Fly Fishing near Denver
 

We flying to Denver the first week of August. I'm looking for a nice vacation spot within a couple of hours drive from Denver.

The guys mainly want to go fly fishing, I would like to do some hiking & horseback riding. They would love a campground right on a great fly fishing river. I'd prefer a cabin, but I'm being out-voted.

We've stayed in Grand Lake and Estes. I loved Grand Lake, we saw a lot more wildlife on that side of the Rocky Mtn. National Park, than we did on the Estes side. A place like Grand Lake would be ideal. Any suggestions?

That should read, "We are flying to Denver."

I heard last week that some Colorado fishing areas are closed due to the extreme drought conditions. Check out this webpage for more information: http://wildlife.state.co.us/Pages/Home.aspx

I'm sure there are plenty more places to go, but I'm not sure if the conditions are ideal this summer.

How rustic are you looking to go?

Google search says that Grand County is a big fly fishing destination. You could stay in Grand Lake at a campground if they are willing to drive a little bit to fish. Or you could stay in a USFS campground right on the river, which would be more primitive and would mean you would have to drive to get somewhere for horseback riding.

http://www.coloradofishing.net/ft_fraser.htm
http://www.winterparkguide.com/activ...titude-fishing
http://www.vacationsinc.com/guide-to...ities/fishing/
http://www.windingriverresort.com/camping.html
http://www.fraservalleylions.org/Campgrounds.aspx

First 3 are websites about fly fishing in the area, next 2 are campgrounds (one more touristy, the other more primitive).

The fishing is not going to be good downstream from where there was a forest fire.
If you can convince him to try Oregon, Sunriver on the Deschutes River would be the place to go.
http://www.srflyshop.blogspot.com/
We have some good lake fishing nearby as well.
You can rent any type of lodging in Sunriver which is just a few miles from Bend.

Didn't Kathy say they are flying to Denver? Oregon would be way too far. Renting RV or tenting? Grand County would be good or Steamboat Springs area. Plenty of areas that were not affected by fires.
Seems rather last minute to make this type of arrangement. Hope you can get what you are wanting.

I would go to Silverthorne and stay near there. There is a good fly shop right off the highway that can advise you. The Blue River is trophy trout water and flows right along Route 9 north out of Silverthorne. You can also fish (AMAZINGLY) right behind the outlet shops in the dam trace. The fly there is the tiniest shrimp (maybe a #24!) that will catch the biggest trout I've seen!! Up the road about 7 miles is a campground that gives beautiful access to the river.
The water level is a real problem, and some waters may be closed by now. That was the threat from an article I read about a month ago. At that time, the fishing was incredibly good--the writer said--"no skill necessary. the fish were just jumping onto the hook".
Another place--and where the article above was written about, is the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan Rivers outside of Aspen. And lots of good access to water there. You might call an Orvis store in Denver and ask for recommendations to make sure the waters are open. It is SO sad.

Thank you for all your replies, we are looking at the links and checking out the places you recommended. The guys (husband & teen sons) want to take our camping gear and tent camp.

This is last minute, we did a college tour trip earlier in the summer and just decided to take another vacation & enjoy the outdoors.

Tom - We already have plane tickets for Denver, but Oregon looks good for future trips. Thanks for the link.

Then the Blue River would be "perfect". The campground is right on the river--and the road.

Another trophy water trout stream near Denver that I didn't mention because I didn't realize you WANTED to camp is Deckers, south of Denver near Salida. Beautiful and accessible water--fish with the Rs2 fly. We met the guy that developed it on that river one time!! Saw someone pull out a 30" rainbow!!

Sorry to not just put all this together.
This is the fly shop at Deckers, which is literally just a crossroads. Bring EVERYTHING you want with you--or be prepared to drive back to get it. I think there is a restaurant.
Two very good areas to fish.
http://www.southplatteoutfitters.com/

Thanks Gretchen!

I just wanted to say thanks again for all the wonderful advice.

We ended up staying in Granby and fishing mostly on the Fraser River. We were able to book this cabin (which is one reason we picked Granby):
http://www.vrbo.com/260682#photos
and it was great. We decided not to tent camp (I won).

The guys loved it - they hired Mitch at Mo Henry's trout shop out of Winter Park and he spent a day with them right where we were staying on the Fraser and another day up in the Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park fishing. They caught a lot of trout.

We rode horses at the YMCA Snow Mountain Ranch, went to the Hot Springs, hiked a lot in the RMNP and just had a wonderful time.