Well, guess I made everyone wait long enough. Jody has kicked my
butt good since I've been back from NM. She says that If I can go
fishing and wade the Cimarron River, I can danged well get out and cut
the grass! She did feel sorry for me last nite tho, when she saw that
my ankle had swelled considerably.
One last thought for Part I. Supper Wednesday night was Chicken Fajitas
with all the trimmings, including Green Chiles that one of our group had
brought. Our bunch puts Green Chilies on everything except ice cream
and iced tea.
I spent the rest of day one, (Wednesday), on the Cimarron, catching and
releasing about 25 more browns. Nothing in the 18" league, but some
good solid 14 inchers. Wading staff held up OK after the break. Ankle
only swelled minimally Wed.
Thursday,DAY II _ Got up bright and early and drove up to look at the
Middle Ponil, which was in the heart of the 98,000 acre fire,
(June-July), (largest in NM history). We'd electro-shocked a one-mile
section of the Ponil in the summer of 2,000 and then poisoned it that
October, to get rid of all fish. We'd put weirs on each end of the mile
long stretch to keep any fish from getting in and in the Spring of 2001
we stocked the Ponil with 5,000 Rio Grande Cutthroats, hoping to
re-introduce a native reporducing population. All went well until the
fire. It was so HOT that all the water was literally sucked out of the
stream ! Hard to believe, but take it from me, there wasn't a drop of
water in the Ponil! Of course we didn't do any fishing there.
After seeing the distruction of the forest and the total loss of the
Cutthroat fishery, we traveled some 23 miles to the Rayado River which
is 11 miles south of the Cimarron. The Rayado was very, very low. Keep
in mind that the Cimarron area only received 30% of its annual snowfall
last winter. We started fishing near the Kit Carson Museum and fished
up toward an area called Zastro. The Rayado, plus the Cimarron where we
fished Wed. and the Ponil are part of the 137,000 acre Philmont Scout
Ranch.
For the first mile up the Rayado we caught nothing but "Chubs". They
were so hungry that they'd attack any fly, in droves. We were using dry
flies because the Rayado is primarily a Rainbow fishery and the water
was not much more than a foot deep. No rainbows did we catch or see,
just Chub City. Also, with the water being low, the temperature was
considerably above 70 degrees. The bows were further upstream and the
further up the Rayado we went, the colder the water got. We came upon
several beaver dams late in the afternoon and one man-made dam, put up
by the Philmont Conservation group. This made for some nice pools
colder water and a few small rainbows.
Supper Thursday night was held at the Old Mill In Cimarron, and was
hosted by Philmont and the CS Cattle Company. Main course was T-Bone
steak, not your run of the mill T-Bone, but giant T-Bones from Buffalo.
If you've never eaten Buffalo, you're missing a real treat. It is
leaner than beef, and to me it is much more tasty. Along with the
T-Bones we had baked potatos, roasted corn on the cob, ranch beans, and
Green Chilies on the side. Also, as the group gathered, ( 60 of us from
all over the US), there were plenty of beverages - Guiness, Corona,
Tecate, Bud, Miller and even Shiner Bock. Also available was an
assortment of liquor - JD, JB, Johnny Walker Red, Cutty Sark and gin and
vodka. I don't drink beer, but do like JD and coke. During the
gathering period we also toured the Old Mill, constructed in the
mid-1800's and now a full blown museum of western artifacts, most of
which came from Colfax County of which Cimarron is a part.
After supper, there were door prize drawings. Hand made knives, silver
jewelry, caps, fly boxes full of flies. Sets of engraved water/whiskey
glasses, and the Grand Prize, an Orvis Trident 5 pc travel rod and
aluminum case and companion Orvis CFO fly reel. I didn't win anything
this year, but 4 of our group got knives, and caps. I won a Thomas &
Thomas 4 wt last year, so I didn't feel at all bad!
After that we went back to the cabin, lit up the cigars and lied about
all the fish that we caught / didn't catch that day. By 10 p.m.
Mountain Time, we were all ready to hit the hay. Friday would be a BIG
day, for we were to fish the upper Rayado Pocket Water. There would be
some good sized rainbows up there.
Stay tuned for Part III tomorrow - We had a helluva breakfast!
Cheers,
JIMMY
