lower box gila river new mexico disappointment

[creed_az_88]

Last May a few friends and I loaded up the inflatable pontoons and headed for new mexico. We did a couple day float on the lower box in new mexico from red rock to above virden. We floated through some awesome country filled with animals but the fishing was very poor. We caught less than 10 channel cats the entire trip and one very small flathead. We didn't lay eyes on one carp the entire float which is unusual in unpressured water. We had a good time but the fishing was a real disappointment. Did I miss something? Was there a big die off? Were there fires in new mexico the past few years that killed a lot of fish in the new Mexico side of the gila? Or are there just not much fish in that portion of the river? I have a hard time believing that that portion of the river doesn't maintain a healthy fishery during normal circumstances. Maybe we just didn't have what it took to catch fish. Can somebody please help me out on this one. I'm to this day still shocked we didn't catch more fish. Is the upper portions of the river in better condition fish wise?

 

 

-creed

[Norteno]

Was hoping you had some photos to share from this trip. Since you were on the river and not at work I wouldn't call it a disappointment.

My cousin works for one of the hatcheries for NMGF. I'll see if she knows anything.

[turkeyneck]

Was last falls flooding a factor?

[mr.smith]

I think there is an effort to remove non native fish and make this a sucker/chub river. Not sure though, could just be bad fishing.

[creed_az_88]

Definitely not a true disappointment. Never a disappointment when you're in new country with good people but it just was not what I was expecting. Maybe I've just been spoiled with really good fishing on remote sections of river in az, especially pre-wallow fire. If I don't get any answers here I might just try to contact nmgfd and see if they may know. They'll probably just tell me I suck at fishing haha. Not catching fish wasn't so bad, but floating for a few days straight and not seeing any fish swimming in the river was strange. The gila box in az is usually full of visible fish, at least carp. Or at least it used to be before the fire. There were no shad, no minnows, no visible fish of any sort except for the few cats that we caught. We just assumed at the time that the few catfish that we managed to catch were hardy enough to survive whatever else may have killed the rest of the fish. The removal of non native fish by game and fish is a possibility. I can see how that stretch of river would be ideal habitat for native fish.

[creed_az_88]

So after a little digging around I read that a 300,000 acre fire in the gila wilderness in 2012 had a lot of ash runoff in the upper tributaries of the gila. This is no doubt what has caused the poor fishing we encountered. I now feel fortunate to have caught the fish that we did catch. There are enough fish left in the river that it will rebound but it may take awhile. Hopefully within a few years this stretch of river will be healthy enough to fish again. Seems that the entire gila from start to San Carlos lake got affected by ash runoff and will likely need a few years of recovery.

[Andy]

You are right, the runoff from the fire did a number on the gila. I know some people that floated it last year sometime and only caught one fish.

[creed_az_88]

What section did they float? Both the gila and the San Francisco could really use some help. The resources might not be there, but it would be nice to see both arizona and new mexico game and fish work together and stock both rivers in both states with the same fish that have been in those rivers for years. Wishful thinking most likely but hopefully well see a comeback.