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The Artesia swim team celebrates Christmas together before the break

Adrian Hedden
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The Artesia swim team celebrates Christmas together before the break

JT Keith

Artesia Daily Press

jtkeith@elritomedia.com

The Artesia swim team held its annual Christmas party at the Administration Building on Thursday, Dec. 18. The team cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, and all the usual fixings as the parents grilled. The event concluded at 8:30 p.m. after starting at 6:30 p.m. The swimmers and coaches wore pajamas and, after eating, played games before exchanging gifts.

Artesia swim coach Andrea Ciro, who is in her 13th year, said, “Every year we have a Christmas party, and the Administration Building is where we hold it.” “I think it is a really good thing to get the kids together, and this time we asked the parents to come and join us, because they don’t have time to socialize with each other other than at a swim meet.

Maintenance issues at the Carlsbad High School swimming pool forced the Carlsbad High School Invitational to be moved to the Artesia swimming pool. The team finished in third place overall, and the boys placed second with a full roster.

“We have had a great season,” Artesia swim coach Adrea Ciro said. “We have a young team, and we have been swimming fast with a lot of best times. We have been in the top three at many of our meets, so I am really excited and feel like we are getting on a roll. We are getting those state times down there to state cuts, so it is exciting.”

Aidan Ciro took first place in the 50 freestyle and in the 100 backstroke. Joziah Murdoch placed third in the 100 Butterfly and second place in the 500 Freestyle. Chaz Rogers placed second in the 200 freestyle and seventh in the 100 butterfly. Alec Ciro placed 10th in the 50 Freestyle and fourth in the 100 Backstroke.

Kaleb Barquero took eighth place in the 100 freestyle and seventh place in the 100 backstroke, Bryce Walton placed sixth in the 100 freestyle and eighth in the 100 breaststroke. Deacon Simons placed fourth in the 200 individual medley and ninth in the 100 freestyle.

Johanna Padilla placed fifth in the 200 freestyle and took first place in the 100 backstroke. Morgan Fisher placed fifth in the 500 freestyle and third in the 100 breaststroke. Anikah Wisen placed third in the 200 Freestyle and third in the 100 freestyle.

Carly DeHoyos placed seventh in the 50 freestyle and fifth in the 100 freestyle. London Acosta placed sixth in the 50 freestyle and seventh in the 100 backstroke. Zoe Gomez placed 11th in the 200 freestyle and 16th in the 100 backstroke. Ella Thomas placed 18th in the 100 freestyle and 15th in the 100 backstroke.

Both boys’ relays qualified for the State Championships with a third-place finish in the 200 Medley Relay, then overtook the competition with a first-place finish in the 200 Freestyle Relay. The girls’ relays took third place in the 200 Medley Relay and held on for a second-place finish in the 200 Freestyle Relay.

Ciro said she is not sure what to expect from her team in the second half of the season as it prepares to go to the Albuquerque Invitational in January.

“I feel like when our kids put their minds to it, anything can happen,” Ciro said. “We should have a top one or two relays with the boys and girls going into the state meet. We have superb breaststroke swimmers, and with Aiden (Ciro) in the sprint freestyles and butterflies, and Joziah (Murdoch).” I feel like all our young kids will be up in the top eight, and that is going to help us.”

jtkeith can be reached at 575-420-0061, or on X@JTKEITH1.

Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Adrian Hedden
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Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

Back story provided by the Public Domain Review

In 1897, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, a coroner’s assistant on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was asked a question by his then eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, which many a parent has been asked before: whether Santa Claus really exists. O’Hanlon deferred. He suggested Virginia wrote asking the question to one of New York’s most prominent newspapers at the time, The Sun, assuring her that “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.”

The response to Virginia’s letter by one of the paper’s editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language and found itself the subject of books, a film and television series. In his response Church goes beyond a simple “yes of course” to explore the philosophical issues behind Virginia’s request to tell her “the truth” and in the process lampoon a certain skepticism which he had found rife in American society since the suffering of the Civil War. His message in short – there is a reality beyond the visible.

Dear Editor: I am 8 years old.

Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun it’s so.”

Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

The town that breathes football

Adrian Hedden
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The town that breathes football

Mia Aragon

Special to the Artesia Daily Press

There are games you watch, and then there are games that stay with you long after the crowd clears and the stadium lights cool off.

The Class 5A 2025 state championship on Nov. 29 was the second kind because it was more than just a game. It was a reminder of why Artesia football feels like home, no matter how far I’ve gone or how much I’ve grown.

Coming back to Artesia to cover the Bulldogs playing Roswell in the title game felt different this time. I wasn’t just another fan in the stands or a student racing to the stadium to get a seat in the student section. I was on the sidelines, camera in hand, watching the team I grew up with chasing a title against the rival.

Artesia football has been part of my story for as long as I can remember. My grandpa Roy Lawson won two state championships with the Bulldogs in 1974 and 1975. As I grew up, Friday nights revolved around football. It didn’t matter who we were playing, the town showed up.

When I was in high school, I traveled to watch Artesia play even when I didn’t have a specific player to cheer for. I saw three state championship games during those years, including titles my junior and senior seasons in 2022-23, and I remember the excitement that poured onto the field when the clock hit zero.

This championship felt both familiar and completely different.

This year was the third straight Roswell and Artesia met for a title. Artesia won in 2023. Roswell answered in 2024. This was the tiebreaker. I’ve seen championship games in the Bulldog Bowl my whole life, but I’ve never felt a swing of emotion quite like this one. Maybe it’s because I’m older now. Maybe it’s because I work in media and I watch sports differently. Or maybe it’s because this year, I actually saw people give up.

With four minutes left, Artesia trailed Roswell 24–11. I watched fans start to leave early, entire rows emptying as if the outcome was already decided. Standing on the sidelines, feeling the energy of the players who hadn’t quit, the contrast was jarring. I kept thinking, how can people walk away from a team built on comebacks?

Then came the blocked field goal. Then came the fourth-down conversions, six of them. Then, with 24 seconds left, came the 9-yard fade from Derrick Warren to Jack Byers that flipped the stadium from quiet frustration to full-body chills. The Bulldogs won 25–24 and claimed their 33rd state title, the second-most in U.S. history.

But what stayed with me wasn’t just the comeback. It was the feeling.

That adrenaline on the sideline, the urgency, the hope, the raw emotion is what made me realize why sports journalism feels right. I didn’t grow up dreaming of this career, but taking a class opened my eyes to what sports can reveal about people and places. Capturing moments like this, telling stories that matter to communities, feels meaningful in a way I didn’t expect.

That feeling followed me off the field, where the moment that truly stuck with me came from a fan I interviewed, a mom whose son plays for Artesia. In just a few words, she put into perspective everything I had been trying to understand.

“When you come to this town, the traditions, football is a culture,” Trini Herrera told me. “You know, that’s what our boys do. They come and they play football. It unites our town; it makes our community. That’s what Artesia Bulldog football does.”

Hearing her say that hit differently, because it wasn’t about the comeback anymore. It was about belief. About identity. About what it means to grow up in a place where football isn’t just a sport, it’s the thread that ties everyone together.

I think that’s why this win meant so much to me. More often than I’d care to admit, I’ve felt like the one losing late in a game. I’ve felt behind, overwhelmed, tempted to walk away when things weren’t going my way. But this comeback, this unbelievable comeback felt like a reminder that momentum might change at any second.

Some teams bring home championships in football.

The Bulldogs teach us how to be champions in life.

Artesians display Nativity Scene

Adrian Hedden
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Artesians display Nativity Scene

Athlete of the Week for Jan.1

Adrian Hedden
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Athlete of the Week for Jan.1

Vote now for Athlete of the Week

The Artesia Daily Press is letting you decide on the best local sports star each week. Go to ArtesiaDailyPress.com and cast your ballot. You can access the polling using the QR code.

Girls

This week’s Athlete of the Week choices will be with the boys and girls. The girls have a strong presence in basketball this week. The nomination goes to Jade Hammond is a sophomore guard and is learning and gaining valuable experience she has helped her team to a 5-5 record.

The Lady ‘Dogs team leader Jenna Whitmire has become the glue to the team. Finally, for the ladies, is the ever-hustling Ashton Craft. She played superior defense and made the open three-point shot.

Boys

Bulldogs center Clay Kincaid played well in the Bulldogs win against Valley. He is a matchup problem for other team centers.

Smooth-moving Braylon Vega may be the team’s most valuable player to date. Reigning District 4-4A Player of the Year Charlie Campbell IV is starting to round into basketball playing shape.

They will release results in the Jan. 1, print edition and online.

White Sands National Park ranger shares his love of the outdoors

Adrian Hedden
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White Sands National Park ranger shares his love of the outdoors

Mike Smith
Carlsbad Current-Argus
msmith@currentargus.com

Looking at the photos on Brian Powers’ Instagram page, it’s easy to see his love for the wonders of nature.

And he turned that love into a career: Powers, 36, can be found during working hours at White Sands National Park, 18 miles west of Alamogordo, where he works as a park ranger.

The job brought him to New Mexico in August 2023 as part of a wide-ranging career that has spanned five other states. A California native, Powers majored in recreation and parks management at California State University in Chico.

When he’s not working the gypsum fields of White Sands National Park, Powers likes to pack up his fishing gear and spend time along the lakes and streams of nearby Lincoln County.

The Artesia Daily Press chatted with Powers and asked him about his love for nature in general and for fishing in particular.

First off, tell us how you found your way to southeast New Mexico.

I was born and raised in Northern California. My job brought me here to New Mexico although I have been interested in living in New Mexico for many years. I move around quite a bit due to my career. I have lived in six different states over the last 14 years – California, Washington, Oregon, North Carolina, Mississippi and New Mexico.

Tell us about the love you have for the outdoors that is so well-documented through the photographs on your Instagram page.

For as long as I can remember the outdoors have always been the place I have gone to reconnect with myself, to recharge, and find peace whether it be through fishing, photography, hiking, or other activities. It’s why I make it a point to go fishing as much as I do. It’s also why my career is in an outdoors related field. I’m very passionate about recreating in, creating art in, and protecting the outdoors.

How did you get hooked, if you will, on fishing?

It all starts with my father Steve who first took me fishing when I was five or six years old. Over our many fishing trips during my childhood he taught me patience, conservation, and shared his love for the sport with me. I loved being out on the water with him and quickly became addicted to that feeling you get when you’re reeling in a fish. In the thirty or so years since that first outing with my dad, I have gone fishing in California, Nevada, Oregon, North Carolina, Florida, Hawaii, Texas and Puerto Rico – at lakes, ponds, bays, 18 rivers and out on the ocean. Fishing provides me with an opportunity to disconnect from the stresses of my job and the world around me and allows me to focus just on one task and that is catching fish.

What is your favorite fish to catch?

I grew up and learned the sport through trout fishing so that is my go-to fish to catch. It reminds me of my childhood fishing with my dad.

What is your favorite bait?

I feel like my secret weapon is the Kastmaster lure I typically throw. I like to toss out worms or Powerbait on one rod and then I will cast out my Kastmaster on my second fishing pole. If they aren’t biting bait, I can usually get them off of the lure. I have caught a lot of fish this year doing that.

What is your favorite fishing spot in Lincoln County and why?

I really enjoy fishing at Bonito Lake. The fishing is really good, and it’s surrounded by such beautiful scenery. My favorite is when I’m the first one at the lake around 6:30 a.m. and it’s below freezing with fog formed over the top of the water. It makes catching those brook and rainbow trout even sweeter.

Do you like to fish from the bank or in a boat?

I like fishing on a boat, but I don’t own one currently, so I am exclusively a bank fisherman. I have been looking into possibly getting a kayak in the future.

Anything else you would like to add?

This has been an all-time personal best year of fishing for me. Since March I have gone fishing 25 times and I have caught at least one fish on each of those fishing trips. Fishing allows me to disconnect from the world and my worries for a few hours and connect with nature. It gives me so much joy to go out there and do something that I love to do.

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5536 extension-2361.

Mosaic sells Carlsbad mine

Adrian Hedden
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Adrian Hedden
Carlsbad Current-Argus
achedden@currentargus.com

The Mosaic Company announced plans to sell its Carlsbad potash mine for $30 million to a group of local investors who will start a new company, International Minerals Carlsbad.

The deal was expected to close in the first half of 2026, according to a Monday, Dec. 22, news release from International Minerals.

Company officials said they plan to double production at the mine about 20 miles east of Carlsbad and plan no layoffs at the mine, which has a workforce of about 350 people. Mosaic’s mine is one of two in the Carlsbad area, alongside another operated by Intrepid Potash.

Potash is a potassium-based ore widely used today in agricultural fertilizer and mined at several locations in the U.S. and Canada and throughout Europe.

International Minerals Chief Operating Officer Don Purvis, who worked for Mosaic as the mine’s general manager from 1996 to 2017, said the facility’s current output of about 350,000 metric tons per year of potash was expected to be increased to about 700,000 metric tons in the next five years.

“With some investment in people and machinery in the next few years, we can bring that production back to where it was historically,” Purvis said. “The market for what is mined in Carlsbad has always been very strong.”

Purvis said the company also intends to create new positions in Carlsbad to carry out support functions Mosaic had shifted out of state.

These include tasks such as accounting, procurement and human resources, Purvis said, all of which would be added to the Carlsbad area.

“We don’t have any reductions planned,” Purvis said of the local workforce at the Mosaic mine. “A lot of support services have been moved away from the Carlsbad site. We probably need to hire more people to fill those positions, and we plan to do that in Carlsbad, at the Carlsbad site.”

The new company’s chief executive officer, Sergio Saenz, said the deal included all of Mosaic’s Carlsbad water rights and its Laguna Grande assets, which function as evaporation ponds used during the mining process, along with the mine itself.

Saenz is founder of industrial salt supplier Rush Salt, based in McAllen, Texas, and led the growth of Hidalgo, Texas, firm Premier 1 Trucking from eight trucks to more than 100 today, according to the news release.

Saenz said he and his partners bring decades of industrial experience, particularly in mineral extraction, to the new company.

“The acquisition of this asset is an exciting opportunity to keep the potash industry thriving in New Mexico,” Saenz said. “We want to ensure current mine customers and vendors that while this asset transitions from Mosaic to International Minerals Carlsbad, our focus is to keep the business running operationally, with little to no disruption.”

Mosaic Executive Vice President of Operations Karen Swager said the sale will allow her company to focus all of its potash operations in Saskatchewan, Canada, another main production hub in North America.

“We are pleased that International Minerals Carlsbad will provide continuity for our Carlsbad employees at the site, and that Mosaic has taken another step to focus on core assets,” Swager said in a statement announcing the sale.

“Our potash production is now entirely focused on our operations in Saskatchewan, Canada, which are expected to continue to generate strong returns.”

‘A unique product’

The first discovery of potash in North America was in Carlsbad, on Aug. 1, 1925, according to a report from the Bureau of Land Management. The ore quickly stimulated the local economy from an agricultural to a commodity base.

Before the discovery in southeast New Mexico, the report read, the U.S. was dependent on German potash, which was used over the decades for myriad household and other products including gunpowder and makeup.

At the start of World War II, Germany placed an embargo on importation of its potash, driving prices up from $35 to more than $1,000 per ton, the report read, but as production grew in Carlsbad, the domestic market stabilized.

Carlsbad’s economy received another boost in 2012, when the U.S. Department of the Interior enacted a policy allowing oil and gas drilling and potash mining to occur simultaneously in the same area, according to the report.

Purvis said Carlsbad’s potash mines produced a unique type of the ore not mined commercially anywhere else.

It’s made up of a mineral called langbeinite, known as K-Mag commercially, which Purvis said can be used to fertilize sensitive, specialty crops such as fruits and vegetables.

“It’s a unique product, and the demand exceeds the production capacity at the plant,” he said.

Carlsbad Mayor Rick Lopez said the potash industry was critical to the city’s economy, and its future growth.

“We’re a potash mining community,” he said. “It has sustained us for 100 years. We’ve had layoffs and shutdowns we’ve had to get through, but it’s always sustained us. The mines are still very important.”

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

Opinion: The power of Christmas

Adrian Hedden
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Opinion: The power of Christmas

Tom Wright

In the Judeo-Christian world, December is a big month. Other beliefs also celebrate this season. It is a time of new beginnings, longer days, a new year and perhaps a time for change, with New Year’s resolutions. Change in many areas of current events would be welcome.

The news reveals members of a radical “anti-capitalist, anti-government” group are now in custody for planning bombings in California at the New Year’s Eve celebration. The Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, was spoiled with a mass shooting that left 15 people dead and dozens wounded. The father-son perpetrators were said to be motivated by Islamic State beliefs. Power seems to be the quest of the world and killing is thought to be the ultimate expression of power. While Christmas has a powerful message, power is not that message. It is about a young woman, blessed by God to have a virgin birth of a baby who would become the future Messiah.

If you are a celebrant of Christmastide, also known as the 12 Days of Christmas (December 25-January 6), it is a time of commemorating the birth of Jesus and the significance of his arrival as the Son of God. The Old or Early Testament of the Bible tells of the need for the coming of the Messiah to save the people of faith, in Israel. Micah 5:2, written around 710 B.C., tells of Bethlehem being the birthplace of the ruler over Israel. Isaiah 7:14 (742 B.C.) foretells of the virgin birth of one called Emanuel – God with us. Isaiah 53 tells of his suffering and death and his intercession for our transgressions.

The Old Testament Messiah is described as a conqueror of evil and savior of Israel. The New Testament gives quite another description of the Messiah’s entry as a newborn child. As that child grew, his message was not one of conquering power and judgment, but of forgiveness. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, he was offered the kingdoms of the world, but he refused. He talked of turning the other cheek and giving your cloak and coat. His way was and is not the way of the world. The scriptures are God’s wisdom, which is often considered man’s foolishness. His ways are not our ways. In the Old Testament, he is a lion; in the New Testament, he is a lamb, to be led to the slaughter, hung on a cross, till dead and buried.

But he rose from the dead and ascended to the Father. His earthly teachings to his disciples were and are to follow him, living a life of sacrifice and service, in his stead. Some of us had rather not suffer or serve. We prefer comfort and power. Jesus’ teachings are a beautiful story embracing children, the poor, the victims and the meek.

Education and power seem to be the way of the world and the cure for evil. Politicians pass laws, make peace treaties and try to solve problems but poverty, ignorance and wars continue. Advances in science result in cures for many of the world’s ailments. Artificial intelligence may deliver what man cannot apprehend on our own. Blaise Pascal, the Renaissance mathematician who invented the first calculator, also contemplated the mystery of God and wrote: “It is in vain, O men, that you seek within yourselves the cure for all your miseries. All your insight only leads you to the knowledge that it is not in yourselves that you will discover the true and the good.”

Christmas comes and goes each year, as does the opportunity for renewal and change. Wars and evil acts will continue and religions will be mocked. The world needs the Messiah. Christians and Jews are taught to pray for messianic intervention that there may be peace on earth. Until then, the good will toward men will depend on how we interpret and live the teachings of the Christmas child. The real message of Christmas is love, which is the ultimate power that overcomes.

Tom Wright is a Santa Fe columnist and El Rito Media investor.

Kayden Apodaca cherishes her last Christmas at home

Adrian Hedden
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Kayden Apodaca cherishes her last Christmas at home

JT Keith

Artesia Daily Press

jtkeith@elritomedia.com

For J.C. and Mandy Apodaca, there is the excitement of Christmas. There is joy in the household, and an appreciation for being together this year.

Because of Kayden’s softball prowess, she gets to play in California, home to Disneyland. Disney ornaments adorn the family Christmas tree and have accumulated over the years. Mandy’s mom, Daphne Jaquez, gives her grandchildren, Kayden Apodaca and J.C. Apodaca, multiple gifts for the tree each year.

“This addiction has been going on since the kids were babies,” Mandy said. “They are really special to me, and our kids love them a lot.”

There is an uneasiness that after Mandy’s daughter Kayden, 18, graduates and heads to BYU to attend class and play softball, things will never be the same.

Mandy was a catcher for the Lady ‘Dogs softball team in her high school years and was on the 2001 state championship team. She played catcher under coach Clendon Kirkpatrick and graduated in 2003.

Mandy said that winning the state title was the best feeling in the world, and she cannot wait for her daughter (Kayden) to experience that feeling.

“As a mom, it is definitely different from winning a state title as a player,” Mandy said. “As a mom, you want it so bad for your kid because she (Kayden) worked so hard every day, day in and day out. She deserves it, and I really hope she wins it this year. She has surpassed every goal she has set.”

Mandy said that Kayden’s leaving feels bittersweet. She knows how her daughter is feeling, wanting to thrive and be an adult.

“We think of all the memories when they were little,” Mandy Apodaca said. “And how can we already be at this stage with them being ready to graduate and leave, but we’re ready for her to experience all of that.”

Kayden said she is ready to leave but will treasure the last few months with her family in Artesia and will visit her grandparents, Victor and Nancy Apodaca. She said the iPad she received last year was her favorite gift, and she enjoys Christmas more as she gets older because she can remember them more.

Kayden was inspired to attend BYU by pitching coach Pete Meredith. He coached All-American McKenna Bull and four different BYU pitchers to win six West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year awards since 2014, and eight Cougars’ pitchers have won WCC Pitcher of the Week awards.

The highlight of Kayden’s high school career was making the team as an eighth grader. She was told to pick up a bat and faced Carlsbad left-handed pitcher Faith Aragon and hit a home run. Aragon is currently playing at New Mexico State University.

Kayden is competitive and not afraid to throw a fastball at a hitter’s head to back them off the plate. Kayden throws a fastball, curveball, rise ball at 67 mph, screwball and change-up.

“Whenever I am on,” Kayden said, “all my pitches work. I learned that playing at Artesia is about having everybody’s back. We are going to make mistakes, but we need to pick everyone else up.”

With the softball season less than four months away, Kayden has continued to work hard, playing travel ball and lifting weights while working on her hitting and pitching. Her dad, Jason, continues to work with her on her pitching and on watching film.

For Kayden, this season is not about her last Christmas as a high schooler, but also her last chance to bring the Blue Trophy back to Title Town.

jtkeith can be reached at 575-420-0061, or on X@JTKEITH1.

Trout biting in New Mexico waters just in time for Christmas

Adrian Hedden
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Trout biting in New Mexico waters just in time for Christmas

Information and photos provided by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish

Holiday-weary New Mexicans looking for a break from shopping and other festivities might want to consider a Land of Enchantment fishing trip as trout-catching conditions are good at most lakes and rivers.

In northern New Mexico at Eagle Nest Lake, trout were biting on jigs and PowerBait.

Ice-fishing for trout was exceptionally good using Swedish pimples and tungsten jigs tipped with wax worms.

Along the San Juan River, the streamflow near Archuleta was 280 cubic feet per second (cfs). Fishing for brown trout was incredibly good using red annelids in the quality waters.

In southern New Mexico, trout fishing was good using PowerBait at Glenwood Pond.

In Lincoln County at Bonito Lake, trout fishing was slow to fair when using Garlic Cheese PowerBait and nightcrawlers.

Other species of fishing were also biting in New Mexico waters.

At Ute Lake, fishing for walleye, crappie, catfish and white bass was fair to good when using 3- and 4-inch Gulp minnows and jigs with green blades.

Around the Albuquerque Area Drains, fishing for carp was good when using worms.

Near Truth or Consequences at Elephant Butte Lake, catfish were biting on chicken.

This fishing report, provided by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, has been generated from the best information available from area officers and anglers. Conditions encountered after the report is compiled may differ, as stream, lake and weather conditions alter fish and angler activities.

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