Fishing The Chama River at El Vado Ranch

El Vado Ranch

One of Northern New Mexico's Premier Trout Fishing Spots

Spent some quality time at David Coopers ranch in September. We were only there for a few days, but, found plenty of time to get in some trout fishing. Check out the fish below. I caught this beautiful brown about downstream from the ranch. The fish is approximately 22 inches in length and was pretty big and fat! The Chama river trout fight as hard as any fish I've caught anywhere. This particular fish fought for well over 10 minutes before I was able to finally land it. In fact, I never got a look at the fish, other that a couple magestic arial leaps in the middle of the river, until just before I netted it.

I have been fishing at Coopers El Vado Ranch (http://www.elvado.com/) since I was a little child. In fact, I grew up with current ranch owner, David Cooper. David took over the ranch from his parents some years ago. The ranch is located near the El Vado Dam and is approximately a 2 hour drive north from Santa Fe, New Mexico. The ranch has some of the best fishing around. The cabins at the ranch are well maintained and equipped for full kitchens. I suggest that you make a grocery stop at the Walmart in Espanola before coming up as the nearest restaurant is High Country in Chama.

While you are up in Northern New Mexico, you also should take a day and drive 2 hours over to Navajo Dam. Just below the dam is the San Juan River. This river is world famous and contains some incredible fish. I took my father, Roy Lein, over for a day of fishing and he and I had an incredible time. We caught plenty of fish and really enjoyed our day together. The river is catch and release and no live bait can be utilized. We grabbed a guide and used a float boat which I highly recommend. This river is truly too deep to effectively wade much. There are some nice spots for wading, however, those spots would be pretty hard to hike into.

You can see a complete photo gallery of the float trip by clicking the following link: (http://flylineusa.com/san-juan-river-float-trip.html). I promise you that a day at the San Juan will be well worth the trip.