creede & south fork, colorado
Trying to wrangle a family vacation in Aug for the Creede/Southfork area of colorado. I know I will not have trouble finding fly fishing spots, but would welcome any tips in this regard.
My question is whether there are enough diversions for the wife and kids to keep them happy while I sneek away and fish? We will be travelling in my 4wd Xterra, if that makes any difference in regard to site seeing.
I have read the articles here on the upper rio grande, etc.
Soloman,
Will Blanchard is owner and one of the head guides of Animas Valley Anglers. He and his guides spend alot of time around Creede. They'll dial ya in...maybe you could even take advantage of their services. No affiliation here...just a very, very satisfied customer- - highly recommended.
Whether you think you can, or think you cannot, you're probably right.
--Author unknown
What kinds of diversions do your wife and kids enjoy? Creede is a small mining town. You can walk up and down the main street where there are shops in 5 minutes. S. Fork is an intersection of two main roads--not much to do unless they want to golf at a very expensive course. There are raft trips out of Creede on the Rio Grande and millions of acres of national forest as well as many lakes stocked with trout specifically for bait fishers who want to fish from the bank.
No man can have too many fly rods;
no woman too many shoes.
There's also some kind of theatre in Creede, mine tours, farmer markets - I could enjoy spending lots of time there, but don't know about others.
Been going there for 30+ years. My wife spends a great deal of time at the Creede Repertory Theater---she's a member. When we are there she'll usually see 3 different shows and often see them more than once. Usually we get up in the morning---head downtown for a little breakfast at either the Firehouse or across the street at the Cafe Ole. My wife will sometimes shop in the shoppes or she'll tag along with me and read a book while I fish. I head out about 10 or so depending on how far the water is. Usually we try and mix a little hiking in with a bit of fishing. Get back in the afternoon--eat some ice cream, take a nap and then go to eat at the Antlers, Kip's or the Hotel.....
When my kids were little we used to go on a lot of small hikes to waterfalls, geologic sites and such. The place is surrounded by wilderness. One of the attractions of the place is the lack of a ski resort---the golf course is down at South Fork so there aren't as many folks as there are in other parts of the state in Aug. One of the principal attractions for many (not me) is jeeping or 4-wheeling on the old mining roads---particularly over towards Lake City or across the divide to Silverton or Ouray. We always take a couple of days to go over to Lake City and fish--eat ice cream and such. Everyone has different tastes and needs for a vacation spot but Creede has been a second home for our family for many years. One thing that is difficult though in Creede and Lake City is lodging--you really need to camp or find space at one of the resorts--the places are very limited on hotels rooms. South Fork has more motels and lodging.
In response to a question from Joe Hyde on a local board about fishing for Brookies I wrote up this report from last summer about a short hike to a wilderness stream in the Creede area. It's includes a bit more extra info than I normally like to include but while Joe is an expert warm water fisher he's still full of questions on brookies so I got a bit wordy.
Last edited by Brad Williamson; 05-23-2010 at 04:08 AM.
Brad--real nice report and such great photos.
No man can have too many fly rods;
no woman too many shoes.
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