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Shawn C.
Senior MemberPosts: 7,027 Senior Member
Durango Area Fishing & Camping
Shawn C.
Senior MemberPosts: 7,027 Senior Member
The wife and I have some time off the week after next and we're thinking about SW Colorado. Durango looks appealing because there are other things to do besides fish (gotta keep the boss happy, ya know). The only river I've heard of is the Animas, but am even more interested in doing some camping where we can get into some willing fish and have some nice scenery and camping. After a few days of that I think it would be nice to stay in town for a few nights and catch the train to Silverton and hit Mesa Verde NP. Any suggestions for areas to camp or river/stream info would be appreciated!
Replies
Regards,
Scott
If you don't wear glasses sun glasses or some sort
of economy safety glasses will work fine.
Doesn't matter if it's a coal burner or oil fired
your eyes will thank you. Kind of like wearing
protection when streamer fishing.
Thanks for the tips guys and gal. I will make some train reservations before heading out. Hopefully a weekday won't be totally booked.
As far as fishing, I have 0 interest in ever fishing the San Juan. Can't explain it, but the prospect has never interested me. I'll check with Duranglers!
The views of the San Juans are worth it and they're making Nomex suits in some very nice colors these days.
Regards,
Scott
Thanks again!
I was in the same boat, went down and tried it anyway and my opinion hasn't changed. I think your plan sounds like a good one.
After gaining some confidence and seeing what my knee could handle I headed up into the Florida River above Lemon Reservoir. Not big fish, but very beautiful and a nice test for my leg. Eventually we headed up to Gunnison and I got in a half day on the Gunnison at Neversink and a few hours on the Taylor.
Overall I have to say Durango is a very cool town with fun night life, good vibe, friendly people, decent fishing and incredible scenery! Thanks for the tip on the train, too. My wife insisted on one of the Presidential Class cars and I'm glad we did the trip that way. What a great experience.
If anyone is planning on doing any fishing in the area and is not familiar, I cannot recommend Duranglers enough. Great people that were extremely willing to help!
Do you have any pics from this trip? Durango is on my to do list in the near future.
If you are planning a family-type trip I can't recommend Durango enough. As for a solo fishing-centric trip: I would do it, but of course there are better places in CO. Still, the scenery is awesome and the fishing was very fun! For fishing research, check out Durangler's web site. They have a good primer of the area.
Thanks for the info.
What better places are you thinking? I've been to RMNP, Colorado Springs area and Carbondale already. I'm really intrigued by the train ride.
As for other areas I have fished: Been to the Gunnison in and around the town itself a couple of times and always caught nice fish. This past trip I spent only a few hours on the Taylor River during the middle of the day. It is one of the prettiest rivers I've fished in a while and I'm sure the fishing would have been better during the evening hours.
One thing that shocked me was the huge amount of private land along the Gunnison area rivers. I'm done **** about access in UT! We have it pretty good compared to Gunnison. It's not like you can't find good places, but the amount of public access along some of these rivers is disturbingly low. The Taylor R. has good access but a lot of the other waters had only very limited areas where the common man can wet a line.
Hopefully it isn't as bad as I perceived it, but according to my maps and driving around it was pretty grim. Still nice fishing where you could get it, though.
For an overall vacation experience I would recommend Durango. I know the wife and I will be heading back one of these years!
Regards,
Scott