Colorado's South Platte Still Recovering

One of the worst effects of large forest fires is that they invite erosion and stream siltation — bad news for juvenile trout that literally get ground up by the sediment. It will likely take many years before the silt resulting from the 2002 Cheesman fire is fully flushed from the South Platte, but meanwhile biologists continue to stock juvenile rainbows and browns and say the river is coming back to life. Matt Gray provides an update on the popular fishery near Denver and quotes local expert Pat Dorsey: “‘The fishery has changed, from the standpoint that there are more brown trout now, and they can be a little tougher to catch. They have really taken to the river now, and depending on what section you’re in, the ratio of browns to rainbows can be 60 to 40.’” In Rocky Mountain Game & Fish.