Wild Rivers Recreation Area near Questa
The upper gorge is reached from Questa on NM-378, which ends at the BLM Wild Rivers Recreation Area inside Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. Trails such as Big Arsenic, Little Arsenic and La Junta drop about 800 feet from the rim to the river, and La Junta Point looks straight down on the confluence of the Red River and the Rio Grande. Van Beacham, who guides this water, rates the section above the Red River confluence as the best fishing in the gorge, and the Red River's cold, spring-fed lower miles keep the reach below the confluence fishing through winter.
The hike out is steep and strenuous. Wading boots with rubber or studded soles work better than felt on the clay trails and slick basalt, and the canyon can flood after storms.
John Dunn Bridge and the Taos Box
John Dunn Bridge, reached by dirt road from Arroyo Hondo, is the only drive-in access between Wild Rivers and Taos Junction Bridge and marks the top of the Taos Box. The Box runs roughly 16 miles of Class III and IV whitewater down to Taos Junction Bridge, so fishing it means walking up or down from either bridge over big boulders with no trail. Guides run it as hike-in wade trips; it is not drift boat water.
Orilla Verde and the lower gorge
Taos Junction Bridge on NM-567 is road access, not a hike: a paved road follows the river through the BLM Orilla Verde Recreation Area from the bridge down to Pilar on NM-68, with campgrounds and pullouts the whole way. This is the easiest wading in the gorge and the most crowded. Wading above the knees is risky here because the current is heavier than it looks.
Below Pilar the river drops through the Racecourse rapids and leaves the gorge near Velarde. Trout thin out downstream, water warms in summer, and northern pike and smallmouth bass become a real part of the catch in the Lower Box near Pilar and below. The gorge itself flows south from the Colorado line, not the other way, and picks up the Red River, Rio Hondo and Rio Pueblo de Taos on the way to Embudo.
Brown trout
Wild brown trout are the dominant fish in the gorge; New Mexico Game and Fish calls it a thriving wild brown trout population and the state does not stock browns here. They feed on stoneflies, caddis and crayfish, and fall is streamer time before the spawn. Big fish are real but not common, and the best of them come to anglers who hike past the road access.
Rainbows, cutbows and cutthroat
Rainbows, rainbow-cutthroat hybrids and native Rio Grande cutthroat share the gorge with the browns. New Mexico Game and Fish stocks Rio Grande cutthroat in the Rio Grande, and the lower Red River is stocked with rainbows from the Red River Hatchery, so the miles around the confluence hold the most rainbows and cutbows. Handle cutthroat carefully; they are the state fish and the reason the Red River below the hatchery is managed for wild trout.
Season and regulations
The gorge is open year-round. Runoff from the San Luis Valley and Sangre de Cristos usually blows it out from March into June, and the wading window opens as flows settle. Local guide pages put good wade fishing between roughly 250 and 650 cfs measured at Taos Junction Bridge; this page compares the Embudo gauge, the next station downstream, to that range. Summer afternoons can push water temperatures past 70 degrees at low flow, so fish mornings.
From the Colorado state line downstream to Taos Junction Bridge on NM-567 the Rio Grande is a Special Trout Water with a 2 trout daily bag and any legal tackle. Below the bridge the statewide 5 trout limit applies. A New Mexico license is required; confirm the current New Mexico Department of Game and Fish rules before you go.