Ice Fishing Opens at Eagle Nest Lake

Nancy Loritsch of Eagle Nest shows off a nice trout caught while ice fishing recently at the lake in northern New Mexico. Photo courtesy of Nancy Loritsch.

Eagle Nest lake is now open to ice fishing with anglers catching perch and trout and having a great time while they’re at it.

“We had a pretty good crowd of happy anglers on opening day last Saturday (Jan. 3, 2015)” said Marshall Garcia, superintendent at Eagle Nest Lake State Park. “Now we’ll just have to see how long it’ll last.”

Last year the lake was only open to ice fishing for three weeks before unseasonably warm weather, wind and waves conspired to break up the ice.

“So think cold,” Garcia suggested.

A recent week-long cold snap featuring subzero temperatures created the ice a few weeks earlier than normal this year, Garcia said.

The lake will remain open to ice fishing as long as it maintains a thickness of at least 9 inches.

And with New Mexico’s wacky winter weather of late running between bitter cold and snow one day to sunny, t-shirt weather the next, who knows how long this ice will last.

As of this week ice fishing was also available at Bluewater and Surgarite State Parks, according to the NM State Parks announcements page on their website.

Ice fishing in New Mexico is a traditional winter sport that requires little more than a great desire to be outside and some rudimentary fishing equipment.

For tips and tricks on ice fishing see this related article found on our sister site at www.outdoorsnewmexico.com.

 The lake's annual ice fishing tournament is back after being cancelled last year due to warm weather and bad ice. It is scheduled for Feb. 7, 2015 and should be lots of fun with plenty of prizes available. Follow the link for more info.
http://www.enl-cc-parkfriends.org/activities.htm