Plan to be in Denver first weekend in April. I've never fished CO this time of year. Any recommendations from the group for locations within 2-hour radius of Denver for a wade trip?
Thanks in advance,
Dale

Cheeseman is a nice hour or so drive from downtown. Beautiful area, stop by the flyshop in Deckers. The guy is a crusty ol SOB but he will have the flies you need. Oh and check the water levels before you go, you might have to deal with snowmelt in april.

Williams Fork / Colorado Headwaters is where I caught my first CO trout... probably closer to 2 1/2 hours from Denver but pretty water and a little less pressure than some of the alternatives closer to town. J.

Thanks guys. If conditions are right think I'm gonna try Cheesman. But I do appreciate the alternate!
Dale

Chessman is a good year round fishery
Stick to those types for april

+100


Stop by the fly shop on top of the hill at Pine Junction (maybe called The Hatch) along 285. A lot better people here and they will more than help you out.

Cheesman requires a 15-20 minute hike into the canyon (usually less crowded here), Deckers is same river just a few miles downstream with stream side parking.

The reservoir was recently stocked on March 24 with 6,000 trout ranging from 10 to 12 inches, so the fishing will undoubtedly get better as the season progresses. Denver is a great launching point for fishing adventures close to the Rocky Mountains. Anglers flock to high-country lakes and blue-ribbon trout rivers, but the smaller creeks often go overlooked.

Thanks for the copy paste job mr spammer, don't think a 2010 article about arvada reservoir really applies. Can someone delete this guy?

Spinney Mountain Res & S. Platte river.
1 hour west of Colo Springs.

FI

I just finished reading John Gierach's book "Death, Taxes, and Leaky Waders" which is a collection of short stories, and articles that he had written, and the Frying Pan kept coming up in his stories. Gierach lived in Colorado for years. His main fishing buddy was A.K. Best, and there are some great stories here, and some good information can be gleaned from the book.

on my way back from dream stream right now, fishing was slow, but got some bigguns. 27" cutbow, and 30" cutthroat.

I'd say those qualify as bigguns :-)

just got back from fishing the S. Platte at deckers. My buddy and I got skunked. Weather was really nice, but didn't catch anything. not sure what we were doing wrong.

Full disclosure- imma rookie- but my research revealed that blue ribbon waters within a 2 hour radius of Denver (ie Cheesman and & Deckers) get a tremendous amount of pressure, hence the fish there are a lot better educated and selective about how and when they take flies... Can be very tricky for the novice or even intermediate trout angler. I recommend looking further afield to more obscure and/or smaller waters to increase odds of success... Higher odds for solitude, too.

Check out the April chapter of "Fly Fishing Colorado" from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife's YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ColoParksWildlife?feature=watch

Rivers that fish well include the Blue River at Silverthorne (1 hour from Denver), the South Platte around Deckers and in Cheesman Canyon (1.5 hrs.), and the South Platte below Spinney Mountain Reservoir in South Park (2.5 hrs.) The big rainbow spawners are in that section of the river now.

Flyslinger