The Rio Grande up around Del Norte and Creede is southern Colorado's quiet answer to the hammered Front Range icons — a snowmelt freestone with good browns and rainbows, fished hard by locals and largely overlooked by everyone driving to the famous water. Post-runoff it's a fine dry-fly and terrestrial river through summer, with afternoon monsoon storms the main thing that'll color it on you. The real conservation story lives up in the headwater creeks, where native Rio Grande cutthroat hang on; the main river itself isn't a cutthroat fishery, whatever the name suggests. A strong pick for the angler who wants Colorado without the crowd.
- Mixed