Key - Central Colorado Points of Interest

The Arkansas River is many rivers in one. From its headwaters above Leadville to the entrance to the Royal Gorge, the river drops some 5,000 feet over 110 miles. It passes through hay meadows, spruce and pine forests, high desert canyons, and several communities. And through it all, brown trout have adapted and flourished. Following is a top-to-bottom description of what intrepid anglers will find making their way downstream

A. Hayden Meadows
Held privately since the homesteading days, the several ranches that comprised the Hayden Meadows section of the river have been opened up to public fishing in recent years. The river here, above the confluence with Lake Creek and its augmented flow of trans-mountain water, is a small volume meadow stream. It has a primarily cobbled bottom with overhanging grassy banks – home to some big browns and challenging fishing. The clear, slow, shallower water hosts fish that are more wary of people and do not respond well to pressure. This is a good place to fish alone, or by turns with a partner.
B. Granite Gorge
Like Hayden Meadows, this high canyon has a shorter summer season than much of the lower river. And also similarly, while winter midge fishing can be productive, the best action is to be had after runoff and into the early fall. The Granite Gorge is by turns steep and bouldered, then more open and riffled. It has some excellent pocket water. Access is via the Granite and Clear Creek State Wildlife Areas or through BLM land above Clear Creek.
C. The Numbers and Wildhorse Canyon
The river continues a steep and rapid descent below the Granite Gorge, but there are more areas of gentle water and pocket water from which to choose. CR 371, The Tunnel Road, follows the river from Buena Vista upstream for about 8 miles. A significant portion of the land between the road and river is public. Camping is available at the Railroad Bridge site. Once one gets downstream to Buena Vista, the riverbed is mostly in private hands, with the exception being lands on either side of the Midland Trail Bridge at the Buena Vista River Park. Below Buena Vista, the river is mostly bordered by private residences until the Johnson Village State Wildlife Area just below the U.S. 285 bridge.
D. The Milk Run
Though technically defined as the float from Johnson Village to Ruby Mountain, for the angler this stretch should include the upper Browns Canyon Wilderness Study Area above the Canyon itself. As discussed in the float-fishing section, this reach of gentle water is ideal for floating and receives little pressure as the river passes through predominantly private land. The Champion Lease below Johnson Village provides some good wade access. Otherwise, the shorebound angler needs to access the river on the east side in the Wilderness Study Area by hiking east behind Ruby Mountain and the residences below the Ruby Mountain Campground to regain the river about a half-mile downstream. This water is some of the most beautiful and productive on the entire river and supports a sizeable number of rainbows.
E. Browns Canyon
Browns Canyon is a pool-drop section of river that bounces through boulders of decomposing granite and into deep pools with long tail-outs. The fishing here is excellent from July through September and can often be good in the last weeks before run-off as well. Access to the canyon is best made by taking CR 194 into the Hecla Junction Recreation Site. A campground is available here, as well. From Hecla, one can hike up or downstream and in low water, the river can be waded here to get to the mothballed railroad on the east side. Summer rafting traffic is significant, particularly above Hecla Junction. However, the canyon quiets down after 5 p.m. and can provide some great evening fishing sessions.
F. The Big Bend
The most salient feature on a map of the Arkansas River is Big Bend. Initially, the river above Salida continued on a southward course and joined the Rio Grande near Alamosa. With the uplift of the Sangre de Cristo range, the river was diverted to the east, forming Bighorn Sheep Canyon and the Royal Gorge. The Big Bend reach, from Stone Bridge through Salida, is home to a gentle gradient, a cobbled freestone bottom interspersed with glacial erratics and alluvial debris, and some of the largest fish in the Arkansas. While it doesn’t have the consistently impressive structure of the river below Salida, and hence supports a lower overall fish count, electro-fishing by the Division of Wildlife has shown the fish to be larger on average through this section than in any other part of the river. Add to that the many DOW access leases along this reach, and its seclusion from major highways, and you will find this to be some of the best water on the river.
G. Upper Bighorn Sheep Canyon
From Salida to Howard, the river parallels U.S. 50 as it passes through a variety of geological strata, much of which produces excellent structure and habitat. Public access is generally pretty obvious and well-marked along this reach. Anglers will find numerous highway pull-outs as well as AHRA sites at Salida East and Rincon, where there is a campground. The limestone section, from the Chaffee-Fremont County Line through Swissvale, is undoubtedly the most productive section of the river in terms of insect life. Numerous warm springs feed the river here and that, combined with the minerals and texture of the limestone, seem to have a significant impact on all forms of aquatic life. This section has the highest fish-per-mile count on the river.
H. The Middle River
Between Howard and Texas Creek, the river reaches the mid-point between Salida and Canon City. The distance from both communities serves to minimize the pressure on this section. Though there is a fair bit of private land that lays between the highway and river, there are also miles of public water and, as with the canyon upstream, it is mostly well-marked and obvious. There is some great fishing to be had in this section and it is particularly underutilized as a float-fishing run. Because most of the river here lays in open country or low-walled canyons, this section of the river warms early in the spring and stays temperate well into the fall. Hopper fishing into mid-October is a viable strategy on this section.
I. Lower Bighorn Sheep Canyon
Below Texas Creek, the river enters a deep and narrow canyon. Much of the river here is sandwiched between the railroad and the highway, constricting the flow and producing the exciting whitewater of the Parkdale run. There are plenty of good reaches to fish, though, with most of them beside frequent highway pullouts. The depth of the canyon obscures direct sunlight for a lot of the river in winter, producing significant ice packs and generally slower winter fishing. Spring and fall produce the best days here, with summer evenings also worthwhile after raft traffic subsides each day during the peak of the rafting season.