Near Durango, the Animas River has been declared a Gold Medal fly fishing river by the State of Colorado River due to its amazing trout population. While this freestone river had been troubled by mining runoff, the river now has a healthy trout population and the trout are huge, especially the stretch from Durango to US160. The Animas River runs from Silverton southbound down through Durango towards the New Mexico border. Hiding in the long riffles, pools and runs, you can expect to find brown trout, rainbow trout and cutthroat trout. Most fly fisherman work the river near Durango and south of town towards the border due to access issues, mainly.
Near Durango, the popular section to fish is the 3 miles below the SR160 bridge (aka Purple Cliffs). The river rolls through a scenic canyon over big rocks with trout averaging around 14 inches.
Access is provided by US550 which runs parallel to the Animas River. A popular access point is the Purple Cliffs off La Posta (213 Road).
While you can fly fish the Animas River year-round due to a good midge hatch, the best fishing is from February to April and then again from mid-July to early October during caddis hatch.
Overall, Animas River - Lower is the 26th most popular fly fishing river of all 47 fly fishing spots in Colorado.
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For fly fishing the Animas River - Lower in Colorado, our printable fly fishing guides offers river descriptions, maps, lodging suggestions, driving directions, levels of difficulty and points-of-contact.