FISH CATCHING TRAVEL

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PAGOSA SPRINGS  –  WARNING

Do Not Go To Pagosa Springs – Unless

• You hate the thought of 300 days a year of sunshine!
• You do not like an average daily temperature of 40  degrees in the winter DAYTIME!  It is the same temperature there as it is in Victoria today.
• You like the wind in Texas, Pagosa is famous for calm winds as the rule.  It did not blow a lick while we were there.
• You would not want to visit a place that gets over 400″ of snow on the mountain 20 miles away but only 60″ in town.
• You would never want to fish the world-famous San Juan River, and about 50 other places within an hours drive, including lakes and tons of streams and rivers.
• You would not want to have almost unlimited access to some of the most beautiful country in the world.
• You hate hiking trails leading to hidden mountain lakes, waterfalls, the Continental Divide.
• You don’t want to see magnificent wildlife.
• You do not want to ski, snowmobile, and enjoy the snow.
• So don’t ever visit there, but you know what?  This is one of the best places we have ever visited, (And I mean in all our travels.) it is world-class and I am already trying to figure out when we will go back!

So all that aside here we go…………………

This guy jumped a high fence and crossed the road in front of us.  I am no Mule deer expert but this is a keeper!  And to add to what we saw on the trip the Boss wins the award.  As we were coming home a mountain lion crossed the road while I was looking the other way.  Truly a life experience for her, and a dang it for me.  So here are the pics in no particular order.  They are not all the best but you will get the point.

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Around any turn as we drove the mountains there was something to see.  We were lucky as there was little snow so the Forest Service roads were open and if like some 4wheeling this is the place.  We probably drove a couple of hundred miles in the mountains and saw some beautiful country.

The San Juan River.  One of the great trout fishing rivers in the world.  You can even catch trout right in town!  It is something, and this area might be my big fishing trip this year.  Spend a couple of weeks would be a good start and a great adventure.  And boy did I get lucky this trip.  Of all things my buddy Aaron was there at a friend of his’ private retreat with no public access and he was kind enough to take me fishing and I got a bite.

Nothing like a personal best rainbow on my third cast!  Thanks Aaron.  And his son got in on the act.  We ended up catching a few and I lost another pretty good one.  What a place.

Unfortunately I can not tell you on what property or where we were or someone would die, and that would be me.  Suffice to say this place was out of our pay grade.  And to make that point, here is their swimming pool.  Massive stone hot tub, dressing rooms with massage facilities, retractable roof, heated, if memory serves me right in the neighborhood of 4,000 square feet.  It costs more, and I mean lots more, than ALL the houses on my block combined with change for another block, multi-millions.  The property was by far the most spectacular place I have ever had the good fortune to see. This retreat was a special place and I respect their privacy, who knows, maybe I can go back.

Unfortunately we were going to fish some the next day but somehow when doing nothing more than putting on a sock I pulled my back.  It was one of those mother humpers that I seem to get every few years.  Thank God it was on the last day and I could at least ride in the truck on another drive, though the 16 hour trip on the way home was no fun.

A couple of things on the fishing.  Colorado has that law I hate:  The land owner owns the river flowing through their property and you can not access it, or any stream, or even anchor a boat or wade in middle of the river, on private property without permission.  But the good thing, there is plenty of public access, even in town.  A little research and there is all the water you could want to fish within a short drive.  And lakes, boy was I surprised.  Trout, salmon, crappie, bass, walleye, some of them have it all with boat access.  There are lots of lakes all over the area, on one 20 mile drive we saw 3 alone that looked great.  And of course ice fishing was happening on the upper lakes while we were there.

This lake was really high in the mountains with a Forest Service campground that gives miles of access to the river flowing out of it.  It looked like a freakin’ awesome for fly fishing, and with that scenery how could you go wrong?  I learned later, dang it, that the ridges on that road are home to the Bighorn.  I have wanted to see one my whole life and will definitely be getting that done in the future.  And one thing you can say about the Pagosa Springs area is look this way, look that way, and it is spectacular.  We drove miles of back roads over the 3 days, along with a hike or two, and it is hard to tell you how cool it was.  All I can say is we went in the mountains, including over 11,000′ feet on the continental divide, and barely touched the surface.  There were forest service roads everywhere giving you a chance to really explore and even some real 4wheeling if you are so inclined. What makes this area so cool, if you like 4wheeling, a cool hike, and then some beautiful fishing, you can knock it off in the same trip!

See what I mean?  There are state parks, national forest, reservation land, and it goes on and on.  I can not even imagine what it would be like to wake up every morning and look out and still be amazed.  (Oh yes I can!)

And as you can see the game viewing was spectacular.  The mule deer where everywhere, more turkeys than I would have thought, eagles, geese, driving and watching was excellent.  Pagosa is 50 miles from Chama, with some of the biggest trophy elk in America.  You know what?  We only saw one elk all trip, which was surprising.  With the lack of snow and warm weather I assume they were still higher up.  Other than that the wildlife was tremendous.  And there is always the possibility of seeing a bear or a mountain lion, which folks see often enough.

I do not know what else to say about Pagosa Springs.  The town is small with the usual breweries, shops, even a hot spring on the river you can jump in right in town.  It is a really laid back place.  From the owners of the motel where we stayed, (From Austin.) to the owner of Riff Raff brewery, the place had what they call a “vibe”.  Folks were friendly and it was my kind of place.  It definitely had a good vibe, not at all like Steamboat or Breckenridge, Pagosa is laid back and not at all pretentious.  So all that is left to say, we will be back.

Funny how when we got back it was cooler here than there.  The trip back was something, the wildlife was on the move.  We saw hundreds of deer, and I mean hundreds of whitetails and mule deer from Colorado to outside Victoria.  The mountain lion, coyotes, antelope, everything was on the move the whole way back, which made the trip so much better.  Now back to real life.  There are some other stuff to get on the blog and but it will take another day to get my stuff together, then it is back on the water.   Hope you had a great new year. I am renewed and looking forward to the best fishing year yet.  So keep stopping in and thanks for reading my stuff.

Good Luck and Tight Lines