Fishing in January

Fi Fishing is starting to pick up. We caught some nice size white bass. This was the third week in January -- open water -- warm enough for shorts. Although the water temp is around 48 degrees. We hear from the local guides that come February we should be able to start catching walleyes in some of the deep holes in the river -- the Rio Grande -- downstream from the lake. The lake istself is full of debris from the runoff. The snow in the mountains up by the border of New Mexico and Colorado melts and runs into the river. You would not believe the garbage floating in the water. It's worse than when the ice melts and leaves all the garbage on the shoreline of Mille Lacs.

Jim took some pictures of mule deer. They are hidden amongst the cactus. They have very large ears -- seems to be a trait for a lot of the desert animals around here. This group of deer hang out in the state park -- close to the lake. Deer hunting isn't allowed in the park but duck hunting is -- and duck hunting is still open.

Deer hunting is finally over so we are going to try exploring in the mountains. It's been impossible with all the hunting going on up there. Hunters everywhere -- camped out. They would pull all sorts of campers up into the mountains. You can camp pretty much anywhere in the national forest up there. We are hoping that once its quiet again up in the mountains we will be able to catch a glimpse of some elk.