The Animas River is a beautiful free flowing river which is well populated with browns and rainbows. The town of Durango lies midway the Animas’s headwaters and the San Juan river. Durango is a fantastic town to experience while fly fishing and make sure you check out the zip line adventure resort just outside the town. Best tree-top ride in all the states. Durango is the most popular area on the river offering accommodations and fantastic eateries.

For your first experience on fishing the Animas, I recommend using a guide. While fishing the main river, make sure you don’t pass up the numerous feeder streams. I caught my biggest brown lying upstream of one of these feeders. Don’t be surprised if a cutthroat or brook finds its way onto your fly as well.

The best time to fish the river is during low water flows. August is my favorite month. Dry fly fishing provides the best results at that time of year. Midges work best but terrestrials have proven results as well.

Fly fishing the Animas for rainbows can easily result in 15 inch fish. With a large concentration of deep runs and pools, the fish habitat is one of the best in southern Colorado. With the geographic location, the Animas is one of those hidden fly fishing secrets. Put this river on your “must try list”.

The Blue

I know the Blue like the back of my hand, due to living in Breckenridge for years. The Dillion Reservoir divides the Blue in half. This freestone waters upstream and tail-water fishery is heavily laden with large rainbows and offers fantastic fly fishing. The dam’s tail-waters provide a good source of large fish while the freestone near Breck produce the best fighters. The tail-waters yield some of the biggest trout in the state. Catch and release makes the experience available for all to enjoy. The continuous endless supply of mysis shrimp pouring into the river from the dam keeps the first two miles just downstream filled with large rainbows.

In addition, the river has a good population of browns. It is not necessary to have a fly fishing guide while fishing the Blue. Just stop into one of the fly shops to get a map and recommendations on where to cast. Try Cutthroat Anglers in Silverthorne, you might even catch me there from time to time.

Working your way downstream after the first couple of miles from the dam, the fish quantities decrease drastically. Hopefully, by the time you reach this point, you have would have caught a full array of species. Try the Blue, it is well worth the trip. Make sure you take in the historical silver mining bars in Breckenridge, another great fishing spot.

The Colorado River

The Colorado River is one of the state’s premier fisheries. Browns inhabit most areas of the river and average 15 inches and upward. Fly fishing for rainbows is almost fool proof with their numbers hard to beat. Every so often a brook or cutthroat will find your fly and their colors in this river are breathtaking. A guide in a float boat is essential to increase your odds of landing a trophy fish. The river is very powerful with flow rates as it moves westward. There are sections that you can wade and these are near the Fraser river and Troublesome creek.

There are endless riffles and runs with limited number of pools and that is where an experienced guide will save you time. You will be glad you are in the hands of a guide once you hit Byers Canyon area which is fast moving with hidden pocket waters.

The Colorado has a large number of hatches. All the favorites, caddis, stoneflies and mayflies, are found in large numbers. Late spring brings caddis hatches to their peak and last till early fall. The fish react fast and the cloudy water helps mask your attempt to trick them into striking.

The Colorado is one of the finest rivers in all of North America and the scenery will last in your memories for years to come. You can’t call yourself an experienced fly fisher without first sampling the Colorado River.