Fishing Report For Elephant Butte Lake, NM

By Rick Seaman

April 11, 2025

Popular Fish Species Reports
Elephant Butte Lake Fishing Video
Available Fish Species
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Fishing Report Elephant Butte Reservoir, NM

Fishing Reports

Popular Fish Species Elephant Butte Lake, NM

Largemouth Bass

Current Report: Good
Outlook: Good To Very Good

Enjoying the tremendous cover of rocks and brush throughout Elephant Butte Lake, bass are growing big and thrilling anglers which are enticing them to bite. Reports from recent bass tournaments indicate the winners are catching bass that average 15" long. And, there are some trophies swimming these waters. Jigs and chatterbait's account for many of the better bass caught here recently. Crankbaits are perennial favorites here and will catch numerous species. A wide variety of other lures are also catching nice largemouth bass here. During times when the bass are finicky, jerkbaits, or stick worms often teases bass to strike.

Striped Bass

Current Report: Very Good
Outlook: Very Good To Excellent

Thanks to the inflow from the Rio Grande River, stripers can have a reasonable spawn. And, the spawn cycle is good for anglers who fish the inflowing water. Once the Spring spawning is over, the schools of stripers move to open water of the main lake, continually moving as they follow baitfish. In Summer, especially early mornings, when stripers herd shad to the surface, there is an excellent topwater bite. Locals report successfully catching stripers by locating schools of bait, and wolf packs of stripers are usually nearby. Fish finders are a big help in locating these roaming schools. Swimbaits, jerkbaits, crankbaits, spoons, live bait and cut bait are all effective here.

White Bass

Uncle Buck's Panfish Creatures Curly Tail Minnow Rigged

Current Report: Good To Very Good
Outlook: Very Good

Trolling for white bass is popular here, and is producing lots of fish recently. Small crankbaits, underspins, and small swimbaits all work well when casting or trolling. Live minnows also catch them here, but work best once a school is located while trolling. White's tend to start their spawn run once the water temperature gets into the mid 50's. They are migrating up-lake into the river area, and running creeks, and will congregate for several weeks. This is a prime time to fill the livewells with some fat white bass. During Summer, Fall and Winter the white bass migrate back to the main lake areas following baitfish.

Fishing Video

Fish species to fish for...

Guide to fishing for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, flathead catfish, black crappie, white crappie, walleye, bluegill and striped bass at Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico.

Elephant Butte Lake is a 36,000-acre lake with over 360 miles of shoreline. There over a dozen areas with easy access for fishing from the bank. Bass, catfish, crappie, walleye, bluegill and striped bass all flourish here.

Primary fish species to catch

Click images for fishing tips and details about each species.

Today's Weather & Forecast

Fishing Boat Rentals

Click here for fishing boat rentals available at this lake.

Click here for boat ramps available at this lake.

Marinas

Click here for marinas available at this lake.

Fishing License

Click here for a New Mexico Fishing License.

Map - Fishing & Access

Rick Seaman is a fishing enthusiast with over five decades of fishing experience, a retired tournament fisherman, author of numerous published articles on fishing, and co-author of the book "Bass Fishing - It's not WHAT you throw, It's WHERE you throw it".