creede & south fork, colorado

[soloman]

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.

[PRM]

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.

[HCR]

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.

[herefishy]

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.

[Brad Williamson]

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.

[HCR]

Brad--real nice report and such great photos.

[Brad Williamson]

Thanks, HCR--glad you liked it...

A couple more points for soloman about the fishing.....

A lot of the water around Creede is wild trout water with the appropriate regs. I find that the big river itself can be pretty difficult to fish in Aug. generally--especially between So. Fork and Creede where there is a lot of public water. The hatches are not as common as they are earlier in the season in my experience and you'll likely need to go subsurface. I fish the Lake Fork every summer---very consistent light hatches with good fish but what I really like is to go higher. I've found green drake hatches as late as the last week in July up high and that can be special. I don't really fish much down around So. Fork but I know there is at least one tributary creek of upstream from town that is regularly stocked. Interestingly, last summer when I was out there, I found more people per mile of creek there than any place else I visited---I didn't try to fish it--just passed through on the way to some pretty spectacular fishing over a couple of passes. I've found that I get plenty of good information to get started (and maps that define the public water) each year at the local fly shops (there's a couple in each town) but you'll need to work at it to find the really good places. These aren't secret places but they are not the first thing that comes up in conversation--for good reason. By work--I mean putting in your time, taking some hikes, and analyzing the maps. Here's another little write up that describes what I mean. And then when you get there, in addition to the normal monsoons you expect you may have to deal with the remnants of a hurricane that blows out all the water in a drainage for a week. You have to be flexible and know your options. Be ready to switch drainages or seek out a tailwater if necessary. The time out there I spend is very precious to me and very limited. At one point I was spending a couple of months out there a year but now I've become too busy back here in KS and other places. I'm not able to get out to the Rio and the Gunnison drainages anymore than a couple of weeks, now. I hope that when I transition out of this phase of life that I will still have the physical abilities to keep on exploring the back country. I've got a new wilderness stream (for me) targeted for this summer that I've seen in some photos--photos with big fish, beautiful water and outstanding scenery. I can't wait--I'll be there the last week of July and the first week of August.

Oh, and by the way, about the only fly I really need during that period of time is an EHC or a parachute adams. I carry a bigger selection but sometimes I fish the caddis (successfully) for 3 or 4 days in a row---the fish up high are hungry.

[soloman]

Brad,

thanks for the info. just what I needed. I am pretty flexible and catching fish is always secondary to enjoying some time on the water.

[soloman]

Brad & others,

Do you know anything about the National Forest Campgrounds in the area? What are the best ones?

Soloman

[Brad Williamson]

I've stayed in almost all of them along the Silver Thread highway and along the Rio from South Fork up to the reservoir. I've also just camped on back country roads in the National Forest as well. Used to camp fairly regularly above Creede on the Bachelor loop but that is not as easy as it once was---folks are now claiming the mining claims so it is difficult to know when you are or are not on private property. For convenience to Creede I would suggest Marshall Park (there's one mile of public fishing there in the river) and it's only about 4 miles to town and just a little ways from the Antlers where we like to eat. You'll likely need reservations depending on the time you expect to be there since it is a smallish campground. Palisade is downstream from Creede but before you get to South Fork along the river--also with a couple of miles of public river access. It feels like a larger campground but also fills up like any along the highway. I can't speak for the fishing at either spot--I don't usually fish right at the campgrounds, especially in late summer. I prefer to spend at least one night a summer up at 30 mile or River Hill. Both have a lot of public water nearby. These are closer to the headwaters. 30-mile is my favorite NFS campground in the immediate area. Here's a link to the Rio Grande National Forest website for campgrounds and links to reservations.

To get your fever up:

Just downstream from River Hill:



A few fish from nearby: