Pecos River Clean Up May 30th.

Come get your hands dirty and help clean up the Pecos River.

Meet at the offices of the Upper Pecos Watershed Association, 78 Main St., Pecos, NM

Coffee and pastries from 8:30 to 9:00.

Barbeque to follow from 12:00 to 2:00 at the Jamie Koch Recreation Area. Bring the kids for fishing demonstrations. Raffle prizes for participants.

Sponsored by the Upper Pecos Watershed Association, the Truchas Chapter of Trout Unlimited, U.S. Forest Service, Tas no Mas and the New Mexico Department of Game & Fish

NMTU Receives $9,100 for Valle Vidal

McCrystal Creek

The Coalition for the Valle Vidal has given NMTU $9,100 to do stream restoration work in the Valle Vidal, primarily of Middle Ponil, North Ponil and McCrystal Creeks.

In order to accomplish this work, a coalition of groups, similar to what has been done on Comanche Creek, will be formed to do on the ground projects that will improve the riparian habitat for Rio Grande cutthroats.

It will take several years to accomplish this work.  The work plan for 2009, is to determine just what needs to be done, and what can be done similar to Comanche.  From there we will add more grant money to the pool so that something significant can be accomplished to improve fish habitat.

San Juan Quality Waters Coalition

The New Mexico Council of Trout Unlimited has joined with several other sportsmen’s groups to form the San Juan Quality Waters Coalition.  The purpose of this group is to address the issues that have resulted in a general decline in the trout fisheries on the San Juan since the Bureau of Reclaimation changed the flow regime out of Navajo Dam in 2002.

Though the stated purpose of the flow change was to improve habitat for the Colorado Pikeminnow, it was fairly obvious to anyone who read through the EIS, that the real, covert reason was to suck as much water out of the river without violating the Endangered Species Act restrictions as they pertain to the pikeminnow.

On February 25th, the coalition sent this letter to the San Juan Recovery Imlementation – Coordination Committee asking them to address the numerous problems on the San Juan river that have impacted the fishery.  The San Juan remains New Mexico’s premier destination trout fishery, and the actions of the BoR have had serious negative impacts on the economy surrounding the fishery.

Upper Pecos Watershed Association Fundraising Banquet June 6th

The Upper Pecos Watershed Association is holding their first annual fundraising banquet, the Pecos River Romp on June 6th at Frankies at the Casanova in Pecos, NM.  Tickets are $25.

Details and a request for donations can be found here.

The UPWA is dedicated to protecting, maintaining and improving the health of the Pecos River watershed as well as the local economies and culture.

Enchanted Circle Chapter Banquet May 8th

Mark your calendar for Friday evening May 8, at the historic Sagebrush Inn in Taos New Mexico.

Social hour will begin at 6:00PM with dinner to follow. Our chapter board is busy putting together a gala never to be forgotten evening.  The Enchanted Circle Chapter of Trout Unlimited has grown from our humble beginning crowd of thirty- three members to well over one-hundred!

One of our original goals was to host a chapter fundraising banquet during our second year of operation. Great News!!

There will be wonderful raffle and auction prizes including guided fishing trips, guided elk hunts and lots of very cool merchandise. Our “Grand Raffle” first prize will

Dave Whitlock to speak at the Truchas Chapter Banquet

The Truchas chapter of trout Unlimited is holding their annual banquet on March 21st at the Inn at Loretto in  Santa Fe.

Further information and tickets are available at the Truchas Chapter Website.

Come See Us!

Stop by and see us at Bob Gerding’s Outdoor Adventures Hunting and Fishing Show this weekend at Expo New Mexico in Albuquerque.  We will be there to discuss an issues you may have with our fishing resourses or anything you may want to know about NMTU.

New Mexico Trout Conclave

New Mexico Trout will be holding their annual conclave on January 31st at Sandia Prep School in Albuquerque.  Speakers include Jeff Currier and Barry Reynolds.

Details can be found here.

NM Tresspass Rules for Sportsmen

At the March Game Commission meeting (place and date to be determined), the commission will take up the issue of revising the trespass rule they changed in October 2008.

In October, the game commission passed an anti-sportsman rule that
removed the private land posting requirements for hunting violations.
There was an attempt to include fishing, but it stalled at the last
minute. The revision they will take up in March will include fishing.

Gila Trout

Tim Pinnow of Las Cruces pulled this monster out of the Gila River last week.