Client Review on Cow Creek Ranch, LLC

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Cow Creek is a small stream draining the southwest side of the 11660-ft. Elk Mountain on the southern boundary of the Pecos Wilderness. It was wiped out in the year 2000 by a devastating fire followed by a flood and ash flow which virtually eliminated all fish in its middle to upper sections. The stream is still recovering. The aspen are still struggling to re-appear on the sheer slopes above the headwaters, particularly in the denuded Soldier Creek, the fire's old epicenter, which enters the Cow Creek Ranch property shortly upstream from the Cow Creek Ranch lodge, and which is still without fish in its lower reaches. This stream is not a world class fishery by any means, mainly because of its small size. (You can jump across the creek in places). The "Ranch" (40 acres in size) has tried to remedy the basic water scarcity by constructing several ponds on the creek, landscaped, numbered, and signed, giving the appearance of an outdoor mall. A bulldozer remains ready at the lodge for further landscaping work, more ponds, or re-arrangement of the stream's course. But the ponds need water too. They become sluggish and murky in the summer heat. Things are improving, though. Elk Creek, a headwater tributary, has recovered well from the fire and now holds a good population of 8 inch brook trout. And from my point of view, the most impressive part of the available fishing is that some large-spotted Pecos River cutthroat trout (a sub-variety of the Rio Grande cutthroat) still exist in the headwaters of Cow Creek proper, particularly above a barrier falls a few miles upstream from the lodge. I sampled the creek in its natural state on about a half mile of forest service property just above the lodge (much to the chagrin of the Cow Creek Ranch manager) and was delighted to find the Pecos cutt still there (I got two that looked to be pretty much pure strain); I also found cutt-rainbow hybrids, straight up rainbows, brooks and browns - about all the trout types northern New Mexico can offer. In my one afternoon of fishing in this stretch, I managed to catch and release 29 trout, including a 12 inch Pecos cutthroat (probably not 100 percent pure, but pure enough for my eyes), a 12 inch brookie, and a 14 inch brown. All the trout I caught were very fine-looking, wild, and healthy. And, of course, you don't have to stay at the lodge to catch these fish. I fished only on public land. As in, for the public! So if you want to see cutthroat trout, if you're not into big fish, if you don't mind being carted around to artificial ponds, and if you want at least the opportunity to fish an actual small wild creek on your own two legs, the ranch(ette) seems pretty OK to me. The trout are there, at least in the natural parts of the stream. The owner(?)/manager seems stressed out, not the easy-going type, but that is somewhat understandable: the place is new, overbuilt, over-sized. (In fact, the grandiose scale of the place, complete with bright red roofing, makes the little jump-across creek appear to be even smaller than it actually is, as though it were a sort of water leak.) So I'm sure there is a certain pressure to keep the bills paid and mortgage current, and also to keep the numerous littering, worm-fishing locals from fishing the stream for free and taking the bigger ones home with them. This could put a real dent in the fishing for the $400 per day clients. The guides are trim and fit, they model all the pricey gear, they seem to dote on the clients, and they seem even to know about the cutts. I give the guides 3.5 stars. So I like the stream, (managers come and go, after all), though I wish that somehow someone could shrink the lodge at least a little bit (or maybe even make it go away). I also suggest that the forest service land above the lodge property be left alone; it seems that an (illegal) ATV road is being cut along the stream, for clients who don't like to walk at all. But all in all, I hope it works out for the best, especially for the stream.PS: I didn't stay there, I just fished there.