The Solitary Angler

The Solitary Angler is a guide service and fishing club working out of a PO Box in El Prado, New Mexico, on the northern edge of Taos, and its business is leased private water as much as it is guided days. Members of the Solitary Angling Club fish the leased fisheries by reservation without a guide, bringing up to two guests, paying no rod fees and taking ten per cent off guide fees; membership runs April 1st through March 31st at 2,900 dollars gold, 2,200 silver and 1,400 bronze. The leases reach well beyond New Mexico into southern Colorado and southwest Wyoming, where float or wade days on the Green River, Ham’s Fork, Smith’s Fork and Fontenelle Creek are priced at 650 dollars for one angler and 700 for two, with separate rod fees on each ranch. Newcomers are taken out on a two-hour introduction clinic on the water at 275 dollars for the first student and 75 for each additional one, equipment included, and rods, reels and waders rent at 15 dollars apiece. The firm also publishes a book on fly fishing New Mexico and runs a separate remote-destination travel arm.