14″ Latir lowrider.
6/26/2022
Rafael Had a great day fishing the Costilla above Later Creek. He had the river to himself.. He caught them all on dries.
7/1/2022
Kevin and Dan had a fantastic day on the Vallejos.
7/15/2022
A beautiful 16″ Vallejos brown.
7/4 and 7/5 2022
We had the honor of hosting Vic and Nancy Johnson who is very well known for his books on fiberglass fly rods and fishing in general from waders to hatcheries. We learned a lot and had a great time with them.
Recent August fishing trip 2022
Met up with the infamous Steffen brothers, Mark and Tim, for some fishing in an undisclosed location. The first evening, they joined us for dinner on a deck overlooking the beautiful Selway River at the home of our friends, Donn and Kelly.
10/6/2022
Some friends, Steve and Mary, came down from Missouri. Aurelio went pheasant hunting with Steve and Skimpy. With Mary”s help, we made pheasant saltimbocca, risoctto with Gorgonzola cheese and Porcini mushrooms, a salad and homemade cheesecake. Steve and Aurelio exercised their right (under s recent NM Supreme Court ruling) to access the river on the lower Costilla and it fished great. We caught most on a dropper.
6/1/2023
Fishing on the Costilla is doing pretty good. Catching them on droppers in the morning and mayfly patterns and caddis in the afternoon. The Cimarron is also fishing well.
6/30/2023
We are hosting the New Mexico Game and Fish representatives who are up this way to open the Valle Vidal July 1.
8/12/23
I had a great day with my friend, Donny, in southern Colorado catching beautiful cutthroat.
