Jason Jefferies and I fished Laurel Creek and it's two headwater tributaries back in May. Laurel Creek flows through the Powder Horn Mountain gated community, and they should be commended for allowing public access. They have a small public parking area and allow fishing under catch-and-release regulations. There is a trail that loosely follows Laurel Fork nearly 4 miles to a camping/picnic area that is very close to the two forks, but the trail stays on the right side all the way. The disadvantage is that the right side is not the best side for a trail about half the time - it goes up and away from the creek several times to avoid cliffs or rocky areas, when a creek crossing to the left side would have kept the trail fairly level. For what it's worth, Powder Horn owners can drive right to the picnic area. I caught a couple along the way and a couple more at the picnic area to make Laurel Creek new creek number 1062.
There is a short trail from the picnic area to the forks. We fished up the South (left) Fork first, and it was by far the best of the two that day. We each caught several browns and specs - it is a stream we would fish again if it wasn't such a pain to get to. Below is a video of Jason catching a nice brown.
The North (right) Fork starts out with promise as it drops through a short, steep gorge complete with a waterfall and huge plunge pool that requires a little hike to get around. I caught the spec below in the next pocket upstream from where Jason is. However, as soon as you get above the falls, it levels out, water temperature goes up, and there is not a lot of good holding water. There were trout in the big plunge pool, but we failed to hook them. All of the fish we saw above the falls were chubs or dace, except for one 4-inch brown I caught to make North Fork new creek number 1064.
Finally, I made a few trips to my favorite local cow pasture trout stream, including one with Ben Wilson so he could add it to his list. Here are the highlights:
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