Get a New Mexico fishing license and see if you can catch some of NM's finest aquatic residents.Gone Native
The historic range of the Rio Grande cutthroat is not definitely known, although it likely encompassed all waters presently capable of supporting trout in the Rio Grande drainage, including the Chama, Jemez, and Rio San Jose drainages along with "trout" waters of the Pecos and Canadian drainages. Populations of this subspecies in New Mexico inhabit isolated headwaters of three major drainages. Of these, the Rio Grande drainage has the most populations with 23 in the Sangre de Cristo mountains.The distribution of the Rio Grande cutthroat trout is presently limited primarily to headwater tributaries within the subspecies' native range. The southernmost distribution of the subspecies is in Indian Creek in the Lincoln National Forest, and in Animas Creek in the Gila National Forest, of southern New Mexico. The range stretches north to headwater tributaries of the Rio Grande in the Rio Grande and San Juan National Forests in southwestern Colorado.
Surveys from the 1970s and 1980s verified 62 populations of genetically pure or relatively pure Rio Grande cutthroat trout populations in New Mexico. Fifty-five of them occur on National Forest lands.
German Browns
The brown trout, which is native to Europe and western Asia, was first introduced into the United States in 1883 (Courtenay et al. 1984) and now occurs widely throughout much of the United States and Canada.Salmo trutta is exotic in the state and has been introduced into most major drainages of the state during the early 1900s
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
The rainbow trout is also found in Pacific Coast drainages from Rio del Presidio, Durango, Mexico, north to Kuskokwim River, Alaska (Needham and Gard 1959). Interior occurrences include those in the Fraser River, British Columbia, and upstream portions of the Columbia River basin.Oncorhynchus mykiss was first introduced into the state in 1896 when it was stocked in Bluewater Creek (near Grants) and Eagle Creek (near Ruidoso). Since that time the rainbow trout has been introduced extensively into all major drainages of the state.
Salmon
Kokanee (the nonanadromous form) occurs naturally in inland waters along the coast in USSR and Japan along with the Pacific Coast of North America north from Washington and Idaho. It has been introduced widely elsewhere.Oncorhynchus nerka was first introduced into the state in 1963. Occurrences are known from: Navajo, Eagle Nest, Heron, El Vado, Abiquiu, Santa Cruz, Roberts, and Jackson lakes. The species is probably wiped out in the latter three sites. It is also known from the Chama River in and upstream of Abiquiu Lake
(Info courtesy of New Mexico Game and Fish)
