And despite the crowds around the hatchery, the fishing is usually productive, especially in the canyon's stairstep pools below. Make sure to visit the public sections of the headwaters as winter turns into spring, and then again when the snow has melted. This big river used to enjoy a reputation in the 1950s and 1960s as one of the top trout spots in the nation, but the river's trout population and the numbers of large fish declined in the 1970s and 1980s. To a large degree, the river has recovered. The Rio Grande cuts a mighty path on its 70-mile southward course from Colorado, through the wide valleys of New Mexico.
Various springs feed the river.
Pike have become the winter draw on the river. Look for deep, slow pools, fish rainbow trout streamers and hold on. Trout lovers can drop a line for big browns and fat rainbows and a decent population of cutthroat trout. Cast around rocks, along current edges, foam eddies, and at the head and tail of pools. The Rio Grande runs for miles north to south out west of Questa and Taos.