New Mexico · Bluegill, sunfish, bullheads and freshwater drum

Bluegill, sunfish, bullheads and freshwater drum size limit in New Mexico

You can keep one today — within these limits

Statewide

Open year-round

Size limit	No size limit stated	total length
Daily bag	20	per person per day, all listed species combined
Possession	40	total you may hold

New Mexico's catch-all for warmwater panfish not listed individually elsewhere in the table — no minimum size, twenty a day combined.

New Mexico's cold-water (trout and kokanee salmon) regulations, including the three-tier Special Trout Waters system (Red/Green/Xmas Chile Water), are not modelled here. Neither Ute Lake nor Elephant Butte Reservoir is a trout fishery or appears in the Special Trout Waters list — both are warm-water reservoirs, so this silo's New Mexico entry covers the warm-water table only.
Special Summer Catfish Waters (2/day, 4 possession) and Trophy Bass Waters (2/day, 2 possession) are real exceptions to the statewide numbers, but apply only to a named list of small lakes and ponds that includes neither Ute Lake nor Elephant Butte Reservoir.
The Animas and San Juan Rivers (San Juan County) have no catfish, striped bass, or pike limit at all — not modelled since neither river is a water this site covers.
Eagle Nest Lake's no-limit, must-keep northern pike rule and Bluewater/Quemado Lakes' exclusive tiger muskie fishery are named-water specifics not relevant to Ute Lake or Elephant Butte Reservoir.

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Ten years of fishing, and the person who reads each agency page himself.

Checked at the agency on August 11, 2026 · next check due April 1, 2027