Colorado has a new stretch of public water featuring an old approach to managing fishing pressure. Similar to private stretches of famous rivers in Great Britain, three miles of upper Tarryall Creek within the new Cline Ranch SWA have been divided into individual fishing beats. The parking area has four stalls for vehicles, with each stall assigned to one of the four beats. Park in one of the stalls, and you will have more than a half mile of the creek all to yourself or for a total of four anglers in your party.
Tarryall Creek is narrow and challenging. Willows crowd the banks on all of the beats, often overhanging the entire creek. Not much room here for long back casts. While this is challenging for anglers, it is ideal for the creek’s resident population of wild brown trout. The browns are right at home in the dark recesses of the overhangs and undercut banks.
Fortunately, the browns rise freely to a dry fly such as an Elk Hair Caddis. When upstream casts are impossible, small Woolly Buggers threaded slowly downstream into dark water may bring the browns out of hiding.
Cline Ranch SWA is located on Highway 285 in South Park, a few miles north of Como. Fishing is restricted to flies and lures only.
