Truchas Chapter Announces Best Film at the 2026 Santa Fe Fly Fishing Film Festival
The votes are in, the reels have rolled, and the crowd has spoken. We’re thrilled to announce that “The A-Rod Project”has been named the Winner at the 2026 Santa Fe Fly Fishing Film Festival.
The winning film follows three New Mexico anglers on an audacious quest: catch all five of New Mexico’s trout species — Rio Grande cutthroat, Gila trout, rainbow, brown, and brook — but with one brutal catch. They have exactly 24 hours to do it.
For anyone familiar with the New Mexico Trout Challenge, you already know this is no small feat. Each species demands its own water, its own approach, its own piece of this vast and varied state. But it’s the Rio Grande cutthroat that looms largest over the whole endeavor. Our state fish, native to the cold, high-elevation streams of northern New Mexico, exists today in only a fraction of its historic range. Finding one — let alone finding one on a deadline — means earning it. You can’t stumble into cutthroat water. You have to know it, respect it, and sometimes beg it a little.
That tension is what makes The A-Rod Project so compelling. It’s not just a race against the clock. It’s a reminder of why these fish matter, why their waters matter, and why the work of conservation is worth doing — long before the timer starts.
Watch the film below, and if it leaves you inspired to chase your own New Mexico Trout Challenge, we’re here for it.
A huge thank you to everyone who came out for the festival, to the filmmakers who submitted their work, and to the community that made the night possible. Events like this remind us why we do what we do — and why northern New Mexico’s waters are worth protecting.
