Fishing Report: “Bring ’Em Home Fit to Eat” 

Young Pond Stocking Alert: On December 23, 2025, NMDGF added close to 400 Triploid Rainbow Trout to Young Pond. Sourced from the Rock Lake Trout Rearing Facility, these fish measured roughly 10.2 inches, and accounted for around 170 lbs. total added to the city pond.

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Southwest New Mexico Fishing Report

• Bear Canyon Lake: Fishing conditions have been adversely affected in the aftermath of the Trout Fire.
• Elephant Butte Lake: The most recent report was received Dec. 18. At that time, fishing for catfish was good when using chicken.
• Gila River: Streamflow near Gila Wednesday morning was 59.9 cfs.
• Gila Waters: Streamflow near Gila Hot Springs Wednesday morning was 48.1 cfs.
• Glenwood Pond: The most recent report was received Dec. 18. At that time, fishing for trout was good when using PowerBait.
• Quemado Lake:The lake is currently closed due to an algal bloom. It will reopen when the New Mexico Environment Department advises that the lake is safe for public use. For more information, visit the Gila National Forest website.
• Rio Grande: Streamflow below Elephant Butte Dam on Wednesday morning was 0.77 cfs. 

Game and Fish received no reports for the following waterbodies over the past three weeks: Bill Evans Lake, Caballo Lake, Escondida Lake, Lake Roberts, Percha Dam, Rancho Grande Ponds, Snow Lake, Trees Lake and Young Pond.

Remember to let Game and Fish know how your fishing trip goes! Share your tips, tricks and stories with your fellow anglers by filling out the iFish form and let’s help the next generation of anglers find success. If you would like to submit a story for Tips, Tricks and Stories, please email Communications Director Darren Vaughan at Darren.Vaughan@dgf.nm.gov. 

Editor’s Note: This week, the Department is turning back the clock 55 years to the November-December 1970 edition of New Mexico Wildlife for some tips on how to prepare your catch once you’ve reeled it in, making it easier to keep them fresh.

Elementary Fishing — Bring ’Em Home Fit to Eat 

By Joseph D. Bates Jr.

Good recipes and expert cooks don’t add up to tasty fish dishes if fishermen spoil their catch before they get it home. The finest fish ever caught may be as tasteless as damp cardboard if he’s been allowed to slosh around in the water in the bottom of a boat for part of a day — or if he’s been left lying in the sun, especially when we’ve forgotten to clean him.

If you hanker for flavorful fish dishes that really are delicious, give the cook a fair chance. Keep your catch cool and dry; clean the fish as soon as possible, and get them to the refrigerator, the freezer or the skillet as quickly as you can.

This can be done even under adverse conditions. Once I wanted to bring home a pair of beautiful, big brook trout caught on a wilderness lake, but the trip back to civilization would take two days and we had no refrigeration. We cleaned the fish immediately, wiped them dry and rolled them inside and out in corn meal. Then, while still cool from the water, we wrapped them tightly in several thicknesses of newspapers. The corn meal helped to keep them dry and prevented their sticking to the paper. We kept them stored in the coolest places, and they were as tasty as freshly caught ones when served a few days later.

Nowadays we have portable refrigerators which we often take along anyway, even on wilderness trips. Plastic bags and the corn meal idea keep fish fresh in the ice boxes, and prevent them from contacting other foods. If the fish are prepared for cooking before rolling them in the meal, all that is necessary later is to pop them into a hot skillet. Many fishermen consider creels a nuisance and prefer to keep the catch in plastic bags, even when temporarily carried in the game pockets of fishing jackets.

Cleaning them is easy!

After catching them, take a break and clean the fish as soon as possible. A small, sharp sheath knife helps. My favorite has a four-inch blade with grooves on the top for scraping off scales. Hold the fish, belly up, in the palm of your hand, with thumb and forefinger in the gills so you’ll have a good grip. Slit the skin open from vent to gills, and make a cross cut at the head to sever the lower junction of the gills from the skin. Get a good grip on the gills and pull backward, thus pulling out all the gills and the “innards.” If part of any gills are left in, pull these out too, because they would hasten spoilage.

With this done, you’ll see a black streak down under the backbone. Scratch this with the point of the knife to slit the membrane which covers it. Then use your thumbnail to push out all the dark material. Since this also hastens spoilage, be sure it’s all removed, with any membrane remnants along with it. Scale the fish if necessary. You can postpone this until later but, if you use the corn meal treatment, it’s better to do it now. Finally, wipe the fish as dry as possible, and store it where it’s cool.

How to fillet fish

If you wish to cut the meat off the bones to obtain fillets, it’s not necessary to clean the fish if this is done fairly promptly. Lay the fish on a flat surface and make a cross cut just back of the gill covers from “A” to “B,” as shown in drawing 88. The cut is made all the way down to the backbone at the top of the head, and you’ll get most meat by sloping the knife slightly forward, just back of the bony part of the head. The depth of the cut grows less as you cut down to the neck — just deep enough to slice the flesh but not enough to cut into the body cavity.

Next, make a deep cut from this one along the top of the back, as close to the dorsal fin as possible. Slice this down to the backbone. Now, at point “C,” insert the knife with blade fiat and pointing backward so you can push it through the flesh to the vent. To get all the flesh possible, let the knife follow along the backbone and slice backward until the back of the fillet is sliced free.

Your fingers now can pull the flesh near the head away from the row of spines which includes the dorsal fin. Holding the meat off the ribs. As the fillet is cut free, it is easy to cut along the ribs down to the belly of the fish. A few slices along the ribcage will free the fillet and, if the job has been done properly, nearly all the meat will come off with the fillet.

Do the same on the other side, and you have two fillets. All that’s left is the head and tail, connected by the skeleton, with the body cavity untouched. While we sometimes remove the innards (as described above) and pop the rest into the chowder pot, usually these remains are of use only to the family cat. (You probably could have filleted two or three fish in the time it took to read this!)

How to skin the fillets

I’ve watched salt water charter-boat captains skin fillets; they can do it in seconds. With a sturdy, sharp, narrowbladed knife whose blade is a little longer than the fillet is wide, it shouldn’t take much longer, even for a beginner. Lay the fillet, skin side down, on a flat surface. Starting at the tail end, make a small slice along the inside of the skin to start to separate the meat from the skin. Holding this small end of free skin, lay the knife flat along the inside of the skin and push it forward with a slight sawing motion. A flat cut will make the knife follow along the skin to slice the skin free with no meat left on it. (Some people use pliers to hold the end of the skin, but I’ve never seen experts bother with them.) A glance at drawing 89 should quickly show how this is done.