Visit the Rio Chama below Abiquiu Lake for winter trout fishing

The Rio Chama below Abiquiu Lake.

Every winter it seems there’s a spell of warm sunny days in northern New Mexico where anglers just have to get out and go fishing.

And on days like that they may as well just head straight for the Rio Chama below the dam at Abiquiu Lake. 

Long considered a winter fishery the river is regularly stocked with trout by the state Department of Game and Fish.

The river boasts about five miles of public access from the base of the dam downstream to just outside the village of Barranca near Abiquiu.

And in recent years about two miles of river directly below the dam received habitat improvements and other upgrades that have significantly improved fishing and recreation conditions.

The river channel has been narrowed, deepened and boulders were installed to improve the fishing habitat.

The river is designated special trout water with a bag limit of two from the bridge crossing the river on U.S. Highway 84 at Abiquiu for about 7 miles upstream to the base of Abiquiu Dam. Standard bait and lures along with typical fly fishing fare works well on the many stocked rainbow trout found here. 

The author with a stocked rainbow trout.

But for some the beauty of this place isn’t so much the fishing as it is the scenery. This is Georgia O’Keeffe  country with plenty of colorful cliffs, snow covered hillsides and expansive blue skies to admire.

Along the river just below the dam visitors will find a parking and picnic area with several shelters and a sturdy vault toilet. Further downstream several other picnic and parking areas are carved out by the riverside. The surrounding land is rugged and remote and well suited for hiking. 

A day use area with picnic tables, shelters, parking and a vault toilet welcomes visitors to the recreational area.

After a few miles though the river and its dirt road part ways only to reconnect again on the other side of a steep mountain.

Two track trails crisscross the area with most leading into the thick brush and dense cottonwood stands found along the riverside. 

Those with the motive and means can now continue downstream and enjoy a whole’nother stretch of river, one where the hatchery truck doesn’t visit and the fish are fewer and farther between. The resident brown trout here are decidedly harder to find and catch than their upstream kin.

An angler tries his luck in one of the fishing holes found further downstream from the dam. 

The countryside here is vast, remote and worthy of exploration but the road eventually grows rutted and mean as it squeezes through a narrow, rocky canyon marking the end of the public land.

Emerging on the other side the road turns back to pavement and winds away from the river through the rural village of Barranca.  A last ditch shot at fishing lies ahead where a roadside/riverside picnic area has been carved out just before reaching the highway at Abiquiu.

The Rio Chama with Cerrito Blanco in the background at Abiquiu N.M.