The Conejos River Valley is a place an angler could spend an entire season exploring.  There is ample public access across the lower, middle, tailwater and upper section including access to the Elk, South, Lake, and Adams Fork if you’re willing to hike.  There are mixed opinions on this river as some days can be frustrating with trout unwilling to eat anything except the perfect nymph on the perfect drift, while other days you can throw a single stimulator on the water and find fish every few casts.  I personally have spent two seperate trips down here and had both experiences and can validate the truth of this two-faced river.  It flows through a gorgeous valley and has tons of recreation off the beaten path making it a great place for the adventurous angler to explore.  Brown, rainbow and rio grande cutthroat call this river home and range in sizes as small as 4 inches (verified catch by yours truly) to over 20 inches comfortably (Ask conejos river guides).  I caught a lot of fish in the 14- 17 inch range and all fought great as you would expect wild trout to fight in a freestone stream.

The middle section is primarily brown trout and the middle section begins more or less when you leave CR 17 onto the 250 dirt road up to platoro.  The middle section ends as the tailwater meadows section begins.  Along this section the south fork and lake fork of the conejos enter the river adding additional angling and hiking opportunities.  The river is a swift freestone with some slower larger holes that show up on occasion.  Don’t over look any water and search for a pattern for each day both on fly selection and location of fish in the river.  If you find a couple trout in a certain spot, find more spots like that and you’ll find good success.  When fishing gets slow or tough, smaller nymphs or a streamer can make a good choice.  Dry flies are great, but fish don’t look up as much as you’d expect on this river, for whatever reason, and while dry fly fishing can be great, it’s mostly hit or miss depending on the season and day.  The middle section is a great place to explorer for  one or two days and though you could fish it all in a week, you’ll likely want to spend month down here cause it’s just an amazing place.