If you think that fishing is something that’s only done on warm summer days, then you’ve never experienced the challenge of ice fishing. With portable ice huts and heaters, the challenge isn’t keeping warm; it’s finding and catching the fish.
“Once the ice on Eagle Nest Lake reaches nine inches thick the lake opens for ice fishing,” Marshall Garcia, Park Manager at Eagle Nest Lake State Park said.
Although you can walk on the ice if you choose, Garcia said, you can also head out on the lake via snowmobile, all terrain vehicle or four-wheeler. “We’re the only state park in New Mexico that allows motorized vehicles, although they are allowed only on the lake surface itself. You have to trailer them to the park and launch at the boat ramp,” Garcia said.
It’s critical to make certain that ice depth and conditions are safe for fishing before you go. For updated ice conditions, call the park office at 575-377-1594 or go to www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/EaglesNest.htm. After hours, you can hear the report on their offices answering machine. The thickness of the ice varies every year. Last year, there were 22 inches of ice on Eagle Nest Lake.
With yellow perch, rainbow trout, and kokanee salmon in the lake, the rewards of ice fishing can be delicious. Daily bag limits are the same throughout the year: 30 yellow perch, and a combined total of five rainbow trout and kokanee salmon.
Keeping Warm
No permanent shelters are allowed on the lake, but you can bring an ice hut. Just make sure to take it off the ice each evening.
“Don’t be afraid of the weather. You can pick and choose your days,” Mark Stewart of Dos Amigos Anglers in Eagle Nest said. If you don’t have a portable shelter, just wait for a sunny day when the wind isn’t howling and you can enjoy a beautiful day on the lake. Fishing down under — under the ice that is — gives you a great excuse to get outside, shake off cabin fever and maybe even catch dinner.
Ice fishing doesn’t require much in the way of equipment. A bucket to sit on, an ice auger to bore a hole in the ice, a fishing license and a pole are about all that’s needed. Although you can use the same pole that you use in the summer, a shorter pole is easier to manipulate in the confines of an ice hut.
Jigging is a popular way to catch fish. Just put on a flashy lure, tip it with a bit of bait, then “jig” the line up and down to attract the fish. Ice jigs tipped with corn, wax worms, mill worms, home made dough bait or salmon eggs for perch are popular on Eagle Nest Lake.
If the action slows, try changing the color of your jig or the size of your jig (smaller is usually better for ice fishing). You may even want to try a different jigging motion. Instead of an up and down motion, try holding the line between your thumb and index finger and rolling the line between your fingers, which causes the jig to spin. When fishing for perch, you might also want to try bouncing the jig off the bottom.
So what makes an otherwise sane person peer down a hole in the ice for hours?
Any die-hard angler knows that ice fishing not only extends the season, but also challenges his or her skills. For some it’s also the solitude. Fisherman vs. fish, man vs. Mother Nature, the solitary pursuit of finding and catching fish from under a layer of ice. And yet, others enjoy the social aspects of ice fishing. Although Eagle Nest Lake does not have the “shantytowns” that spring up on lakes in the upper Midwest, there’s still the chance to exchange fish stories with your ice fishing neighbors.
“For those who don’t use a fish finder, finding the fish is an enjoyable challenge,” Stewart said. “Temperature, depth, current, bottom terrain can all affect where you find the fish. You’re on top of the ice. The fish are underneath. You’re blind. There are tricks of the trade to learn to find the fish, and once you do, you will have a very successful day of fishing,” he added.
Early ice
“Early ice is the best,” said Stewart. Seek him out at Dos Amigos Anglers in Eagle Nest for information on what bait the fish are biting on and for other tips on ice fishing.
So what is the real appeal of ice fishing? It’s simple: You might catch fish.
Stewart organizes the Eagle Nest Lake Ice Fishing Series, which will be held on Saturday, Jan. 19 (Martin Luther King weekend), weather permitting. There will be door prizes and a cash payout based on the number of entrants. The winner is the angler with the heaviest stringer.
There were 63 entrants in the initial tournament in 2005. The event was canceled in 2006 due to weather. Last year saw 36 anglers despite it taking place during a blinding snowstorm. Registration
for the 2008 contest will take place the day of the event from 8-10 a.m. Contact Mark Stewart at
575-377-6226.
— Story by Barbara Theisen
