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Seasons and Weather in Taos, New Mexico Current Conditions and Forecast »
Northern new Mexico provides the wonderful and unique opportunity to fish all year round, with no closed season on fishing. Each month provides different opportunities for fishing experiences, scenery, and other outdoor recreation around Taos. With sunshine 70% of daytime hours, no matter what month it is, there is somewhere to find a fish on a fly!
JANUARY: Taos’ coldest month still has a daily average high temperature of 40 degrees with many sunny days reaching 50 and providing beautiful winter fishing opportunities.
FEBRUARY: Historically a good month for spawning fish and temperatures creeping up to an average daily high of 45 degrees. February is also typically a big snow month for us making for some great winter fishing photos!
MARCH: Daily average high temps of 53 degrees and good pre-runoff fishing. March is also another good snow month and the last full month to take advantage of a full winter’s worth of snow at the local ski areas.
APRIL: April is exciting! Even with a potential mixed bag of weather-- could snow, could be warm, could be windy-- April signals the start of Taos’ only truly prolific hatch: the Rio Grande April Caddis Hatch. This hatch is famous for its number of bugs and ability to catch fish on dry-fly pre-runoff. The only tricky part is that runoff usually starts in mid-April and can ruin the hatch. However, the last two years have seen drought conditions prevent any significant runoff and this hatch has raged into May with great fishing! Average daily high temp in April is 64 degrees.
MAY: Average daily high temp of 73, average low of 37. Historically May is runoff month and makes fishing opportunities limited-- although there is always somewhere to fish! The last two years have seen little to no runoff and fishing on the Rio Grande has been excellent!
JUNE: June signals the end of historical runoff and the start of salmonflies and stoneflies on the Cimarron River. Most area small streams become fishable-- even in runoff years-- sometime in June. Average daily high temps of 83 degrees, average low 44.
JULY: July is Taos’ biggest summer tourist month with average daily high temperatures only reaching 87 and lows averaging a nice 50 degrees. "Monsoon" rains show up-- thunderstorms dotting the landscape almost every afternoon, knocking down the dust and providing incredible sunsets! Fishing is good practically everywhere and the popular catch & release water of the Valle Vidal opens at the beginning of the month.
AUGUST: August temps drop slightly to an average daily high of 85 and low of 50. There is a little less pressure on the streams as school starts again and fewer families are on vacation. The water temps can warm up but fishing is still very good throughout the month.
SEPTEMBER: Average daily temperatures start dropping a little to 79 for a high and 42 for a low. Late in the month leaves start changing color and elk start bugling. Water slows down and can still be warm, but fishing pressure drops off and fish revive a little.
OCTOBER: October has become my favorite month to fish. With little to no fishing pressure on the water, the weather is fabulous and the fish are energized by cooler weather (average high temps 67, average low 32.) Our brown trout start their spawning activity and get aggresive and the rainbows and cut-bows get excited eating eggs behind them. October traditionally signals the first snows in Taos, first as a dusting on the peaks and usually a snow in town around Halloween.
NOVEMBER: Long thought of as a down month for fishing, many are finding that our longer summers and linguering warm temperatures are making November a great "sleeper" month to fish. The last several years have seen the brown trout spawn carry over into November and even though the temps average a high of 52 and a low of 18, the fishing can be really good.
DECEMBER: Taos has been rated as one of the Top 10 places in the world to spend Christmas and a chance to fish over the holidays only makes it better! Average daily high temperature is a pleasant 43 degrees with a frosty 12 as the average low. Most of the small streams are low and cold by December, but a few streams stay warmer and active, even with some dry fly action! |
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Los Rios Anglers 126 W. Plaza Drive Taos, NM 87571 505.758.2798 fish@losrios.com
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