Colorado Springs Area
Colorado
Contributors to this thread:
Wife and I are flying out next month to watch our grandson shoot a SCTP event at Fort Carson. Not knowing his event schedule is making it hard to preplan other activities.
Are there great places to see that are not tourist traps? Scenic drives with Mountain View’s? Possibly a trail ride by horseback. I would like to try and fish for cutthroat for a few hours if possible. Being we’re flying I would just buy a cheap rod and reel and then just give it to a kid before we leave for home.
Thanks for any help!
Garden of the Gods is worth checking out, even though it's a tourist attraction, but not really a tourist trap. I don't know about fishing down there. Go to Sportsmans Warehouse on Platte for local fishing info. The base probably has a MWR office or Outdoor Rec center with info fishing also.
You are about 40 minutes from the Arkansas river in canon city. Great fishing. Check out royal gorge anglers. Also Royal Gorge is cool to see. A drive up to pikes peak too.
Check out Flies n Lies in Deckers, they can get ya set up on the South Platte there and some big fish. relative to Springs as well. Anglers Covey is also another shop that can help ya out. Right off 24.
ZachinCO's Link
Royal Gorge Railroad is fun. Garden of the Gods will be packed, but worth it. Glen Eyrie is not often mentioned. Broadmoor Hotel has horseback riding, plus it's worth a visit on it's own. The Sunday brunch is worth the price!
The South Platte near Deckers is technical fishing but as mentioned above, there are some big fish in there. It gets the crap pounded out of it by the Denver crowd but we've pulled 26" fish out of there and it's public. If you are wanting to catch big fish (including lots of Cutthroat and CutBow), the Dream Stream between 11 Mile and Spinney with Landon Mayer is another solid option.
July is the time for high country treeline lake fishing for cutthroats! Make the drive up through the Arkansas Canyon to Salida and on up to Leadville. Worth it just for the scenery! There are a number of small lakes up at 11,000’ and up that have beautiful cutts in that valley. The Arkansas is mostly little browns but they are a lot of fun and usually very happy to see a fly or lure. Great river rafting all along the Arkansas from Canyon City up to Buena Vista. Some of the prettiest mountains in Colorado!
If you want to catch some cutts, contact ArkAnglers in Salida. They have guides that can drive or hike you to a high lake for some awesome cutthroat action. They have gear to use so you wouldn't have to buy throw away gear.
I would second Bugslinger.
Arkanglers also has a shop in Buena Vista.
If you have a couple of days, you could do a float fishing trip on the Ark. Fishing and whitewater rafting combined! What could be better?
Maybe a high lake for cutts as well. The high lakes up in that country are magnificent!
There are also some great hot springs in the area that are not stinky like the ones in Glenwood or up here in Steamboat.
Definitely horseback outfits around. I know the guys outside Leadville (Halfmoon) but not sure who is down valley.
Clarify what you are wanting to use too, please. Fly fishing, ultralite, bait fishing, etc. I second the Arkansas being mostly small browns--the 14" variety but fun. River, lake, guided, unguided, wade fishing, day float, etc. Lots of directions to go here and we can help.
I love a foam ant on a 5 weight and sight-fishing cruising fish in high mountain lakes. Just pack your rain gear and some sort of tarp, as storms can be on you in no time.
Cheesman Reservoir is close to the South Platte/Deckers. Cool lake to check out
Everything good to see would be considered a tourist attraction. Garden of the Gods is a must see. You can drive through and stop and hike on your own for free. They also do horseback rides, I think it’s academy riding stables. You can also do Segway tours lol. Or car tours in a model T style car You can drive up Pikes Peak if you like If you just want to drive in the mountains head west on highway 24. COLO springs to cripple creek is a nice drive that’s not too long. Mueller State Park is along the way and worth a stop. Probably only 45 minutes from Colorado Springs if that. If you’re just killing time in town check out Old Colorado City and Manitou Springs. Lots of interesting shops and such
You could drive up to Greeley. We have some small lakes/ponds if you are lucky you might catch a bluegill or very small bass or you could fish the Poudre or Platte for carp. You could also smell the feedlots while here!
John, I laughed. However, those carp in the DSP are some of the most educated, toughest fish to catch in North America on the fly. We did a lot of urban carpin' in Denver and it was awesome.
LOL John, I would like to try for Cutthroat as it’s a trout I have yet to catch. I’m not a fly fisherman per say but have payed with the rod and reel so that would be fun to try it. Float trip would be fun also but my target fish as said is the Cutthroat.
Trail ride by horse into the back country would be nice for the wife as well as any nice drives.
How about places to eat dinners at night that are not fast food?
I don’t know the area close to the Springs that well. There may be some cutthroat lakes closer to town if you don’t have a lot of time. Places near the big city tend to be pretty crowded tho.
Except for maybe around Greeley...
Dream Stream has a great selection of Bows, CutBows, Browns, and Cutthroat. Maybe give Landon Mayer a call. Dude can put you on some big fish.
Nice ones! A bit different type of cutt tho. Snake River cutts there from Wyoming. The ones up in the high lakes are native Colorado and Greenbacks. Some of the prettiest fish around!
The Saltgrass Steakhouse was good when we were there
Again in Greeley lots of Mexican food! Several McDonalds too!
Hey John, wasn’t there a great Mountain Oyster place up there in Greeley, too?
That would be Bruce’s Bar in Severance.
Bruce's has the best RMO around!
A little closer to COS, http://www.cmbrew.com/ and https://rudysbbq.com/. Downtown COS is https://jackquinnspub.com/
Thanks for all the info and PM’s guys.
Much appreciated
The Arkansas tailwater in Pueblo has great fishing too and it's an easy drive from the Springs although it's not the Colorado "mountain experience" most are looking for, call the Drift Fly Shop, I used to do some guiding and work for them. ArkAnglers in Salida has opportunities for fun floats and wading trips on the Arkansas, and cutts and grayling if you want to do some high-mountain stuff.
Thanks again for the help. The grandson did very well in his shooting events. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate with the heavy rains turning all the streams into mud. So I didn’t even bother with fishing.
Seen some tremendous country. Some nice mule deer. Had a great sandwich at the Ute Inn in Woodland Park and wife took my picture in Antler Alley.
The 4 days wasn’t nearly enough time with dodging the storms but I’ll be back. I got to see what’s over that next peak.
Oh, and the traffic OMG never expected that in Springs. Another thing I didn’t expect or think of was at shooting range they caught 5 rattlers around all the rocks there and the Prairie dog towns near there.
Thanks again!
As the Springs grows so does the traffic. Lots of folks living in the Springs and commuting to Denver. More troops in the area too. Still better than Denver.