3 Fishing Spots near Saguache County That You CANNOT Miss!

Endless miles of streams and lakes wait for you in and around Saguache County. Some sit right off the road; others take a hike to reach — and the ones that take a hike are the ones you will remember. Dozens of small alpine lakes above 10,000 feet hold cutthroat, rainbow and brook trout in water so clear you can watch a fish refuse your fly.

Here is a detail most people never learn: Colorado Parks & Wildlife keeps hundreds of those backcountry lakes stocked by airplane, flying low over the high country and dropping around 350,000 fingerling trout into more than 500 lakes every year. The fish are up there. The question is whether you will hike to them.

When you are planning a visit, start with these three:

1. Big Meadows Reservoir — the easy one

Tucked into the Rio Grande National Forest southwest of the town of South Fork, Big Meadows is the spot for a day when you want fish without a forced march. It is stocked with kokanee salmon plus brown, rainbow and brook trout, a one-mile trail loops the shoreline, there is a wheelchair-accessible fishing pier on the north side, and a campground sits right above the water. From the same trailhead, the Archuleta Trail runs six miles into the Weminuche Wilderness if the family wants to stretch.

Do not skip the water below the dam: the tailwater becomes the South Fork of the Rio Grande, a pretty freestone stream that tumbles past cliffs and aspen stands all the way down to its meeting with the Rio Grande in South Fork. The stretch between the dam and the Highway 160 turn-off is where the 12-inch-plus fish live.

2. North Crestone Lake — the one you earn

Above the little town of Crestone, a trail leaves the North Crestone Creek campground and climbs hard into the Sangre de Cristos, ending at a lake set in a stone bowl beneath the peaks. This is a hike-in lake — leave the boat at home, bring legs and a light rod — and the reward is cutthroat trout in some of the clearest water in Colorado, plus views that make it genuinely hard to concentrate on fishing.

Flies and small lures on light line work best, mornings and evenings, and the June-through-July stonefly and mayfly hatches are the prime window. The creek itself fishes the whole way up — pockets and beaver ponds full of eager brookies — so the hike is fishing too, not just walking.

3. Saguache Creek country — the secret

All three forks of Saguache Creek fish well, and Middle, La Garita and Carnero creeks nearby are nearly as good. Highway 114 out of the town of Saguache toward Sargents is the corridor — from it you can reach meadow stretches, canyons, and up in the La Garita Wilderness, beaver ponds where the brook trout have never seen a fly shop. Browns, brookies and cutthroat hold under the cut banks in skinny, clear water: this is sneak-up-and-drop-a-fly fishing, and on a weekday you may not see another soul.

One thing to respect out here: these creeks braid through a mix of public and private land. Colorado has no stream-access right across private ground, so know where you stand — and a knock on a ranch door with a friendly ask still works more often than you would think.

Licenses, and the weekend you fish free

A quick 2026 reality check, since the numbers in the old version of this article were from another era: an annual Colorado fishing license runs $44.87 for residents and $124.01 for nonresidents, a day license is about $18, kids under 16 fish free, and most adults add the $12.76 Habitat Stamp. The whole state fishes free on June 6–7, 2026 — no license, no stamp, all the normal bag limits still in force.

Behind all of it, Colorado Parks & Wildlife (the old Division of Wildlife, for those of us who still say that) runs 19 hatcheries raising roughly 90 million fish a year, including over 3 million catchable-size trout. Check current regulations and maps at cpw.state.co.us, and always ask first before crossing private land.

A cabin lot near the water

Here is the part that surprises people: the down payment on most of our lots out here is less than a couple of days with a fishing guide. Our Crestone lot sits in the Baca Grande, minutes below the North Crestone trailhead, and our Moffat lots are just up the valley — all with owner financing, most between $69 and $399 a month.

On the books right now: 2.63 high-desert acres in Crestone with Sangre de Cristo views, a 1.12-acre lot in Lazy KV Estates with power and water at the road, a 1+ acre homesite in Moffat with snow-capped mountains as the backdrop, and a flat 1.25-acre residential lot in Moffat with power nearby. Browse everything we have in Colorado, see exactly how our owner financing works, or start with the honest answer to “is this a scam?”