On 1 June,18 of the 20 lucky winners of the club sponsored lottery to fish Cow Creek Ranch met at 6:30 a.m. at the Lowes on Paseo Del Norte’s parking lot. Car pools were organized and we set off for Cow Creek Ranch. Knowing that folks would get separated driving the interstate, we all met at the Glorieta/Pecos exit where many of the anglers had a cup of coffee from a coffee truck. The truck is like a food truck except it serves all kinds of coffee drinks at lower prices than Starbucks. We departed the exit and traveled caravan style past the village of Pecos to the end of the paved road to gravel washboard, to the dirt road, over a stretch of rocky road, to the recently graded ranch road.
After rendezvousing at the Ranch, Lanier Hartnagel, the owner of the Ranch explained to the group the rules of fishing on the Ranch including how to release a fish that has been caught. She also explained to the group that this was a special deal we had been given since she only allows people to fish on the Ranch with a guide. Waters on the Ranch had been divided into twelve beats, these were assigned to the group with two anglers assigned to each beat during the morning. In the afternoon, the anglers were told to fish wherever the wanted with the understanding that should not infringe upon water being fished by another angler.
Just about everyone caught fish with some catching more that others. Some probably caught the largest rainbow trout of the their life. Many fat 20 inch plus trout were landed and one angler, who fished the stream reach above the developed water, caught four species of trout.
An afternoon rain put a damper on some of the fishing, but once it stopped the fishing activity was back to normal. It did however, make for some muddy roads on the way home.
In talking with many of the group members, all were positive about the event and would like to see having the Club do it again. At our most recent Board of Directors meeting we discussed the event and how it should perhaps be changed in the future if we have it at Cow Creek Ranch. Should we do a lottery with the stipulation that the winners pay part of the cost? Should we scale back the number of participants? We would like your input and ideas on the issue. So your thoughts, PLEASE.
For me, it was an enjoyable outing, but was at times like herding cats. I hope all of you who participated had a great time.
Jerry Burton, President NMT