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What to pack for the South Platte

Gear & Flies

What to pack for the South Platte

Three very different stretches of the same river, and what each one asks you to bring. Technical tailwater, open meadow water and a roadside canyon.

South Platte, all three sections
11 min read

"The South Platte" is three quite different fishing propositions that happen to share a name, and packing for the wrong one is a common way to have a frustrating day.

The three AnglerTrove covers are Cheesman Canyon and Deckers, the Dream Stream, and Eleven Mile Canyon. All three are tailwater, all three are cold, and beyond that they ask for different things.

What follows assumes you have the general Colorado checklist covered. This is what changes here.

What all three have in common

Because they sit below reservoirs, these are cold, clear, stable and heavily fished. That combination has one dominant consequence: the fish get a long, clear, unhurried look at your fly, and they have seen a great many flies. Almost every packing decision here follows from that sentence.

Finer tippet than you would take to a freestone, and more of it. The reason is presentation more than visibility: stiff heavy tippet drags a small fly, and unnatural movement is what a fish in clear slow water notices first.
Small flies, in numbers. Midges and small mayfly imitations do most of the work. Carry multiples, because you will lose them and re-tie often.
Magnification. Tying size 20 onto fine tippet is a genuine constraint, particularly in flat winter light. A clip-on magnifier is a small thing that lengthens your day considerably.
An indicator you can move without cutting the leader. You will adjust depth constantly on all three of these. Anything that makes that a chore quietly stops you doing it.
Layers for standing still in cold water, in most months. These rivers fish in winter, which is part of their appeal.
Polarised glasses. Clear water plus sight-fishing opportunities makes these the most valuable single item on the list.

Cheesman Canyon and Deckers

Two stretches of the same river that fish nothing like each other. The canyon is reached on foot and is technical, clear and pressured. Deckers runs alongside the road, which makes it much easier to reach and much busier on a weekend.

Cheesman Canyon

Pack for the walk, not for the car park

Why it fits: Canyon access is a hike in from trailhead parking, over uneven ground, and you carry everything you bring both ways. What you leave behind matters as much as what you take, and a heavy pack is the reason people fish the first two hundred yards and turn round.
What to look for: Something small enough that you will still walk another half mile with it. Water and food for longer than you planned. Footwear you can genuinely descend and climb in, since wading boots are poor walking boots.
Alternatives: The Deckers water is roadside for much of its length. If carrying kit any distance is a problem, that is the honest answer rather than a worse version of the canyon trip.
Budget considerations: A small sling or chest pack covers this entirely. The compartments on a large vest are solving a different problem.
When you do not need this: You do not need a net on a tight canyon walk if it snags on everything. Many people carry one anyway to shorten the fight, which is the better argument.

Add to the common list: the finest tippet you are willing to fish, because this is some of the most-pressured water in the state, and a wading staff is worth having on the steeper sections. Confirm which sections carry their own tackle restrictions with Colorado Parks and Wildlife before you go, because they are not uniform along this river.

The Dream Stream

Short, open meadow water between two reservoirs, with no tree cover at all. Its reputation rests largely on fish that move up out of the reservoir below at certain times of year, and it is busy when that is happening.

Dream Stream

Plan for wind and for being visible

Why it fits: Open exposed meadow with nothing to break the wind. Wind decides what you can cast and how cold you get, and the lack of cover means the fish see you coming, so distance and a lower profile matter more here than on the canyon stretches.
What to look for: A genuine wind shell. A slightly heavier line weight or a rod with a bit more authority than you would take to the canyon, because delicacy in a crosswind is not on offer. Layers, since there is nothing to shelter behind.
Alternatives: Eleven Mile Canyon and the Cheesman stretch both have more shelter. On a genuinely windy forecast they are the better plan.
Budget considerations: A wind layer is inexpensive and one of the highest-value items you can carry for this specific stretch.
When you do not need this: You do not need long casts everywhere here. Approach matters more, and a careful short cast from a low position beats a long one from the skyline.

Access here is State Trust Land and State Wildlife Area parking with walk-in from the road, and the rules on surrounding land are not uniform. That is worth confirming before you park rather than after. Our Dream Stream guide covers the access character; CPW has the current rules.

Eleven Mile Canyon

A canyon with a road running through it, pull-offs along the river, and a mix of easy roadside water and stretches that take more work. Because it is easy to reach, it is a common family and first-timer destination as well as a fishing one.

What changes for packing:

You can carry more, and should still carry less. The road means you can return to the car, which makes a small pack an easier choice rather than a harder one.
A recreation fee applies in the canyon, collected by the managing agency. Worth having a way to pay it.
Pocket water and bridge runs reward short accurate casts and frequent moves, so a rig you can adjust quickly beats a perfect one you set up once.
Expect company in summer, including people who are not fishing. Plan to walk away from the pull-offs.

Season by season on this river

Winter

This is when tailwater matters. Small midge patterns, deep and slow, with hand management as the thing that decides your day. Cold weather gear covers the detail.

Spring

Warming water and genuinely active fish. One of the better windows, and the reason to keep an eye on the gauge: releases from the reservoirs above change with irrigation and management decisions rather than with weather.

Summer

Sun protection at altitude, more people, and warmer water in the lower stretches. Watch temperature for the fish's sake, and check for closures before committing to a drive.

Fall

Stable flows, fewer people, cooling water and, in places, fish moving to spawn. Tread carefully around obvious gravel, and add a headlamp if you plan to fish the last hour.

The two things to check before you drive

These are tailwaters, so their flow is whatever is being released rather than whatever the weather has been doing. That makes them stable day to day and capable of changing overnight for reasons nothing to do with rain.

The gauge for your specific stretch, on USGS current water data. A river with three named sections has more than one gauge, and the nearest one to the town is not necessarily yours. How to read it.
Current regulations and closures with CPW. Section-specific tackle rules are the norm on this river rather than the exception.

Nothing on this page is a safety assessment of this river or of conditions on any given day, and water levels on a managed river can change without warning.

Going deeper

The Colorado Playbook carries a chapter for each of these three stretches, with researched flow guidance, a twelve-month hatch calendar and a quick card, and an edition date so you know how current it is. The free river guides cover what each water is and where to check it.