North Fork fishing

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North Fork Sampler: North Fork Reservoir–An Alpine Movable Feast

“Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake”…Wallace Stevens

Late July 2018

Photography By Jody Bol

CAVEAT: The North Fork Road has reopened, but is still very rough. Call ArkAnglers in Salida, CO for latest information.

For more information on fishing other waters in the North Fork Valley (Island, Arthur, and Hunky Dory Lakes) see my blog articles:

https://hooknfly.com/2016/08/17/north-fork-sampler-island-lake-high-above-salida-colorado/amp/

https://hooknfly.com/2016/07/16/north-fork-sampler-arthur-lake-near-salida-colordo/amp/

https://hooknfly.com/2015/08/17/hunky-dory-lake-near-salida-co/

 The rugged North Fork of the South Arkansas River Valley is loaded with a bevy of beautiful lakes and streams.  I’ve explored its remote high mountain lakes—Arthur, Island, and Hunky Dory—and was rewarded with some gorgeous cutthroats, but ignored the large North Fork Reservoir at the upper end of the valley.  I’m not a big fan of waters where you can drive up to the shoreline, walk a few feet, and settle in a lawn chair to fish.  But in this case, boy, I didn’t know what I was missing!  I discovered a proverbial movable feast replete with a smorgasbord of big fish and stunning carpets of wildflowers all in the shadow of breathtaking scenery.  It’s particularly well-suited for family outings.  But the reservoir is a body of water that takes a while to figure out.  Here are some tips to connect with its finny denizens 

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Hunky Dory Lake Near Salida, Colorado

 CAVEAT: The North Fork Road has reopened, but is still very rough.  Call ArkAnglers in Salida, CO, for latest information.

For my article about fishing nearby Island and Arthur Lakes see:

https://hooknfly.com/2016/08/17/north-fork-sampler-island-lake-high-above-salida-colorado/amp/

https://hooknfly.com/2016/07/16/north-fork-sampler-arthur-lake-near-salida-colordo/amp/

August 8, 2015

More rain this week kept me off the local waters, and with the weekend looming along with the  attendant crowds from the Front Range, I decided to head to a high country lake for some tranquility and, hopefully, some hungry trout.  I dug out an old 1980s guidebook to lakes in the area, and the name Hunky Dory caught my eye.  With a moniker like that, it had to be good.  (More about that name later.).

Hunky Dory sits at 12,000 feet, perched high across the rugged North Fork Valley from Mt. Shavano, a 14er.  The turnoff of US 50 up County Road 240 is at Maysville, about 10 miles west of Salida.  What made it especially intriguing is that the guidebook said there was no trail to the lake.  The hike was described as fairly short—just over a mile—but very steep, gaining 1,200 feet in that short distance.  A check on the internet revealed a couple of entries describing the fishing for cutthroat trout as good.  Who could resist. 

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