Most of my fly fishing trips are focused more on a wide variety of salmonids instead of huge numbers or size of the fish. Fortunately, there are several Fish and Wildlife departments in the western states of this country that encourage anglers to go to their state and fish for the variety salmonids within their borders. The latest state to launch one of these programs is New Mexico. So, since I am such a fool for a program like this, I bought a license online, packed my gear and hit the highway. Arizona has one of these programs as well, so I purchased one of their licenses too, hoping to earn both certificates in one trip.

Arizona was my first stop, but the very DAY that I got there, the USFS decided to close the entire Tonto National Forest to all recreation due to high fire danger. That meant zero access to any streams, roads, trails, campgrounds, etc. I can understand the extreme fire risks in a very dry state like Arizona, but I知 not sure how I知 going to start a fire by going fishing. The real bummer for me is that most of the streams that I planned to fish for their trout certificate were in that forest. Anyhow, I regrouped and headed further east to the Apache Sitgreaves NF in the far east of the state and was elated to find that it was still open. I found a small lake with a nice calibaetis hatch going off and some very willing grayling that were smacking any dry fly that I would fling out on the water.



Since my goal of accomplishing the Arizona Trout Challenge was scuttled, I decided to head into New Mexico, into the Gila Wilderness, for their native Gila trout. Not a huge specimen, but one down, four to go.



I headed north east from there and on the way passed the VLA (Very Large Array) of 27 huge satellites aimed at the sky, trying to pick up on any interstellar radio signals.



Later, I arrived at my first river in the north and quickly caught one of these:



I was pleased that I had my second trout down, but it appears that many NM streams are lousy with browns and I caught MANY more of them in streams that were supposed to hold other species. They apparently get in the water a quickly out compete other fish and take over.

Still, I was persistent and caught two more on the list, the rainbow trout and the Rio Grande cutthroat





It took some local intel to get me to a stream that held the final salmonid that I needed, not a true trout per se, but a charr.



Job done!

While chasing paper is fun in its own way, a big part of going fishing for me is slowing down, relaxing and enjoying the scenery, the atmosphere and the beauty of nature







One thing I really appreciate about the southwestern states is their sunrises and sunsets. They just seem more spectacular than they do here. I heard it has something to do with the very dry air.





I accomplished half of my goal, but fortunately my Arizona license is good until July 4th of 2021, so perhaps some time in the spring, before it gets too hot and dry, I値l venture down there again and make a second attempt at earning that piece of paper from Arizona Fish and Game. We値l see...