Fly Fishing 2025 - A Look Back

It was a good year with sporty times on my trout streams. The spring runoff  on my home waters was significantly below the normal flows we typically see, and that caused some very slow trout fishing for the first half of the year. Turned out to be a blessing, and motivated me to go south and chase one of the rarest trout species in the contiguous USA...the Gila Trout. The trip had some nice surprises, with one of them catching my personal best Gila trout. That memory will be imprinted in my brain forever. Wow!

Another fun thing for me this year was pursuing the New Mexico Grand Slam. That's what I call it, to land all five trout species that swim in New Mexico waters. And, that goal became a reality in July from a fishing trip in the northern part of our state...where I often go for an 'art fix' and to float a dry fly. Yup, floating a #12 Flying Ant was the magic dry fly that completed my slam in a beautiful mountainous area at high altitude. That dry fly brought in a Rio Grande Cutthroat and Brook trout to complete my Grand Slam.

And, then there is Colorado, the nirvana of fly fishing. This state has the most trout rich streams of any place I fly fish in the USA. Beautiful! I had some fabulous times fishing Colorado streams this year where I landed many beautiful Rio Grande Cutthroat. That's my favorite trout species, whether they are swimming in Colorado or New Mexico streams.

 A very good fly fishing year, indeed!!!

Below are a few photos from 2025, a random selection, and in no particular order: