Maytag Mountain Ranch

How a handful of cattle ranchers created a world-class trout fishery in Southern Colorado

by Jody Patten

It took Jeff Temple nearly 20 minutes to net this record 9.5-pound, 29-inch rainbow trout at Maytag Mountain Ranch in the Wet Mountain Valley.

“A fish this big can only be called a hog,” said Temple, right after the catch. “When one of these big boys eats your fly, it’s a real rodeo!”

Just a year ago the only kind of rodeo action you got in this gorgeous valley between the picturesque Sangre de Cristo and Wet Mountain ranges of southern Colorado was the traditional kind involving horses and cowboys down at the county fairgrounds.

Now in this corner of Colorado, trophy fly-fishing is about to buck the saddle right off the horse.

For 25 years Russ and Jeannie Maytag have run 500 head of Red Angus on their nearly 3,000-acre ranch. In the last five years they have become nationwide trendsetters by raising strictly grass-fed cattle, a more flavorful and much healthier alternative to most grocery-store beef, which is routinely finished on feedlots with grains and animal byproducts. Both Maytags had their heads firmly planted in raising healthy cattle and their teenaged daughter. It’s not surprising then that neither Maytag had so much as picked up a fly rod for years until about six months ago.

“Now a day hardly passes when we don’t find ourselves out there wetting a line,” say Russ and Jeannie. “And if we are lucky we are catching the same kind of lunkers that Jeff caught the other day.”

That kind of fishing action is now the stuff of everyday life at Maytag Mountain Ranch, just 25 miles south of Salida, and a peaceful hour and a half drive from Colorado Springs.

“Very little great trout habitat existed here before,” said Steve Herter, the fishery expert brought in by the Maytag Mountain Ranch team to create the plan for a world-class trout fishery out of essentially “next to nothing”. When he was given a million dollar budget, Herter pounced on the opportunity. He’s probably best known for creating the world famous Seven Lakes Lodge and Ranch, and the Elk Trout Lodge in Colorado, as well as the Orvis Endorsed Storm Mountain Ranch in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  Herter is the expert among experts.

“We started with two small natural creeks with very little cover for fish, and some real erosion problems because of the cattle watering there,” said Herter, who said he felt up to the challenge of getting cattle to co-exist with trout. “Trout experts often mistakenly think cattle are taboo-but that’s simply not true if they’re managed properly.”

Russ Maytag was motivated to listen to Herter’s advice on grazing practices. Why? Simply put, trout fisheries are becoming a huge draw—public fisheries are very crowded, and quality private fisheries are few and far between. Maytag knew the tremendous success Temple had in Steamboat Springs with Storm Mountain Ranch. Storm Mountain’s amenities center on a restored trout fishery second to none in Colorado, along with paint horses that owners have complete reign over. The ranch raises trophy rainbows, and donates hundreds each year to public fisheries in the area. Storm Mountain’s 14 large parcels (each 70 acres or more) originally sold for more than $2.5 million each.  A few short years later they command more than $4 million apiece—and that is just for the homesite! That’s enough to make any cattle rancher blink. But Maytag still had to be convinced that a trout fishery, and sale of his ranch lands in 100-acre parcels to 25 other owners, wouldn’t spell ruin for his ecologically-correct, and very successful cattle operation. Storm Mountain leases its hay meadow to other ranchers, but none near its ponds or streams. Russ and Jeannie Maytag plan to live out their days on the ranch alongside their new neighbors and keep running cattle.

Herter says it’s really just a matter of making sure cattle water in a limited area, something relatively easy to accomplish with strategic fencing and attentive cowboys. “The harder part was getting all the necessary approvals to create this fishery the way it should be done with applied river structures on the two miles of Lake Creek and over half a mile of Duckett Creek.   We studied the fishery for two years, and then submitted our plan to the Army Corps of Engineers and the Division of Wildlife.  We had done our homework.  This was a Class IV stream in very bad shape, badly in need of work to restore the fishery.”

After the two years of extensive study and after receiving permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Herter and his team built small inverted “V” log drop structures.  This created overhead cover for the fish, and also helped aerate the water for the trout. Herter’s plan called for multiple low-stage check dams, and single and double wing-deflectors. Noted Steamboat fly fisherman Dennis Lodwick oversaw the restoration work every step of the way.

“We concentrated on maintaining the proper pool-to-riffle ratio in each of the two creeks, and this has allowed tremendous bug life population to exist in each of the two small streams,” said Herter and Lodwick.

Lake and Duckett creeks had a limited population of brook trout to begin with, so Herter insisted work wait until the Brook Trout had finished spawning.

It took nearly four months to complete work on the two creeks, which included some 4-to-5-foot deep pools which allow the trout overhead cover and the opportunity to successfully winter.

“We worked very hard on this small Class IV small stream, and with careful work created additional habitat.   I remember fishing this type of stream as a kid, and relish the opportunity for kids to fish some really gorgeous meadow meanders,” said Herter.

Herter’s work didn’t stop at creating habitat in the existing streams. He also designed and supervised construction of ponds with several acres of surface area water. They are now filled with more than 10 varieties of native wetland plants as well as food for trout-- mysis shrimp, crawdads and fat head minnows—all introduced by the team.

 Herter then selected hardy fish from select fisheries, all certified pathogen-free, so that problems such as whirling disease would not be introduced to the drainage. Species stocked include Brook and Brown trout, as well as several varieties of Rainbow, including Cutbows (a cross between native cutthroat and rainbow trout.)   All fishing at Maytag Mountain Ranch is catch and release and barbless flies only.

“Now the Maytag Mountain Ranch has the very best trout fishing in the Wet Mountain Valley-from trophy trout in the ponds to smaller hard fighting Brooks and Browns in the streams,” says Herter. “The Army Corp. told us when they inspected our work that Maytag Ranch is a model for how private stream restoration should be done.”

So here’s the hitch. If you want to fish for the Maytag “hogs” you’d better either have $895,000 to plunk down for a 100-acre parcel (there are only 20 left), or have a good friend who does. The good news is that the folks at Maytag, Russ included, are happy to fish with any sales “prospects”. Once all the homesteads are under contract, you can bet the owners will want to keep this treasure all to themselves.

Besides its outstanding fishery and healthy grass fat beef operation, Maytag also tends a 10,000-square foot permaculture vegetable and herb garden and raises free-range chickens for eggs. Each homeowner can only build on a predetermined homesite situated by a team of experts to have outstanding views--views so special you can’t even see your neighbor!  The ranch barn houses owners’ horses, which may be ridden in the round pen or the regulation roping arena, or on more than 12 miles of trails throughout the ranch—or on thousands of acres of surrounding national forest.  

“We’ve thoroughly enjoyed preserving a true western ranch experience, and the awesome fly-fishing has been a rewarding addition to such a wonderful ranch experience,” said Temple.

For more information on fishing at Maytag Mountain Ranch call 888-782-9538.

About The Author

Jody Patten is a PR specialist from Steamboat Springs, Colorado.. She is a former reporter and editor from Oregon. Her biggest fishing thrill was hooking a fat rainbow on a salmon fly along the Deschutes River in  Oregon. For questions about this article or the Maytag Ranch, contact Jody at: pci@springsips.com.