Gila Trout

[riverdog]

The tailwaters I wanted to fish are still running very high. I Decided to resort to plan B- drive down to SW New Mexico and give a 2nd try catching my first Gila Trout. I had spent a half day on a detour to visit my Uncle in the Tucson area (Oracle) about 3 weeks ago. That trip I came up short after trying 2 different waters. Hit my first water after nearly 4 hours of driving- half that time on dirt roads. Water was low and off color. Never saw a fish so gave up after 90 minutes. After 2 more hours on dirt roads I saw the stream was extremely low (probable 1-2 cfs) and never stopped. Drove another 90 minutes to hit pavement. Got cell coverage and realized I had 3 hours to drive to the next water but the sun was setting an hour before that.. Southwest NM roads (outside of the Interstate) both dirt and paved don't seem to have had any civil engineering input ever. Basically just old mining and logging roads with no thought of being an efficient means of transportation. Got to my 3rd water the next morning (which was the first water I tried 3 weeks ago). Fishing was real slow and nothing went right for hours. Lost about 4 fish in the first 3 or 4 hours. 1 was a Gila Trout that popped off about 8 feet from me. After eating lunch and planning to head home in another 30 minutes I finally hooked into and landed a 13 inch Gila Trout. Saw a family of Javelinas as I started the drive home. Snapped a pic of one as it crossed the road. Hit some very gusty winds as cooler weather moved in. Temps dropped from 82 to 59 in a hundred miles of driving North.
I'm planning to try for Apache trout next- probable late winter or spring. Actually easier to get to as I drove that way through the White Mountain Apache Tribal Lands on my way back from Oracle.
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[richyd4u]

That's cool...never heard of a gila trout. WTG
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[Tin-Can]

Spent several summers back in late 60's early 70's in the White Mountain Apache area. Cibique, McNary, Ft. Apache, Show Low, Dinosaur, several places along the White River. Last time I was in that area was in about 1979 heading to California from Georgia. Stopped for a couple hours at Bill's Pay Lake to let my 3 year old son do some fishing.
Not been in any of those areas since driving thru there in 1993 when I retired from USAF.
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[riverdog]

Gila Trout are native to just a few streams in Arizona and NM. They are all part of the Gila River Watershed. The Apache trout is the only other native trout of Arizona. Not sure if I have any other native trout on my list after Apache. I guess Pyramid Lake Lahontan Cutthroat are still on my bucket list. I have caught other Lahontan Cutts (different subspecies) in small streams in Nevada.
Tincan, you got me beat on AZ. I moved to Scottsdale in early Jan 1970. I was old enough to remember it. Did you catch any Apache trout back then? Not sure how many of the fish were around back then. Both Apache and Gila have taken some concerted effort to rebound the populations.
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