Elephant Butte Reservoir, Nm

[BasskingKeith]

Anyone fish there? If not and would like to see some fish from there check out a few of my pics. It gets a lot of fishing pressure so it's pretty tough sometimes from the banks. Seems every time I go there's a tournament going on, fun to watch the weigh-ins.i forgot to mention that my profile pic is a ... I guess landlocked striper they have stocked there.

[iceintheveins]

Very clear lake with lots of shad. Sometimes the bass will boil with the stripers. Rocky and brushy areas near deep water are best this time of year, and since it's hot and the lake so clear, deep structure might be your best bet. 

[BasskingKeith]

Nice man thanks. Water is quite low right now, like 15 feet less than when I got there a few months ago. But it has led me to see what was down there. So I'm trackin some new spots similar to what you've pointed out.

[Osprey39]

I've been fishing there for years.  The lake is a shadow of it's former self.  Back in the 90s it was easily the best lake in the state for largemouth and 3 to 4 pound fish were fairly common.  You could catch some smallmouth but it was so unusual that people would all point and ooh and ahh over them at tourney weigh-ins.  

 

Nowadays everything is different.  They've let so much water out of the lake because of the drought conditions that the fishing has really suffered.  You can't even access the north end of the lake anymore and that was always the best fishing in my opinion.  What you catch has also changed pretty dramatically.  Now you catch 4 or 5 smallies to every 1 largemouth and the size of the fish is down too.  Like I said above, 3 to 4lbers were common and now the big bass at our club tournaments usually was under 4lbs.  Big change there.  

 

I think the decline of the lake as a largemouth fishery is mostly due to the draw down of the lake leaving all the best largemouth habitat out of the water.  There used to be lots of areas with flooded timber and brush in that lake and now it's kind of hard to find.  It's still one of the better lakes to fish in New Mexico but only because all of our lakes have suffered to some extent from the dry weather we've had for the past several years.  That water level ought to be coming up a bit now though because we've had a good amount of rain this summer.  Problem is that it will take several years of good monsoon seasons to make up for the several years of bone dry we already had.

 

If you caught that striper from the bank, congrats, that's pretty rare.  Most of the stripers like to hold in deep water.  First fish I caught in New Mexico was an 18lb striper which, coming from fishing saltwater in Florida, I thought nothing of but my friends I was with at the time were going nuts over it lol.  Elephant Butte is probably best known as a striper fishery these days and the state record of 55lbs came out of that lake.

 

If there's anything you'd like to know about the lake, feel free to ask.  I'll answer what I can but to me, it's almost like fishing a new lake every time I go there these days because of the wildly fluctuating water levels.

[iceintheveins]

I've been fishing there for years.  The lake is a shadow of it's former self.  Back in the 90s it was easily the best lake in the state for largemouth and 3 to 4 pound fish were fairly common.  You could catch some smallmouth but it was so unusual that people would all point and ooh and ahh over them at tourney weigh-ins.  

 

Nowadays everything is different.  They've let so much water out of the lake because of the drought conditions that the fishing has really suffered.  You can't even access the north end of the lake anymore and that was always the best fishing in my opinion.  What you catch has also changed pretty dramatically.  Now you catch 4 or 5 smallies to every 1 largemouth and the size of the fish is down too.  Like I said above, 3 to 4lbers were common and now the big bass at our club tournaments usually was under 4lbs.  Big change there.  

 

I think the decline of the lake as a largemouth fishery is mostly due to the draw down of the lake leaving all the best largemouth habitat out of the water.  There used to be lots of areas with flooded timber and brush in that lake and now it's kind of hard to find.  It's still one of the better lakes to fish in New Mexico but only because all of our lakes have suffered to some extent from the dry weather we've had for the past several years.  That water level ought to be coming up a bit now though because we've had a good amount of rain this summer.  Problem is that it will take several years of good monsoon seasons to make up for the several years of bone dry we already had.

 

If you caught that striper from the bank, congrats, that's pretty rare.  Most of the stripers like to hold in deep water.  First fish I caught in New Mexico was an 18lb striper which, coming from fishing saltwater in Florida, I thought nothing of but my friends I was with at the time were going nuts over it lol.  Elephant Butte is probably best known as a striper fishery these days and the state record of 55lbs came out of that lake.

 

If there's anything you'd like to know about the lake, feel free to ask.  I'll answer what I can but to me, it's almost like fishing a new lake every time I go there these days because of the wildly fluctuating water levels.

 

Yes it's sad to hear. Lake Powell and Mead are like that with Largemouth due to the drought, and Powell is overrun with stunted smallies in the 9" - 13" range.

[BasskingKeith]

Thanks guys, good stuff.

[Oregon Native]

^{Oh my how things have changed since I fished out there with the state team (Oregon)a number of years ago.  I remember having good times.  Although I also remember it was the only place I've ever been where carp would hit a crankbait fairly regularly.  Was amazing.  I also remember huge schools of whites and stripers.}

[arod7148]

Good to hear that there are still fish to catch. Just recently acquired an aluminum bass boat and hope to take it out and try my luck. I've fished there before for cats from the bank but not from a boat. Everyone tells me its a waste of time fishing there. If anyone has any tips I'd appreciate it. Also looking for fishing buddies. Now that I have a boat going alone might be a little to much to handle on my own.

[brgbassmaster]

I was stationed there for 3.5 yrs in Alamogordo New mexico and fished with ABA division 60. Fished that lake a lot Pm me.

[Elk Junkie]

On 6/27/2014 at 0:18 AM, BasskingKeith said:

Anyone fish there? If not and would like to see some fish from there check out a few of my pics. It gets a lot of fishing pressure so it's pretty tough sometimes from the banks. Seems every time I go there's a tournament going on, fun to watch the weigh-ins.i forgot to mention that my profile pic is a ... I guess landlocked striper they have stocked there.

I spanked 5 stripers a couple years ago from the shore near the Rock House Marina. All were between 17 and 22 pounds.