Desert Crimson's Blog

Fishing in Riudoso

03 Aug 2010 Leave a Comment

by desertcrimson in Trips

This past weekend, J took me fishing in Riudoso for my birthday.  For those that don’t know me, I truly love to fish so this was one of the most perfect trips he could have planed for us.  This was a last minute trip, we didn’t find a place to stay until Thursday so our choices were limited.  I had wanted to stay in a cabin but they were booked up, so we ended up staying in a hotel in Riudoso Downs.

Riudoso is a vacation spot up in the Sierra Blanca mountain range in southern New Mexico.  It’s only a couple of hours outside of Las Cruces but it is completely different from where we live.  The area we live in is more of a desert terrain but up in Riudoso there are trees, lakes and grass.  The temp’s are also alot lower, at night it get’s a little chilly.  During the summer months you can fish, hike or go horseback riding.  During winter you can go to Sky Apache, which is the area’s sky lodge.  I’m not quite sure if this is accurate or not, but it claims to be the southern most sky site in the US.

Anyway, we got there Friday evening, on my birthday and checked into our hotel.  We ended up staying at the Day’s Inn in Riudoso Downs, which is next to the town of Riudoso.  Now, everyone probablyknows that the Day’s Inn chain of hotels are not the most lux.  But, it suited our purposes and it really drove home the point of making early reservations!  The room was clean and the mattress was new so it really wasn’t that bad.  We managed to make the most of it but we won’t be doing that again!

Saturday morning we got up really early and loaded up the Tribute and headed out.  We fished out of a private lake on the Mescalero Tribal Reservation.  It was just gorgeous!  After we got our fishing permit, we drove around to the far side of the lake, parked, and made our way down the trail.  There were a couple of guys who were already out at the lake and I could tell they watched us as we tried to make our way across the marsh.  I am so glad J had me pack our work boots because we went through some really nasty muck.  It was worth it though, we had a great spot with a little shade.  We set up our chairs and J got our lures and bait out.  Our bait consisted of a can of corn, which made me wonder if we would catch anything!  I had wanted to get other types of bait but J had insisted that the corn would do the trick.  Before we made our first cast, I asked J if he thought we’d have any luck.  He admitted that he didn’t know but even if we didn’t catch a thing, we would have a good time.   Later on, I wondered how I could ever have doubted him!

I cast first and almost immediately had a bite and before I knew it, was reeling in our first catch!  It was a pretty little trout, about 10 inches long, give or take.  I was so excited!  I could tell J was as well, he really struggled to get the hook out but he managed.  Once he got my trout on the stringer, he cast and instantly had one on HIS line!  That’s how it went for the first hour or so, one after another, they just jumped on our lines!  Some we kept, alot we threw back becuase they were too little.  We ended up keeping 8, I lost track of how many we threw back in.  The other folks who were fishing did not have near the luck that we had.  The two guys who were there when we arrived were a little put out as they had not caught a single fish.  We could hear them talking (it was so quiet on the lake) about the different bait they had tried.  One of which was some kind of “power” bait!  They finally called out to us, asking what we were using.   I felt a surge of pride at J’s knowledge in the ways of the Trout!

As more people started arriving at the lake, the strikes became farther and farther apart.  We finally packed up around 10:30 or so and went back to the hotel room to clean up.  We decided that we needed to clean the fish so J gutted the fish in the sink.  I helped by holding the bag with the fish.  I felt so guilty about what we were doing that when the maids came by to clean up the room, I almost didn’t open the door!  I don’t know why I felt so guilty, we really weren’t doing anything wrong.  It just felt wrong to be cutting up fish in the sink.

Once J had all the fish properly gutted, we packed them in bags and put them in the room’s fridge.  We cleaned up and decided to go get something to eat.  We were both pretty hungry.  The danish from the “continental” breakfast just didn’t last very long.   So, on the recommendation from a friend, we decided to get some barbeque at a place called ‘Can’t Stop Smokin’“.  It was ok, not as good as I’d hoped but decent.  You have to remember, I’m from a part of the country that was the best barbeque in the world!  They couldn’t help it if they just didn’t know how to cook up some good ‘ole chopped pork.  Oh how I miss you, Full Moon!

What a wonderful day it was!  We both really enjoyed ourselves and I loved being out in such a secluded part of the country  Once we ate, we walked around Riudoso for a bit then went back to the room where we took a well-deserved nap.  

On sunday, we packed up and went back home.  On the way, we went through White Sands.  I had never been there so we stopped and drove through the park.  There were alot of families out, enjoying the sun and sand.  We parked the car and climbed up one of the dunes.  I wished we could have stayed longer than we did, I would have loved to sled down the dune!

I really love my husband, he knows exactly what I like and can be the sweetest person in the world.  I really enjoyed our trip and hope y’all enjoyed reading about it.