Pecos River, New Mexico

Pecos to Terrero

NM-63 follows the river north from the village of Pecos, about 30 miles east of Santa Fe, through the lower canyon to Terrero. Pulloffs, the Dalton and Holy Ghost campground areas and the Monastery Lake reach put you on stocked rainbows and wild browns in fast pocket water, and this is the most heavily fished trout water in northern New Mexico. The USGS gauge this page reads is near Pecos at the bottom of the reach.

The Box and Cowles

Above Terrero the river runs through the Box, a canyon reach from half a mile above the Mora confluence up to just below the Cowles bridge that NMDGF manages as Green Chile water: two trout, artificial flies or lures with a single barbless hook. Cowles, at the end of the pavement, is the trailhead hub for the Pecos Wilderness and the start of the 20 mile Wild and Scenic reach up to the headwaters.

Wilderness headwaters

From Cowles the trails climb into the Pecos Wilderness, where Jacks Creek and the small headwater streams hold Rio Grande cutthroat and the main river above Pecos Falls is catch and release with single barbless artificials as Red Chile water. Pecos Baldy and the high lakes are overnight country; the fish are small and the settings are the reason to go.

Brown trout

Wild, stream-bred browns are the backbone of the canyon fishing and the fish that hold through the winter. They come up for the salmonfly hatch from late May into mid June and the golden stones that follow into mid July, then feed on caddis, PMDs and Tricos through summer and take streamers in fall.

Rainbow and Rio Grande cutthroat

NMDGF stocks rainbows along the road from Pecos to Cowles and some hold over. Rio Grande cutthroat, the native trout of the drainage and the southernmost cutthroat subspecies, survive in the headwater tributaries and above the falls; they should be handled minimally and released everywhere.

Season and regulations

The Pecos is open all year but runoff from late March into May and low, warm water in late summer bracket the season; June, September and early October are the reliable months. Flows of 50 to 150 cfs at the Pecos gauge are the range fishing guides call ideal for wading the canyon, and that is the band this page compares against; median flows sit inside it from July through October.

The Box (0.5 mile above the Mora confluence to 0.2 mile below the Cowles bridge) is Green Chile water with a two-trout limit and single barbless artificials, and the river above Pecos Falls is catch-and-release Red Chile water. Elsewhere the statewide limit of 5 trout applies, with no more than 2 cutthroat. Check the current NMDGF Rules and Information booklet before you fish.