Fly Fishing Rio de los Pinos

Fly fishing Rio de los Pinos takes you to one of the least-known trout streams in New Mexico, a river that spends its whole New Mexico life within a few miles of the Colorado line. The Los Pinos rises in the South San Juan Mountains of Colorado, drops into New Mexico, runs roughly twenty miles through remote Rio Arriba County, and then reaches the state line near Ortiz, where it joins the Rio San Antonio, which carries its water north to the Conejos River and on to the Rio Grande. This page covers the lower public water on the New Mexico side: the Carson National Forest reach around Rio de Los Pinos Campground and, a few miles downstream, the meadows of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Rio de los Pinos Wildlife and Fishing Area, a little over seven river miles from top to bottom at about 8,100 to 8,300 feet.

This is a classic freestone. The lower river runs twenty-five to forty feet wide, with riffles that are often less than a foot deep, runs that deepen to four feet, and pools that can reach ten feet. In the national forest the stream slides through ponderosa and mixed conifer, with gravel bars and bankside willows; in the Wildlife and Fishing Area it winds through open grassy bottomland and cottonwoods, where years of habitat work have added in-stream structure, deeper pools and new streamside plantings. Between the two public blocks the river crosses roughly three miles of private ranch land that is fenced and posted.

The fishery is a mix of wild brown trout and rainbows. Most browns run eight to twelve inches, but the deeper runs and pools give up browns of eighteen inches every season. Rainbows in the lower river typically measure nine to fourteen inches, and fish that hold over through the winter can reach sixteen to eighteen. The trout are rarely fussy during a good hatch, although selective risers appear when the smaller mayflies come off in quiet water.

The river's calendar is shaped by a large snowmelt watershed. Runoff comes early and hard, swelling the river to many times its summer level through late spring, and the season really opens once flows drop back into a clear, wadeable band in midsummer. Winter stoneflies and early caddis bring the first dry-fly fishing before runoff, a strong golden stonefly hatch follows as the water begins to fall, and early summer adds little yellow stoneflies, small yellow mayflies off the fast water, blue quills in the slower pools, and a large mayfly that has never been positively identified but draws up some of the river's best fish. Caddis carry through summer, grasshoppers and ants work the meadow banks late in the season, and fall brings blue-winged olives and good streamer water for bigger browns.

Getting there is part of the adventure. Most anglers come from Antonito, Colorado, heading south on US 285 to Ortiz and then west on the gravel Los Pinos River Access Road into New Mexico, reaching the Wildlife and Fishing Area after about five miles. The road continues past the private stretch to the Forest Road 284 and 87A bridge, and Forest Road 284 follows the river upstream past Rio de Los Pinos Campground. Chama is the nearest New Mexico town, over Cumbres Pass, and Albuquerque's airport is roughly three and a half hours away. Snow and spring mud can close the gravel roads, so plan on summer and fall visits.