The Best Day Fishing.

If you subscribe to the saying "the worst day fishing is better than the best day working" then I was in fishing heaven this weekend. The Under Sheriff Robert Garcia, his wife Christine, my wife Antoinette and I spent the weekend at Tall Pine Resort in Red River New Mexico. If you ever want to Camp and fish in style, you have to stay at Tall Pine Resort. The owners Richard and Linda Green own piece of heaven with 23 cabins, beautiful land with Red River running through it and a small private lake that is stocked weekly with trout. The resort is a great place to stay and yet it is affordable costing less than a decent hotel room.

According to their website the cabins run between $60 and $170. We stayed in a two bedroom with a living room, kitchen, dining room, and bathroom which costs $130-$150. The cabin includes electricity, propane, a stove, refrigerator, and running water. There is no microwave, or TV, however there is small appliances such as toaster and coffee maker. There is also no internet which is the only thing I really missed. I did take my laptop which was good for watching a dvd. Fishing at the lake is an additional $20 but well worth it.

According to the published history of Tall Pine Resort, Tall Pine Camp was established in 1920 by Reed, Richard, and George Oldham, brothers and prospectors who settled in Red River during the gold rush in 1895. They staked the Golden Treasure, Golden Calf, Bunker Hill, and Raton group of claims located beginning 5 miles up Placer Road (the current road to Goose Lake). The camp was originally intended to be headquarters for their mines.

In 1935, the prospector's niece Winifred Oldham Hamilton and her husband Walter moved to Red River from Boulder City, NV, where Walter worked building the Hoover Dam and Winifred taught school to the construction worker's children. Their dream was to help the uncles develop Tall Pine Camp. Travelers seeing the beautiful valley setting frequently stopped and asked to pitch their tents. The family began building cabins to rent, and what is now known as Tall Pine Resort was born.

In 1990, in her 89th year, Winifred had a dream in which Walter, who had passed away in 1977, told her to "sell, sell, sell." The remaining Oldham family agreed, and the cabins were placed on the market. Winnie would retain her house and the buildings on six acres until her death in January, 1998.

Linda and Richard Green were longtime guests of Tall Pine Resort who, like many others, had dreamed of owning it someday. Linda grew up vacationing here with her family, and brought Richard here after their marriage. Linda's mother's family, the A. B. Clouthiers of Springer, NM, were some of the original tent campers in the twenties and thirties.

The Green's convinced Winnie and the family to sell to them with the promise to keep Tall Pine Resort the special place so many families loved, and began operating the resort in the summer of 1991.

We arrived late on Friday and settled into our cabin, named Riverside. By the time my wife and I arrived about 7:30 pm the Under Sheriff Robert Garcia had caught his daily limit of 5 trout and was cooking dinner on the grill for all of us.

A pic of Riverside Cabin, our home for the weekend.

We had a great dinner and played some cards and chatted before hitting the bedrooms. On Saturday morning we had a great breakfast and heading into the town of Red River where we hit some yard sales before heading back to hit the Tall Pine Lake. Antoinette my wife does not usually fish with me but I convinced her to join me and she quickly caught a couple of trout only to lose them at the bank reeling them in. On her third catch she brought the fish ashore and was all smiles. She really got into the fishing and quickly caught two more. Not doing well where I was fishing initially I moved closer to her spot and my luck changed. Within a few hours we all had our limits and packed up as the rain began to lightly fall.

Antoinette and the stringer with both our fish.

With all the fun I was having I sure look serious.

Robert and Christine waiting for the next bite.

The ducks hung around us waiting to snap up any food or bait that was dropped.

As we took the short drive back to our cabin we drove up on a small herd of Deer. I had to stop and take about a dozen pictures. It was great getting close enough to grab these pictures.


Saturday night we had some great steaks off the outdoor grill and hit some of the tourist shops back in the town of Red River. On Sunday morning I got up surprisingly early, a little after 6 am. I brewed a pot of coffee and after a couple of cups I headed back to the lake where I caught another 4 trout before heading back to the cabin for breakfast. I sure hated to leave but none the less we packed up and got ready to leave. After taking a few more pics of some chipmunks and Antoinette and I by the river we headed home. I will definitely be returning to Tall Pines Resort as it made for a great weekend. The resort closes for the winter on September 30th so if you can't make it this year keep the place in mind for next year.

One of the many chipmunks we saw. Not sure if this was Alvin or Theodore.


One last picture of Antoinette and I by the river.

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