Conejos River

The Conejos rises in the South San Juan Wilderness, drops through Platoro Reservoir, runs a long canyon and then slows into meadow water above Antonito before joining the Rio Grande. It is a five-hour drive from Denver and effectively another state as far as fishing pressure goes. It is also the river Cole grew up on — his grandparents owned a lodge here — and the water that taught him to fish to selective trout, because Conejos fish are notoriously particular.

That reputation is earned. The meadow reaches are slow, clear and heavily fished by people who know what they are doing, and a bad drift is simply refused. The reward is that this is one of the best dry-fly rivers in Colorado. The green drake hatch in late July and August is the event people plan trips around, with golden stoneflies before it, caddis throughout, and hoppers along the grass banks into September.

The river fishes as several distinct pieces. Above Platoro Reservoir it is small wilderness water with brook trout and Rio Grande cutthroat, reached on Forest Road 250 and on foot. Below the dam the Lake Fork stretch is classic freestone pocket water. The Pinnacles section runs through steep canyon and is the most physical water on the river — big rock, hard wading and the biggest browns. Downstream of that the river opens into the meadows around Menkhaven and Mogote, and then runs on past Aspen Glade toward Antonito.

Access follows Highway 17 and Forest Road 250 through the Rio Grande National Forest. The Forest Service campgrounds — Mogote, Aspen Glade, Spectacle Lake, Lake Fork and Elk Creek — all provide public parking and river access, and much of the canyon is bordered by public land. The meadow water is a different story: a substantial amount of it is private, held by lodges and ranches, and the boundaries are not always obvious from the road. This is the reach where having someone who knows the ownership map is the difference between a good day and a trespass.

Regulations differ sharply between reaches here — one stretch is considerably more restrictive than the rest of the river, and it is not what most anglers assume. Confirm the current rules with Colorado Parks and Wildlife before you fish.

Cole guides the Conejos as a specialty and destination trip rather than a day outing. It is worth the distance.