The Lake Fork of the Conejos is a small tributary of the Conejos River.  The nearest town is Platoro and you drive along tons of great water along the main conejos river to get here.  The lower section is a small 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile of river before it dumps into the Conejos.  This river produces a large number of small brown trout ranging from 4 inches up to 14”.  It’s not likely you’ll catch large fish here, but the numbers and ease of access make it a great place to try if you’re in the area and aren’t having luck on the main river.  The fish need a delicately placed dry fly right in the seams to eat, but they are forgiving and with persistence, you can get them to eat fairly easily once the right cast is made.  It’s a pretty shallow meandering meadow stream in this section and can easily get crowded if too many fish it.  Overall, there is much better, higher producing water nearby, but if you find yourself getting beat down by the fish on the main river, this can be a place to get your confidence back.  Beginners will find good luck here and is a good place to check out to learn fly fishing.

The best approach I’ve found is a dry dropper rig.  A small stimulator size 14 on top or a mayfly of some sorts will produce trout with whatever your favorite beadhead fly dropped below 24 inches or less.  4x, 5x, 6x, doesn’t really matter in my experience but a good, dragless drift will entice the fish correctly.  It’s a fun place to spend a couple hours if you’re in the area.  If you are up there, don’t overlook the many sections of the Conejos river including Elk Creek, Lower Conejos, Middle Conejos, Tailwater Section of Conejos, and Headwaters Section of the river as well.  Take a visit down to this area and you’ll have plenty of water to explore from the time you arrive to the time you leave.

Given the geography of the area, we decided to do a single map of the conejos area.  See the map below, and notice the dozens of access points along the river and it’s tributaries.  Explore all the ones you can during your trip, variety is the spice of life in this drainage!  If you are up for a little hiking, you can access the trailhead up above and fish the upper section of the lake fork with good success as well with miles and miles of additional fishing opportunities.