My cousins in Coeur d'Alene want to meet up with my brothers and me for camping and flyfishing. We're looking at the Pagosa Springs area as a place we haven't visited before. One of my cousins has a drift boat he plans to bring. He's experienced.

Any suggestions for camping areas? We'll likely have a mix of tents and trailers.
Good flyfishing spots? We're all older (60 -70), but still very active and healthy.
Good spots to put in and take out for drift boat?
Good time of year? We're all retired, so mostly open to any schedule.

Appreciate any suggestions!

You can't beat the Williams Creek lake area for beauty while camping. My fishing experience there has been wonderful, but is now very dated so I can't recommend it. It's worth a drive up there to check it out for sure.

If u want to float…. No to Pagosa. Head to either the San Juan outta Durango ( and catch the animas) or the rio outta of south fork. Northern new Mexico is another good option.

mandevilleag said:

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My cousins in Coeur d'Alene want to meet up with my brothers and me for camping and flyfishing. We're looking at the Pagosa Springs area as a place we haven't visited before. One of my cousins has a drift boat he plans to bring. He's experienced.

Any suggestions for camping areas? We'll likely have a mix of tents and trailers.
Good flyfishing spots? We're all older (60 -70), but still very active and healthy.
Good spots to put in and take out for drift boat?
Good time of year? We're all retired, so mostly open to any schedule.

Appreciate any suggestions!

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Hit up LRHF. He posts on this board a lot of is a fishing guide in Durango/pagosa area.

I go to Pagosa every summer to fly fish. I started saving locations in my Google Maps with notes. Most of these locations would work great for your crew. Hopefully this link will work for you!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CC6SmSWHpCuLRfxy5?g_st=ac

AgAttack said:

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I go to Pagosa every summer to fly fish. I started saving locations in my Google Maps with notes. Most of these locations would work great for your crew. Hopefully this link will work for you!

https://maps.app.goo.gl/CC6SmSWHpCuLRfxy5?g_st=ac

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Best time of year?

Williams creek is hard to beat. There are several campgrounds (the one named Williams creek is still probably the best, but they did remove a lot of the trees about 10 years ago for pine beetle). The fishing has always been amazing May to July) but I've had luck later and earlier as well.

And, there are a number of trails and other things to do back in that area (piedra falls, piedra river trailhead, etc). You are about a 40-50 min drive from town…not impossible but you don't want to be running back to town every day for something you forgot.
Edit: just realized these pictures are from other streams in the area…forks of the rio grande.
Edit 2: photo with 2 handed fish grab is Williams creek.

Thanks for all of the suggestions, especially the fishing spots!

I was hoping LRHF would see this and reply with a drift boat suggestions. We'll reach out at the local shops too, but I trust the OB! It sounds like June/July might be a good time frame. I wasn't sure about river and creek flows with snow melt. Thanks again!

Howdy! I'm on the Juan tomorrow for 1/2 trip. Feel free to shoot me a txt and I can reply or call when it works best for us.

Cory
(720) 425-6138