The Colorado Supreme Court will wade into a technical aspect in angler Roger Hill’s lawsuit arguing Colorado rivers are public property if they were used for commercial activity – like floating timber – at statehood.
fly fishing
Colorado biologists hope their Poudre River fish restocking efforts don’t go up in smoke
Volunteers hope planting tiny fish in a 40-mile stretch of the river fouled by fire and mud will restore the Poudre River’s status as one of the best fisheries in Colorado
Trout (and anglers) love Colorado’s Dream Stream — and transported trees could keep it thriving
On a brilliant October late afternoon, Jerry Backes casts a long shadow into the steady current of the South Platte River, in roughly the same direction he casts a fly to entice the teeming life below. The water carries his line for a few seconds but soon snags on vegetation coursing downstream. But for Backes, […]
Colorado researchers spent decades trying to save disappearing rainbow trout. Finally, they’re making progress.
Eric Gardunio had fished this stretch of the Gunnison River throughout his youth, filling the seasons with short expeditions to the river gorge’s East Portal near Delta. There, his father handed down skills passed to him from his grandfather, and Eric took their passion even further while learning every rock and riffle. By the summer […]
How fly-fishing lessons and movie soundtracks figured into a Colorado author’s “Stolen Heart”
K. L. (Karen Lea) McKee earned her B.A. in English from Regis University, worked in the Reference Center of the Mesa County Library for 29 years before retiring in 2014 to pursue writing full time. She is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She and her husband reside in Western Colorado. Her roots in […]
The 25 most read Colorado Sun stories of 2019
These are the 25 Colorado Sun stories that received the most readership in 2019. They touch on a wide variety of issues and topic areas, from reporter Jason Blevins’ investigation into Backcountry.com, to a look at production of Neil Young’s new album and persistent coverage of Colorado’s deadly 2018-19 avalanche season. Backcountry.com sues anyone who […]
Colorado Springs’ downtown creek has long been viewed as a blight. Then one man started catching trout in it.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Past the homeless camps, plastic bottles filled with urine, funky smells and a coal-fired power plant, Alan Peak stepped into Fountain Creek and cast his fishing line into water so murky it gives transients on the nearby bank cause for concern. After a few wiggles in and out of the fast-moving stream […]
First efforts to revive populations of Colorado’s state fish seemed fruitless. Then the greenback cutthroat trout surprised everyone — again.
HERMAN GULCH — It has been a long road — or river — to recovery for Colorado’s state fish, the greenback cutthroat trout. First, the species was considered extinct. Then it was rediscovered, reproduced and reintroduced to waterways across the state for decades, only for scientists to learn through genetic testing in 2012 that they […]
After long regarding the South Platte as not much more than a sewer, is metro Denver ready to love its river?
The man in the wide-brimmed hat waded into thigh-deep, slowly moving water and, with a whip of his fly rod, sent his cast into a deeper, swifter channel along the far bank where elusive trout were more likely to lurk. The scene might have played out on any stretch of Colorado’s renowned fishing waters. But […]
Changing the way people access the burliest waters in the country: Mancos’ Alpacka Raft crafts “a new way to see the world”
GAMECHANGERS, a Colorado Sun series on innovators who are changing the way we play outdoors. GUNNISON RIVER — Thor Tingey calls it “a personal first descent.” “We really like showing people places where they can find their own adventure and exploration without necessarily traveling to the ends of the Earth,” says Tingey, who sparked his […]