Colorado River Rainbow

Fly Fishing the Waters of the Roaring Fork Valley

We live and work in fly-fishing paradise. The Roaring Fork Valley comprises roughly 1,000 square miles of high-mountain streams, lakes and rivers. Our two most famous rivers, the Frying Pan and the Roaring Fork, are designated Gold Medal trout streams by the state of Colorado.

The lesser-known Crystal River flows through the incredibly scenic, high-mountain towns of Marble and Redstone on its way to its confluence with the Roaring Fork, which, in turn, dumps into the Colorado River, known to locals as, simply, “The Collie.”

The Roaring Fork River begins as a small creek at an elevation of over 12,000 feet, high in the Rocky Mountains above the resort town of Aspen.  “The Fork” is a freestone river (no dams) and runs 70 miles through the region that bears its name – the Roaring Fork Valley – before it joins with the majestic Colorado River in Glenwood Springs.Home to the famous natural hot springs that, in Wild West days, beckoned the likes of Doc Holiday and other “takers of the medicinal waters,” Glenwood Springs flourishes alongside the Colorado and boasts the largest, outdoor, natural-hot-springs swimming pool in the world.

The Fork gains volume as it flows through the valley, picking up the Frying Pan, the Crystal, and several small streams before it joins the Colorado.  In fact, the Fork boasts the longest contiguous stretch of designated Gold Medal water in Colorado - roughly 35 miles.  Plain and simple, this is one of the finest trout streams in the American West!

The Frying Pan is born in the high mountains as a crystal-clear stream before entering Reudi Dam (“Ruu-di”), twelve miles above the town of Basalt. The “tailwater” stretch below the dam offers unique opportunities to catch huge rainbows on tiny dry flies and nymph imitations.

The Crystal flows through sprawling ranchlands at the base of 12,900-foot-high Mount Sopris. As its name implies, the Crystal often runs gin clear in the summer and fall, and when conditions are right, this classic trout stream can offer some great dry- fly fishing for rainbows, browns and cutthroat trout.  The Crystal also holds some of the fattest mountain whitefish in the West.

The Collie is where we local guides fish on our days off.  The mighty Colorado River is a big, moody, western river, and when she’s fishing well, you’ll have the chance to catch and release some of the West’s biggest and meanest rainbows and browns.

We have access to almost 75 miles of The Collie, including several very-remote portions of the river that cut through beautiful canyons and lush ranchlands. The Collie is best fished with a drift boat or a raft, due tolimited access points.