From the Land of Enchantment

Completing the New Mexico Trout Challenge on Tenkara

Article by Payton Skidmore

When the rabbit hole of state-sponsored wild trout challenges consumed me and my obsession with fixed-line angling, New Mexico was never at the top of my destination list. After binge-watching countless episodes of Breaking Bad, I had fallen victim to the idea that New Mexico was just a barren desert with nothing but cactus, heat, and scorpions. But upon further examination, and through the philosophy that trout truly live in the prettiest places, I’ve come to understand that New Mexico is indeed a Land of Enchantment.

The New Mexico Trout Challenge

Similar to the Utah Cutthroat Slam, the New Mexico Trout Challenge tasks a willing angler with targeting five different wild species of trout and a char across various waters, photographing them, and ideally releasing them. Submitting proof of your endeavors rewards you with a certificate of achievement, a challenge coin, and an adventure through magical streams unique to this desert state. Unlike most other state challenges, however, New Mexico includes three non-native trout alongside its two native species. Anglers will be targeting wild brown, rainbow, brook, Gila, and Rio Grande cutthroat trout.

First Visit: The Gila Trout

My first visit to New Mexico was in autumn of 2025 on behalf of the Western Native Trout Challenge, my 8th species: the Gila trout. I fished one of the WNTC-approved creeks, which is a worthy story in itself. Towering, jagged mountaintops formed by ancient supervolcanoes now shelter a popular hiking destination where a boardwalk crisscrosses a canyon above a creek that holds native Gila trout. Fishing in October came with its risks and concerns, but when I approached the creek with my triple-zoom Mizuchi, the lowest portions went from dry to a trickle to a healthy, sustained flow, with habitat pools filled to the brim with gold-bodied, fine-spotted Gila trout. My first Gila came on a dry fly, just three casts into my day. I found them extremely opportunistic and feisty, and inch for inch, they were among the best native trout I’ve ever fought on a tenkara rod.

Second Visit: Completing the Challenge

My second visit came in July of 2026, this time with the goal of completing the full New Mexico Trout Challenge. With 2026 being a drought year, I had my concerns, but thanks to trip reports from Rocky Mountain Tenkara for their Taos campout event, I was able to get personal and visual scouting intel in advance. I had dedicated this portion of the trip to RM Tenkara, a New Mexico-based business deeply involved in their local community, so it felt fitting to honor them with my visit. The Chupacabra, the Compa pocket rod, and my personal favorite from their lineup, the triple-zoom Chico, were among the rods I fished throughout the trip.

My first creek was hand-picked based on the knowledge that three of my four remaining species shared the same water. The casting on this river was open, with slow holding runs and eager trout. The Chupacabra fully extended with a River Peak 3.5 level line was more than sufficient. It didn’t take long to find fish. In fact, my immediate problem was repeat species. A brown trout was my first catch of the morning, followed by five additional specimens. I kept pushing through the same stretches, assuming rainbow trout would come next since they’re often stocked in the lower reaches. Eventually, I approached a run with an elk hair caddis and got a topwater take from a silver specimen.

My instinct said rainbow, but to my surprise it was a Rio Grande cutthroat. I had assumed I’d need to drive further up toward the headwaters for that species, but I set that thought aside and counted my second species of the day. A few more brown trout invited themselves into the mix before I finally landed a stocked rainbow and felt ready to move on to the second creek of the day, the one that supposedly held brook trout, widely considered the hardest species in the challenge according to other native trout anglers I’d spoken with online.

A 30-minute drive brought me to very different water: fast, very low, and difficult to gauge what a normal flow year might look like. Standing at 8,500 feet of elevation, I pulled out the Compa and worked pockets for roughly an hour, spooking tiny fish before I could even get a cast in. Eventually I found a perfect holding pool tucked under an overhanging branch, with a log concealing my position nicely. Every indication pointed to a trout taking refuge there, and there was one. Except it was another Rio Grande cutthroat. I was stunned, excited, and bummed out all at once. This specimen was far prettier than the first, and I decided it would be my official submission catch for that species.

Determined, I continued upstream as the creek widened, making the spooked-fish problem even worse. I hiked back to my car to swap to the Chico, hoping the shorter 9-foot rod would give me a bit more stealth in the tight quarters.

It took longer to hike back to my spot than it did to actually catch the fish. A few pockets in, I found a nice run with a trout visible in a feeding lane, my body hidden behind some bank grass. I made a bow-and-arrow cast with the elk hair caddis, sending it blindly into the run and hoping for the best. I couldn’t see where the trout had moved, but when my level line shot straight I reacted on instinct, lifting a dark-bodied specimen up onto the bank.

Brook trout!

I had completed the New Mexico Trout Challenge on four different tenkara rods, finishing all four remaining species in just five hours across two days. I spent the rest of the afternoon driving around and taking in the landscape without making another cast, something I half-regretted when I got home. But now I have a reason to return to the Land of Enchantment with personal knowledge of the water and a deeper appreciation for what it offers. The New Mexico Trout Challenge is a free program, and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone who enjoys chasing trout on a fixed-line rod.

---

---

Payton Skidmore is an avid Utah tenkara angler. Follow his Skiddy Fishing channel on YouTube.

Do you have a story to tell? A photo to share? A fly recipe that’s too good to keep secret? If you would like to contribute content to Tenkara Angler, click HERE for more details.

When you buy something using the retail links within our articles or Gear Shop, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Tenkara Angler does not accept money for editorial gear reviews. Read more about our policy.