BADGER CREEK: LEGEND OF THE LATE FALL #1 (Near Salida, CO)
Note: Please read this article in tandem with my Dec. 6 blog on late fall fishing in Colorado that discusses gear, tackle, and technique in greater detail.
Late October 2017
I have heard rumors for years about big trout in a remote small stream called Badger Creek near my home base of Salida. But I have always pooh-poohed them based on the sparse little rivulet I see that empties into the Arkansas River above Howard. The water is so thin at the mouth that the creek couldn’t possible sustain trout, small or big, through a hot, dry summer! Or at least that’s what I think.
It’s a beautiful late fall day in October and the sun is out and the temps are predicted to be in the mid-60s by mid-afternoon. I’ve run through my to-do list for the day by noon, and am hankering to cast to some trout, but my favorite high-country creeks are already beginning to ice up. So I decide to see if the tall tales are true. I load up my fishing gear around noon and head for Gribbles Park northeast of Salida, the headwaters of Badger Creek.