The upper forks of the Eagle provide some smaller water and excellent fishing.  While the lower produces larger fish, the forks can give some nice solitude.  The south fork is much steeper in gradient and more difficult to access despite following the road towards Leadville.  The East Fork is hike in or drive in accessible with a moderate 4wd medium clearance vehicle.  Most SUV’s handle the road just fine.  The river is small but cover it fully when you fish as trout hang out in some odd places given the river size.  It’s a fun place to explore for a day and on the way up from either direction you can fish other rivers along the way.  From 24 heading north out of minturn, you can fish homestake creek, and the upper section of the eagle.  From 24 south from leadville, you can fish the upper arkansas, tennessee creek and more.  Lots of water to explore up in this area and a worthwhile place to spend a day or even a weekend camping.

If you are feeling extra adventurous, there are many hikes to lakes around the area and hikes like resolution creek are a fun place to explore as well.  Solid selections of dries and nymphs will take most fish as well as a few smaller, lighter streamers.  Fish with caution as fish can be spooky.  Give as much room as possible while avoiding the stream side vegetation waiting to take your flies.  Wildlife is also plentiful up in the area so keep an eye out for moose, bear, cougars, deer and elk.

These pics are from late April, snow can be a deterrent for most, but I caught a bunch of trout up there despite the cold.  The roads aren’t open to here until later in May or June, but you can hike in without much issue along the roads if you’d like.