The Alamosa River should serve as a reminder to the hazards of bad mining practices and the need for better standards.  The Alamosa River make in the 80’s was subject to mining tailings and poisons into the river which to this day has made the river nearly devoid of trout.  It isn’t until miles below where the mines are that the water adjusts back to what appears to be a fishable water color.  The river just hasn’t been able to recover.  The worst part is that it happened at the headwaters leaving no water above and hurting all the water below for miles.

All of this aside, there can still be some trout found just a bit above terrace reservoir, and though we haven’t fished it ourselves, have heard there are fish below the res, where the lake and waterfall below do a lot to help bring the river back to a livable place for trout.  We wanted to put the Alamosa River on here because we fished a couple sections and did catch a couple small trout, which warrants it for the river explorer and if you find yourself up here wanting to fish, then you can use this tool to help you find some spots worth fishing for a few nearby.  Beyond that, we wouldn’t recommend coming to the Alamosa for any full fishing experience, especially when you pass the Rio Grande, an excellent trout fishery and are not far from the Conejos over the hill to get to some great trout fishing as well.

We found a few small fish on dry flies working likely pocket water near the campground and found it to be a beautiful river to experience as the iron rich water gives it a unique color.  We are glad we explored the area and recommend looking into further upstream above the headwaters as well as north and south of this area for excellent fishing opportunities.