Trip Report | Rio Grande River - South Fork, CO
Author: Trout's Staff
About a month or so back, I got a call from the Rio Grande Club wondering if I would be interested in coming down to their property in South Fork, CO for a weekend of fishing, dining, and all around good times. Never having heard of this club, I got online and did a little recon to learn th
at although primarily a golf club, they also have over 1 mile of private access on the Rio Grande. Never one to shy away from a weekend of fishing, especially on private water, I obliged their invitation and started packing my bags.
It has been quite some time since I fished an entirely new river, so I was anxiously anticipating the trip and hoping that the river and weather conditions would play out in my favor. Lucky for me a weather check the Thursday before departure forecast warm temperatures and sunny skies, ideal fishing conditions for late October. A four hour drive Friday afternoon brought us to South Fork around dusk, so there was just enough time to unload the car and take a walk down to the water to check out the surroundings. Having never seen the Rio Grande, my initial impression left me excited for the following day, as well as curious as to how I had managed to fish for this long and never made it down to this legendary stream. It seemed to have a perfect gradient, not too fast or too small, and although the flows were low, there was still ample holding water for the fish. Being predominantly a brown trout fishery, I knew that there wouldn’t be an abundant number of fish per mile, but those that were there would be healthy and potentially BIG.
