Staying near Platoro Reservoir on the Conejos in southern Colorado in early September with my father. Anyone have any experience fishing this river? Just curious what flies I should start tying. The reports and hatch charts I've seen for that time of year are terrestrials and blue winged olives. Any other suggestions of flies and/or locations. Are there any good small tributaries or other creeks in the area? Don't mind hiking a ways for good fishing. Thanks in advance.

Unfamiliar with that particular river, unfortunately.

We fished the Conejos in 2004 in late June. The runoff was still high, so fishing was tough. We caught a bunch in the river, mainly from the same holes.

We stayed at "Lake Fork Guest Ranch", which has since been sold to wildhorseoutfitters.com/. We hiked up the Lake Fork tributary to Big Lake, which has big Cutthroats. I recommend this hike.

Lake Fork Trail #716
"Lake Fork Trail #716 - The Lake Fork Trail begins at the entrance to Lake Fork Ranch. It is a gentle hike along the Lake Fork Creek to Big Lake. The trail then climbs steeply to a saddle between Forest King Mountain and Mammoth Mountain and drops steeply into the community of Platoro."

Go to topomaps: TerraServer and enter Long: -106.52154, Lat: 37.33204

[This message has been edited by clem93 (edited 7/14/2009 8:58a).]

I've fished it 3 times. Twice back in the mid 90's and once a couple of years ago. Really enjoyed it and there are some very good areas to fish. There are some quality fishing areas south of Platoro where I caught a couple of 16 - 18 inchers. Now, I'm not an avid fly fisherman, but I did have luck with Adams Irresistibles and Adams (14 -16 range). Yellow & Red Humpys, Blue Winged Duns, and you might try Coachman and Wulff patterns. Basically any mayfly pattern. I prefer fishing drys on top and didn't do much under water, but you can get some good browns going into deep pools. Might try a Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear, Prince, and Pheasant Tails.
Last time, we had just missed all the good hatches and ended up having to fish the reservoir. Go to the mouth of reservoir and fish the point where the river goes into the reservoir. That's where we caught most of our fish. I caught a few on vaious colored Wooly Buggers. Good luck. My best experiences were late to early July. Good luck.