Nice lakes near where you live (Clovis, Portales: homes, camping, swimming)

[clairz]

jskarpe asked me in another thread about lakes within a short driving distance from Clovis. Since Mortimer says that I am statistically in the top ten for starting threads on this forum, I thought I'd live up to my rep and start this one.

Camping season is here and we're probably all looking for great lakes where we can spend some time camping, swimming, fishing, and hiking. What are the best lakes near your home?

Me! Me! I'll go first!

Ute Lake: 2 hours. Camping, swimming, fishing. The sky was incredible at night, so were the coyote songs.

Bottomless Lakes: 2 1/2 hours. Camping, swimming, scuba diving (?)

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge: 48 minutes. Camping, wildlife watching

Oasis State Park: About 20 minutes away in Portales. No lake, but there is a 3 acre fishing pond. Right now they are having trouble with the liner and it is empty. Nice prairie camping there, though.

The city of Clovis has a couple of small lakes just for fishing, too.

~clairz

[catman]

It's not near my home(!), but I love Eagle Nest Lake. The setting is so beautiful, what's not to like?

[BrianH]

Love to fish almost every weekend at Welcome to Clayton Lake State Park - Brought to you by the First National Bank of New Mexico
Just got a fixer-uppper boat too

[TKO]

The road to Caballo:

We camped on the east side away from all the folks it was really nice. A bit of a rough road but worth it...no harm done!

[6 FOOT 3]

Originally Posted by clairz

jskarpe asked me in another thread about lakes within a short driving distance from Clovis. Since Mortimer says that I am statistically in the top ten for starting threads on this forum, I thought I'd live up to my rep and start this one.

Camping season is here and we're probably all looking for great lakes where we can spend some time camping, swimming, fishing, and hiking. What are the best lakes near your home?

Me! Me! I'll go first!

Ute Lake: 2 hours. Camping, swimming, fishing. The sky was incredible at night, so were the coyote songs.

Bottomless Lakes: 2 1/2 hours. Camping, swimming, scuba diving (?)

Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge: 48 minutes. Camping, wildlife watching

Oasis State Park: About 20 minutes away in Portales. No lake, but there is a 3 acre fishing pond. Right now they are having trouble with the liner and it is empty. Nice prairie camping there, though.

The city of Clovis has a couple of small lakes just for fishing, too.

~clairz

I wish i could give you 3 more reps Clair but i have to spread more around but that's such good info and as always you are one of my favorates on here along with Cathy 4017 and EnjoyEP.

Also great photo's TKO as that really gets me homesick for Southern NM.

6/3

[AndyJ]

BrianH, I am interested in coming to CLSP for some bass, possibly walleye fishing. Unfortunately, I'm boatless and am wondering how good bank fishing is there. I have a spinning outfit, and generally use tube, spinner, jerk, and crankbaits for bass. Thanks in advance!

[TKO]

KOA Point is where you wanna be (or possibly in the spillway below the dam). The rest is so shallow it's hard fishing unless you have a boat. Minner's for white bass and walleye would be most productive. If you don't do bait, small shallow diving shad raps and sassy shads would be next on my list.

The black bass fishing there isn't good. You may get lucky but they're few and far between. Much better bass fishing at the Butte.

Good luck!

[BrianH]

Bass and Walleye is real good over by the dam, catfish and trout over by the docks are the good spots there. If you get lucky like I did once somebody will feel sorry for you and ask you out on their boats :S Not that it helped me catch. He got a bunch of fish and I got zilch. Apparently there are some large Bass there, State Walleye was caught there too.

KOA point ?

[AndyJ]

Originally Posted by TKO

The black bass fishing there isn't good. You may get lucky but they're few and far between. Much better bass fishing at the Butte.

Good luck!

Thanks TKO! Even if the bass fishing isn't the best around, I think it'd be a worthy get away, as that's just about the only part of the state I have yet to visit. Any excuse to get outdoors is a good one, IMO

[AndyJ]

Hey, thanks BrianH, just missed your post. I've been on plenty of what I expected to be productive fishing trips, and got skunked. Conversely, I've been on trips that I didn't feel too great about, and ended up catching plenty. Either way, I think one of the best things is just getting outside and getting to know a new place.