Heron Lake

Overview

Heron Lake is a Bureau of Reclamation storage reservoir on Willow Creek, just above the point where the creek enters the Rio Chama in Rio Arriba County, completed in 1971 to hold San Juan-Chama Project water carried under the Continental Divide. It sits at about 7,186 feet with a surface of 5,950 acres when full, and its shoreline is Heron Lake State Park, where the rule that defines the place is written into the state fishing regulations: boats are restricted to trolling speeds. No wakes means a quiet surface, which suits sailors, paddlers and anyone fishing an indicator. The fish are cold-water species. NMDGF stocks kokanee fry from the eggs it collects each fall, and the spawning run up Willow Creek is why the lake and creek close to kokanee fishing from October 1 to November 10 before the special snagging season opens on November 11. Lake trout were introduced in the 1980s and the department describes a self-sustaining population that fishes best in spring and fall. Rainbows are stocked as well, and winter brings ice fishing in most years. The water is deep for New Mexico, about 215 feet at the dam when full, so fly fishing is about edges and seasons: kokanee near the surface in spring and again as they stage in fall, lake trout in the shallows after ice-out and in October, rainbows along the shore and at the Willow Creek inlet. El Vado Lake lies six miles downstream on the Rio Chama, joined to Heron by a 5.5-mile trail that crosses the river on a suspension bridge; the classic Rio Chama float is below El Vado, not between the two lakes.