Rivers
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SOUTH PLATTE COLORADO ARKANSAS WILLIAM'S FORK BLUE
Obviously, I couldn't cover every local stream, river, lake and pond on this site. Instead, I chose to cover what are, in my opinion, the best rivers within a two hour drive of Denver. The South Platte river is probably my favorite angling excursion. If one doesn't have the time (or wake up early enough) to hike into the Platte as it runs through Cheeseman Canyon (Gold Medal water), the river in the Deckers area offers outstanding flyfishing with a little less travel time and better direct access to the river. The Arkansas river as it runs out of Pueblo reservoir and through the town of Pueblo has only recently become a regular destination for me. It offers terrific fishing from January through March. The opportunity to fish dry flies during the winter exists on this river and the temperature down in Pueblo is usually 5-10 degrees higher than in Denver. The William's Fork and Colorado Rivers, set in a beautiful high mountain valley, have been affected by Whirling Disease but continue to produce big browns as well as large, older rainbows. The Blue River through Silverthorne has the largest Rainbows of any river mentioned on this page. In fact, according to what I've read and the pictures I've seen, these are some of the biggest wild trout in the state. Five-pounders are not uncommon and fish in the ten-pound range can be caught.