Nick Streit, owner of Taos Fly Shop, has long been an outspoken advocate for wild things and wild places. And lately, that effort has been re-doubled. Check it out:
My wife gave me a Stimulator for Valentine’s Day this year. No — that isn’t something X-rated. It is a fly for catching trout. I’m eager to take it out on the Rio Grande this spring for a day of big sky, big fish and solitude.
Protecting the Rio Grande Gorge makes this adventure possible. This area of Northern New Mexico is a national treasure and a paradise for fisher-folk. There is something magical about the hushed slip of your fly across the water. My 4-year-old daughter, Taylor, has already experienced it — she caught her first trout there. Thousands of tourists have, too.
Take a look at his letter to the editor about designating the Rio Grande del Norte as a national monument in the Santa Fe New Mexican
By Steve Mason February 28, 2013 - 12:10 pm
The climb down to the bottom of the Rio Grande Gorge is well worth the trip. Back In the late 90′s while my wife was visiting her son in Chine i packed up the dogs and made the trip up from Albuquerque. I had fished several different rivers throughout Northern New Mexico. Once I reached the bottom of the more than 600 ft. decent I found a green jewel flowing among huge car sized basalt boulders. There were several pockets among the boulders that provided perfect holding places for eager football sized browns. I thought I had the whole river to myself and was thoroughly enjoying the solitude when my large golden retriever (Browning) signaled another presence. The other fisherman and I greeted and introduced ourselves. His name has disappeared with the memory fogged by age. He and I exchanged pleasantries and experience. He explained that he was there researching a book he was writing about Rivers of the West. He asked if he could include a picture of me fishing in the Rio Grande. I saw no problem with that and went back to my fishing as he moved on.
I camped to for one night at the rim and fished again the next day and returned to the realities of work and life. My wife enjoys camping but I was never able to get her to return with me to the Rio Grande. Some years later we left New Mexico for the trout man’s nirvana, Montana. A few years later while fishing the Green River in Utah I visited a local fly shop and saw a book about fishing the rivers of the West and opened it to see a photo of me from behind there fishing among the boulders in the Rio Grande.
The northern Rio Grande is a jewel worth preservation. But the encroachment of development along the rim is a concern.