Fish were plentiful in Elephant Butte

From the road travelling on the 11th I called my guide Frank Vilorio about my scheduled fishing trip for the 12th. He said we would probably have to cancel on account of a storm forecast colliding with our appointment.

I told him I had a room reserved and I would be staying there anyway and I didn’t want to cancel until we seen it necessary. He agreed to improvise and told me we would have to hit it early and maybe get 2 or 3 hours in. The backup plan also changed our target fish from Striped Bass to White Bass AKA Sand Bass.

This setting I was heading to is unique where Frank’s town of residence, the lake, and the hydroelectric irrigation dam are all named after a Butte that is somewhat shaped like a gigantic elephant that is lying on his belly (Elephant Butte). Butte is defined as an isolated hill with steep sides and a flat top.

The town of 1324 (2018 tally) sits high above the Rio Grande River near where the Elephant Butte Dam was constructed over a hundred years ago. It was completed in 1916 impounding the water of the river creating this reservoir of over 36,000 acres and surrounding the Butte making it an island within the lake. It is the largest water body in New Mexico in the largest state park in New Mexico.

My hotel was reserved in the nearby town of Truth Or Consequences. When I first reserved that room I thought, hey we could have given them permission to name it after one of our practically named towns - Atlanta, Queen City, Bloomburg - all sound like an idea these people could have used.

I actually found out after I stayed there this town was tagged with this bizarre name after a radio show aired there and a TV show of the same name was filmed there later. So far I haven’t stumbled across one named Keeping Up With The Kardashians. I can’t laugh too hard. I have a friend who lives in Cut And Shoot, Texas. I can only imagine why that one was named what it is.

Frank called me that night after I checked in to the Comfort Inn telling me, “we got probably two or three hours in the morning so don’t be late.” Shortly after I met him at his house we quickly launched from the longest concrete boat ramp I ever saw. Instead of heading out into the body of the lake we stayed near the ramp in a cove that looked tailor made for our type of outing.

Tucked in the harbor near the ramp between the mountain, elephant island and the corner of the lake, we had the perfect spot to stay until the last minute to beat the storm. Frank set his boat on auto pilot with his controller and the boat drove itself steady in an oval shape pattern.

He said, “you will probably break and tangle several lines with this small line but that’s what we need to use to catch them.” He explained, “I will take care of bating, fixing lines, the net, just fish and when you need another rod one will be ready for you.” He pointed out, “if they are biting good they will come one right after another.” He had a rod ready to go every time I had one ready for repair. He was right about the fish as they bit early and often.

So that was the morning drill, fishing in a self driving slow moving boat where my guide done his job as good as could be done never stopping. These ferocious little fighting bass made catching about 50 of them lots of fun. There was lots of action and having a guide so well prepared and steady handed taking care of what would have been stops and aggravation made it a real pleasure to be there fishing.

I had caught these at home and a few other places but these were and remain the hardest fighting ones I ever caught. They had a chunky and thicker build than the ones I had caught in other places and attacked like little vicious speeding war tanks. We had to net every one of them on the fragile two pound test.

They stopped biting just before 9:30 and Frank went manual on the controls and we tried a couple spots near the bank while eyeing the storm that was manifesting itself over the horizon and coming in from the west. At about 9:45 feeling the first raindrops we headed to the ramp and got out of the lake with the storm coming in. By 10 o’clock we were driving along the highway above looking down at the lake with my limit of 25 keepers in the cooler.

After Frank filleted the fish for me back at his place I put them on ice with a bunch of AZ Stripers in the PU and then headed east toward Odessa Texas to see my kinfolks. After doing a couple fish fries in Odessa and staying three nights with my aunt and uncle I made it back to Queen City for the first time in 15 days wrapping up an enjoyable western trip.

Those White Bass are good eating fried and best if they are never frozen. I would like to return someday to this location and rent a house for a week or better and go after several different species. This lake produces some of the biggest Stripers in the nation and also has Walleye and I want some of them.

Frank is on the internet at Land Of Enchantment Fishing and on Facebook under Frank Vilorio, Elephant Butte, NM. He is an excellent guide and I recommend his services. He is rigged complete for the multiple species in this lake and has years of experience. He lives only a mile or so from the boat ramp making most issues surrounding a guided trip much easier.

The history of this dam and reservoir and it’s purposes are online and very interesting. Another beautiful lake, a great fishing guide and about 50 speed fighters made New Mexico a wonderful stop for me while Fishing America.

STATE # 17 - NEW MEXICO

APRIL 2018 - ELEPHANT BUTTE RESERVOIR

SPECIES CAUGHT - White Bass