Navajo Reservoir fishing: Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Cutthroat Trout
Target species: Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, Blue Catfish, Channel Catfish
The reservoir
Navajo Reservoir covers 13,858 acres in New Mexico, across 2 counties: Rio Arriba and San Juan. It is a reservoir: 90.1% of it is 220 feet deep or less; the deepest point measured is 341 feet (104 m). Our records hold 16 species for this water. 13% of the water lies in Colorado.
Depth: down to 341 ft at the deepest measured point
Deepest measured point: 341 ft (104 m). 90.1% of the water is 220 feet or shallower. We hold 302 depth contours for this water, drawn from 550,454 soundings.
- 0–20 ft: 13.2% of the water
- 20–40 ft: 15.4% of the water
- 40–60 ft: 11.4% of the water
- 60–80 ft: 8.6% of the water
- 80–100 ft: 8.7% of the water
- 100–120 ft: 8.8% of the water
- 120–140 ft: 6.9% of the water
- 140–160 ft: 5.5% of the water
- 160–180 ft: 4.4% of the water
- 180–200 ft: 4.2% of the water
- 200–220 ft: 3% of the water
- 220–240 ft: 2.4% of the water
- 240–260 ft: 2% of the water
- 260–280 ft: 1.8% of the water
- 280–300 ft: 1.6% of the water
- 300–320 ft: 1.3% of the water
- 320–339 ft: 1% of the water
7 target fish, led by Northern Pike
- Northern Pike — Feeding water: 50–75°F.
- Largemouth Bass — Feeding water: 65–85°F.
- Cutthroat Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.
- Rainbow Trout — Feeding water: 50–65°F.
- Smallmouth Bass — Feeding water: 60–75°F.
- Blue Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
- Channel Catfish — Feeding water: 70–85°F.
Also recorded here: Brown Trout, White Sucker, Black Crappie, White Crappie, Bluegill, Green Sunfish, Common Carp, Red Shiner, Fathead Minnow.
Stocking: 3,261,547 fish, 2020–2025
New Mexico Department of Game and Fish records list 3,261,547 fish released into this water from 2020 to 2025.
- Rainbow Trout: 1,863,711 in 2020–2025
One more species on the stocking list.
Water and conditions
Our water temperature readings average 61°F; they do not cover the whole year, so this is not a yearly average. pH averages 8. These readings span 2017–2024.
What is hard here
Wind is the limit, not the fish: 13,858 acres of open water build a short steep chop, and there is no shelter in the middle.
Where this data comes from
- US Bureau of Reclamation, Technical Service Center — USBR reservoir bottom surfaces (GIS): class A, a survey of the bottom, 2019.
- USACE CWMS — USACE CWMS elevation-area curves: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
- U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (RISE) — USBR area-capacity tables (RISE): class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
- EPA NLA — EPA National Lakes Assessment: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
- Webster, K.E., McCullough, I.M., Soranno, P.A. LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0, EDI, doi:10.6073/pasta/64ddc4d04661d9aef4bd702dc5d8984f (CC BY 4.0); Cheruvelil et al. LAGOS-US LOCUS v1.0 (EDI) — LAGOS-US DEPTH v1.0: Lake depth for 17,675 lakes in the conterminous U.S.: class B, a depth figure measured and published by an agency, without a bottom map.
