ablecane wrote:
Nothing quite like a Bataan Death March to a guy fit,
Amen...it was surely that! When are you coming back this way? I spent a couple of days down in the Conejos drainage last week will post about it.
carlz wrote:
So how have the areas that burned two years ago recovered?
carlz, the fire burned most of the Hermosa Creek drainage from south to north. I went up to the top of the creek by the ski area and hiked down about 3 miles to where the fire stopped coming in from the south, then fished back to the north. I caught many brook trout above the burned area but have not ventured back into that part of the stream...partly because I am afraid to see it destroyed. It was one of the prettiest streams in the area. Here are some "before" pictures. I may go back in the fall or I may wait until next year.
The fire killed all the trout in the burned areas of Hermosa Creek and many in the Animas River downstream. Speaking to the Fish and Game people, they said that many of the big browns in the Animas died because the sculpins they fed on were killed by the fire runoff. The Animas is fishing reasonably well now, but some of the biggest browns are gone. They got right on the restocking (mostly with rainbows) as the city did not want to lose the stretch of "Gold Medal" water that ran through the center of town.
Posted: 24 Jul 2020, 19:43 • 
