An Orvis-Endorsed Expert Guide Service- Offering Guided Fishing Trips In New Mexico And Founded By Noah Parker
On a secluded morning you might find yourself walking on a New Mexico trail, wandering across flowered meadows and through shady forests, but you will be wide awake as you anticipate plump trout waiting for you to grab your rod and flies. As you put on your waders, you clear your mind for a serene day of casting lines to the sound of babbling clear waters.
One of the best things about fishing in New Mexico is the year-round season for most waters. Add to that the broad variety of species from panfish to trout, bass and catfish, northern pike and walleye, and you have one of the best places to fish in the nation.
New Mexico has rich and abundant wildlife as well and most of it is concentrated somewhere within the vicinity of a river or stream - water is life in the high desert. During a day of fly-fishing, you may see mule deer, elk and pronghorn antelope. Along the streams, you will see the tracks of raccoons, muskrats, coyotes and other wildlife. There’s a chance you will come upon where beavers have built their dams or where they have cut down willows and cottonwoods. You may even find the footprints and scat of a black bear or the chewed off tips of ponderosa pine, a sure sign that a tassel-eared squirrel is in the area. Chances are good that you will see at least one or more of these animals on a fly-fishing trip in Northern New Mexico.
Noah Parker, owner of the guide service said that the area surprises many visitors.
“They expect all of New Mexico to be dry desert with nothing but cactus, but it’s not,” he said. “The northern part of the state is mountainous and filled with a lot of Alpine forests.
The area that Parker fishes out of is near Chama, an area filled with high mountain meadow creeks, steep gradient freestone streams, small headwaters, larger rivers and tail waters below dams in Northern New Mexico's fishing waters
The Chama River is probably one of the West's most undiscovered and diverse trout rivers. Starting in the mountains on the Colorado border, it flows as a freestone stream for many miles through wildflower-laden meadows, a four-mile stretch of the river, two lakes and forests of ponderosa, Douglas fir, blue spruce, oak, conifer and aspens.
Elevations range from 8,000 to 10,000 feet.
“The fishing is amazing up here, and it’s kind of something people are just finding out,” Parker said. “We get all types of people coming to us to learn to fish. We had a four-year-old boy who wanted to hold the pole in the boat, and we had a World War II vet. People who don’t even know they like to fish usually find out they in fact, do.”
Parker started fishing at very early age with his father on many of the classic trout streams in the Catskills and New England. At about ten years old, Parker started tying flies and selling them to make extra money. In his early twenties, Parker’s love of the water and all things involving fishing led him to a career as a commercial angler. Working off the coast of New England, he ran his own boats fishing for lobster, cod and Bluefin tuna. After over twenty years on the ocean, he has gone back, full time, to his first love of fly- fishing and fly-tying. Parker moved with his family to northern New Mexico in 2004, where he has been fishing and guiding ever since.
“I always dreamed of making my living as a fishing guide, and my wife and I made it happen,” said Parker. “I came to this area in my late teens, and it took a while to get back, but I finally did it. I haven’t done much in my life but fish, but that’s a good thing.”
Parker and his team provide all the fly-fishing gear you will need (Sage and Orvis rods & reels, custom tied flies, wading gear) on all of their fishing trips, at no additional cost. The usual price for an 8-10 hour day of fishing on the river is $210 a person. They offer transportation to and from most of the fishing; spots and day trips include lunch, drinks and snacks. All of their inclusive New Mexico fly-fishing packages also include all meals and lodging.
Parker said he can take people fishing on a boat, in a lake or even from one of the many areas where people park their RV’s and fish on the river, mainly because New Mexico has more fishing spots than people to fish them.
Candice Reed
A graduate of Kelsey-Jenny College in Communications as well as a certified grant writer, Candice has written for The Los Angeles Times & The New York Times. She loves entertaining and all things French.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Santa Fe Skies RV Park, located just south of Santa Fe city rested on the top of a hill. Visitors can enjoy the wonders of the nation's oldest capital city and take in the spectacular beauty of the region.