I use 2 piece rods for a short rod tube when flying
I was fishing eagle nest lake in early summer and we had nosed the boat up on the shore .I wasn't getting a bite had fished for hours.I noticed the plants growing in the lake so I tied on a number 3 Mepps spinner and would cast out a little ways and down along the shore line ,let the spinner sit for a second then would rip thru the plants and would end up with a hand full that I put in a 5 gallon can.I did this three or four times and all of the sudden something grabbed the spinner.All I had time to say was its big and it swim under the boat and slammed my pole against the side of the boat and broke off.I was using a trout rig with 8 lb line but I knew what this fish was.I get chills thinking of the power the fish had .It for sure was a northern pike in the 40" to 50" range. I live in Amarillo Tx so I went home and got my cat fishing set up which is a 7000i abu Garcia bait casting reel and a Ugly stick Tiger with 65 lb line. went back to eagle nest lake and did the same thing in the same place never got a bite.
the problem using worms to catch catfish is every perch ,minnows , turtles and other small fish will be nibbling away at the worm as well .Use shrimp or cut bait.
You can have your Spinning Reel, I will take a baitcaster every time.A baitcaster is natural feel compaired to a spinning rig which is awkward to use.
When you fished Questa did you go to the dump and walk down through the huge rocks to the Rio Grande ?
I have a cabin in Eagle Nest .Eagle nest lake used to be the best trout fishing in he state.Someone planted northerns in the lake and now its not good at all,mostly a perch lake now.
The larger fish lay many times the eggs the smaller fish do. Catch and release the large fish , they are the life of the fishery.
Go with 50 pound power pro braid if you are using a bait caster.
24 ft SeaArk with a cabin for catfishing, Majek 21.5 ft RFL (Red Fish Line) skinny water boat for the Laguna Madre in South Texas check out on you tube Majek RFL skinny water video.Charger bass boat for bass fishing. Water wagon for warm water fishing.30 ft Bayliner for traveling.
Why would you filet trout,the complete bones come out very easy after they are cooked.
If its a stream with much pressure from fishermen the wild trout want last.
We had a ranch with 3 1/2 miles of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison on it at 9700 ft in Colorado.No otters there but we were always fighting the beavers.Dynamite worked good ,the state wouldn't let us pelt them but give us a permit to kill them. They damned up our irrigation ditches and backed up water over our roads daily.