Report for June 11.
It looks as if we may have hit peak run-off on most, if not all of our major rivers. While we may still see some up-tick in flows here and there, we do not think that we are going to surpass the levels already reached. This “peak”, seems to have happened any where between the 29th of May and the 5 of June. With 5 to 9 days of downward trending flows, it is pretty safe to say that could be the reversal we have been looking. Although flows remain high, clarity is improving very nicely and that will be more important for fishing going forward.
The Salmonfly hatch continues as well on the upper Colorado. We have been posting daily reports on the progress of that to our blog page, which you can check out here for details. This year is very different than the last couple of years so, check out that latest information before you head to the river.
With the peak presumably being past us, we are now seeing some changes to flows that are managed via various facilities (reservoirs) around the area. Most notably Dillon Dam and Reservoir. Releases have been cut this afternoon from the dam into the Blue River through Silverthorne by about 300 cfs. While to the south, flows from Twin Lakes into the Arkansas River have also started to recede as well. Check these and other condition reports on the right side of the page.
Water levels are still high and offer some tricky accessibility situations. Be sure to make smart wading decisions when venturing out to the river. If you have a doubt, err on the side of caution. At the rate things are starting to drop, we should see things get more user friendly in the next couple of week.
This time of year is very fluid, with daily changes due to weather and snow melt. Don’t hesitate to call us for current conditions, we’ll do our best to try and interpret changing stream flow readings with you. Or follow us on Twitter @coloradoangler, where we try to post changing conditions as we learn about them.
Detailed reports on the right side of this page will give more specific information on a particular stretch of river. Make sure to check those out for your river of interest, as they will be able to answer questions pertaining to hatches and flies.
Please feel free to call us at The Colorado Angler, at any time to discuss any questions and concerns you may have about the current conditions. There is a lot of information on this page as well as on our main page at TheColoradoAngler.com but, space is limited and we may not have answered all of your questions. We want to make sure you get the information you are looking for. Toll Free 855-CO TROUT (268-7688) or stop by and see us in the Summit Place shopping center in Silverthorne, next to Blue Moon Bakery, Exit 205 on I-70, then south 1 block. Spring Hours: Monday – Saturday 8 am – 6 pm, Sunday 8 am – 5 pm
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Blue River Below Dillon Reservoir
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| Flow: 1400 cfs. |
| Conditions: A noticeable drop in flows Tuesday afternoon is good news for town fisherman and hopefully a sign of things to come. It is still going to be a very high flow compared to it’s normal level but, it is better than where it was. Wading will continue to be tricky and holding lies few and far between. The rest of what we have been saying about fishing at these flows will remain true, which goes as follows: The few spots that you can get a fly into have actually produced some great results, for hook ups that is, landing fish in this torrent has been another story entirely. The key to fishing in town right now will be to find a sheltered lie in the river that you can access and adjust to the extreme conditions appropriately. Most notably by bumping up the weight on your nymph rig. Significantly. Not only do you need to add weight for the sheer volume of water but, most of these drifts are going to be very short and you will want to get it down quickly. In most cases somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 to 5 BB shot or 2 to 4 AAA. Then, leave the delicate, winter weight tippet in the car and bring out the heavy stuff, 2 or 3x has been working well for anglers lately. This will give you a chance at steering any fish you hook out of the heavy water and towards the bank. Definitely bring along your favorite Mysis patterns in larger sizes, 16 and up, along with San Juan Worms and Egg Patterns. It’s also a good time to try dead drifting streamer patterns, sometimes a big meaty meal can be hard to pass up as it drifts on by a trout burning up twice it’s normal calories just to stay put.
Town Flies: Candy Cane, Stalcup’s Mysis, Kingery’s Mysis, BTS Mysis, Flossy Worm, San Juan Worm, San Juan Flash Worm, Otter Soft Milking Egg, Bead Eggs, Kingery’s Cap’n Hook, Pure Midge Larva, Tube Midge Black or Red, Winter Baetis, Two Bit Hooker, Rainbow Warrior, Wooly Bugger Black or Olive
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Blue River Below Green Mountain
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| Flow: 1800 cfs. |
| Conditions: Flows continue to climb to make room for the snow melt. At this level, wade fishing in the canyon is getting very limited, as edge water becomes heavier and tougher to access along vegetated banks. Floating may still be an option but, getting fairly swift and necessitating the need for a lot of additional weight, not to mention not all that productive right now for the effort. To tell yo the truth, we’re not quite sure you will clear all of the bridges through the ranch. If you decide to risk it and go, nymphing will provide the more consistent action, fished with a tandem set-up starting with a larger imitation for a Stonefly, big Mayfly or beaded searching pattern followed up with a San Juan Worm or Egg Pattern. And streamer patterns are always in vogue through the canyon. With the flow getting higher, it may be worth using a sink tip line to help get those down and keep ’em in the strike zone longer.
Flies: Big bead heads: Hare’s Ear, Tungteaser, Pheasant Tail, Stubby Stone, Twenty Incher, Rubberlegs, Psycho Prince, Mr Peacock Ice, Flossy Worm, Split Case BWO, Barr’s BWO, Juju Baetis, Zebra Midge, Poison Tung, Winter Baetis, Black Beauty, Rojo Midge, Otter Egg, and Morrish’s iron sally.
Floaters should note: The river volume on this stretch of water can change on an infrequent schedule and often. It is important to know the flow before you launch and make an honest assessment of your ability and watercraft capability. Please respect private property rights along the river.
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Colorado River Above Kremmling (Parshall)
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| Flow: 3175 cfs. @ Parshall |
Conditions: Wow, this is some very big water and will pretty much shut this down for some time. At least until it clears and starts to drop. But even then, it will be a very technical until it gets back down to the 1,000 – 1,200 cfs range. (Prime Summer wade conditions are in the 500-900 cfs range) If you are in the area and still looking to fish, switch gears and head on up to the Williams Fork Reservoir and try your hand at Pike fishing for a change.
Flies: Big bugs with flash and beads – streamers and nymphs. Pat’s Rubber Legs, Twenty Incher, Tungteaser, Kaufman Stone Nymph, Beaded Rubber Leg Ice Prince, Heavy Metal Worm, Flossy Worm, LE Marabou Streamer, Sculpzilla, Slap and Tickle, Woolhead Sculpin
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Colorado River Pumphouse to Dotsero
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| Flow: 5820 cfs. |
| Conditions: Flows are definitely on the drop and clarity is much improved, upwards of 2 feet of visibility. It only looks worse than that from a distance because there is so much volume. Still a lot of water, no doubt but, it is trending in the right direction. Both wading and floating are producing some action at the moment but, there are still a considerable amount of submerged obstacles and snags. In some places the river is just about back within it’s bank however, most places are still spilling out and into the willows. It looks as if we reached peak flow about the last day or two of May and we don’t think any subsequent spike the next week or so will get that high again. As this drops, fishing will start to improve daily. At first it won’t be too noticeable because of where it started with regards to the toughness of the fishing but, that will intensify as flows get more on par with summer levels, probably around the middle of July with current snow pack. Salmonflies continue to be the most noticeable hatch going and action has been fair to great depending on who you talk to. For our current update on this read our blog post here. We update that everyday and is the most current line of information on the action. The other hatch of note is Caddis and some evenings can see decent surface action for fish rising to grab the returning Caddis laying eggs. Nymphing continues to produce more of the action through out the day, with that in mind try a double fly rig under an indicator. Start with a larger beaded searching nymph or Stonefly imitation for the lead fly, then drop a smaller slightly smaller offering for the Caddis or even a mid-sized searching nymph such as a Prince or Hare’s Ear. This remains a substantial amount of water but, by no means is it too much water. You just have to adjust to the conditions and fish some different spots than you would at 1,000 cfs.
Flies: Tungteaser, Rubberlegs, Beaded Pheasant Tails, Beaded Hares Ears, Tungsten Prince, Rubber Leg Mr Peacock, Miscellaneous Streamers: Sculpzilla, Silver Bullet, Space Invader, Beldar, Bead Head Buggers in Black or White
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Colorado Below Glenwood Springs
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| Flow 15,300 cfs. |
Conditions: Big and dirty. Run-off is in full effect on lower part of the river. With as many smaller drainages that drain into this river, clarity at this time of year is problematic. Generally speaking a good rule of thumb is: green is good brown is down. Even if it is only a foot or so of visibility, if there is an overall greenish hue to the river it should be good to go. But, when that color shifts to brown it tends to turn off. With the heat of Spring settling in, Brown is now the color du jour. It could be some time before we see good fishing conditions on the lower river.
Flies: Mr Peacock Ice, Pat’s Rubber Legs, Tungteaser, Bead Prince, Twenty Incher, Tungsten Pheasant Tail, Bead Prince, Bead Hares Ear, Tungstone, Barr’s Emerger, Zebra Midge, Juju Baetis, Poison Tung, Winter Baetis, brightly colored San Juan worm, Sculpzilla, Space Invader, Silver Bullet
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Arkansas River Above Buena Vista
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| Flow: 2140 cfs. @ Granite 808 @ Hayden |
Conditions: That is a lot of water for the entire river at the moment. There really won’t be too much to offer at these levels, not to mention the lack of clarity. However, flows seem to have peaked and have started to come down. If this trend continues, we could see some limited access opening up in the next couple of weeks. We’ll keep you posted on things as they continue to recede.
Flies: Beaded Hares Ear, Hot Wire Prince, Beaded Pheasant Tail, Copper John, Hot Wire Caddis, Tung Z Wing Caddis, Tungteaser, CDC Hares Ear, Twenty Incher, Mr Peacock, RS-2, Zebra Midge, White Streamers
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Arkansas River Salida Area
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| Flow: 2890 cfs. @ Salida |
Conditions: Very big and mostly dirty. It’s might be a couple of weeks yet before this begins to drop to manageable levels. We’ll keep an eye on it and let you know when it begins to get near a level that is even close to realistic.
Worth Noting: This is now the third year of a program to re-establish Pteronarcys Californica to the Arkansas. Over the past 3 years CPW has transplanted about 90 thousand Salmonfly nymphs from the Colorado River to the Arkansas and distributed them just above and below Salida. We are keeping an optimistic eye on the river here to see if this insect will take hold and produce a revived population.
Flies: Bead Head Pheasant Tail # 14-16, Tungstone Golden #12-16, Tungsten Yellow Sally, Iron Sally, Chartreuse Copper John #12-16, Chartreuse Hot Wire Caddis, Hot Wire Prince, Pat’s Rubber Legs #8, Slumpbuster, Silver Bullet, Autumn Splendor, Sparkle Minnow.
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Roaring Fork River at Glenwood Springs
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| Flow: 3860 cfs. |
Conditions: With the cool temperatures this past Sunday, stream flows took a big dive. We think that there will be some correction back upward but, still lower than it was running, as the general trend was a steady decline. Look for that to get back up to the 4,500 +/- range and then begin to drop again. Still a little too big for comfort. We like to see the number at Glenwood hit 3,000 and then hit the river. However, if you are in the valley, take the turn up the Frying Pan and fish some clean water. Just be prepared for the crowds, as this is about the only game in town with regards to moving water clear enough to fish in the Glenwood to Aspen area. There has been some decent action to Blue Winged Olive adults at times, as well as Caddis.
Flies: Twenty Incher, Tungteaser, Stubby stones, Beaded Pheasant Tail, Standard Pheasant Tail, Pat’s Rubber Legs, Tungstone, Copper Johns, Hares Ear, Mr. Peacock, CDC Prince, Split Case BWO, Barr’s BWO Emerger, RS 2, Tungsten Psycho May, Hot Wire Prince, Two Bit Hooker, STD Baetis and a variety of Eggs.
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South Platte River, Middle Fork
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| Flow: 300 +/- cfs. |
Conditions: A little bit of a drop in flows as well and some improving clarity to boot. Still a little high for most anglers and water spilling out of it’s banks in places. However, we should have seen the peak and anticipate river levels to become fish-able here in the next week or two. Generally we like to see it drop to 200 cfs and under to begin to offer decent access and action to most anglers. If you decide to give it a try, best bet would be either a tandem nymph rig or some streamer fishing. For the nymphs try a larger beaded searching pattern or Stonefly imitation followed up with a variety of other staples for this fertile river. Caddis, Baetis, Green Drake and San Juan Worm patterns can all work well throughout the year. Our approach would be to fish our way upstream with that 2 fly nymph set-up and then switch over to streamers for the walk back down and cover some of the same water again. It shouldn’t be long before things fall into place on this great fishery.
Flies: Chartreuse Copper John, Rainbow Warrior, Egg Patterns, Hot Wire Prince, Beaded Flash Prince, Tungteaser, Tung Psycho May, Zebra Midge, Poison Tung, Rainbow Warrior, Autumn Splendor, Slumpbuster, Sparkle Bugger
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South Platte, Dream Stream
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| Flow 350 cfs. |
Conditions: Another bump in flows for this popular tailwater. At this level, wading will start to get sporty and clarity will diminish, particularly as you move down stream. But fishing can still be very good at this level and will have a tendency to clear out some of the traffic. 5x tippet may still be necessary in the upper reaches but, as you move down 4x should do the trick. The good news is that the river at these levels not only carry a little more food from the dam, there is also a little more cover to the angler, so less spooky fish. Tandem nymph rigs will still be the best method for the time being but, once the lake fills and starts to spill over we expect the Caddis to start to hatch. A mix of Caddis larva, Baetis and PMD nymphs as well as some well drifted San Juan Worms, Leeches and Scud patterns with the higher flows will be a good start. Traffic has been very stout with and will continue to be that way for some time yet. There just aren’t too many river fishing opportunities at this time due to run-off. Another option in the area is to head further downstream below 11 Mile Reservoir into 11 Mile Canyon. Again this is a tailwater and will be busy during run-off but, there are not as many guide services permitted to fish that stretch and traffic may be slightly more manageable.
Flies: Black Copper John #22, Juju Baetis, Buckskin, Desert Storm Chartreuse, Tube Midge, Midge Biot, UV Emerger, Poison Tung, Zebra Midge Black/Silver, Barr’s Emerger BWO, RS2, Poxybiot Nymph, Egg Patterns, Pure Midge Larva, Cap’n Hook
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Williams Fork River Below Dam
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| Flow 738 cfs. |
Conditions: A noticeable drop in flows from the dam but still pretty high for the size of this river. This will pretty much shut the river down to all but the hardiest of waders and most advanced anglers. Even those skills will leave you out matched. There may be a spot or two that you can pull a fish from but, it will be limited. Your best bet may be to give it a rest for this tailwater for the time being. Take a break from the trout and head up to the reservoir and try your hand at some Pike fishing, which is starting to ramp up and can offer a fun distraction through run-off.
Flies: Caddis Larva, Buckskin, Heavy Metal Worm, Flossy Worm, Pat’s Rubber Legs, Little Brown Bug, Two Bit Hooker, Flash Back Pheasant Tail, Split Case BWO, Tungsten Psycho May BWO, Pure Midge Larva, Rainbow Warrior, Rojo Midge, Biot mayfly Emerger, #20-22 Green Copper John, Zebra Midge, RS2’s, 5-0 Midge, UV Emerger
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Antero Reservoir
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Conditions: Starting to see some good signs of Spring on the lake. The Chironomid hatch has begun, look for them to emerge later in the morning. Action has been moderate for this popular still water destination, with a variety of nymphs and streamer patterns working throughout the day. Fishing may be slow to start some days so you may want to stick around to at least early afternoon, as it seem like some days it takes that long to get going. For nymph rigs, use a mix of Chironomid, Calibaetis and smaller Midge nymph imitations in a static indicator rig. Vary your depth initially with a two fly rig to see if there is any particular level where trout are feeding. Also worth trying would be slow retrieving streamers that imitate Damsels, Leeches or Crayfish. If the wind picks up later in the day, try suspending any of those streamers under an indicator and let the waves jig them up and down. That is unless the wind really kicks up, then get off the lake and fish another day. Daily access is at the South Ramp, with the North ramp only being open Friday – Sunday.
Flies: Yankee Buzzer, Jumbo Juju, Tak’s Chironomid, Garcia’s Rojo Grande Midge, Rapunzel Damsel, Gaviglio’s Calibaetis Nymph, Poxyback Calibaetis Nymph, Hare’s Ear, Copper John, Diamond Lake Special, Wooly Bugger – Black, Olive or Brown, Hale Bopp Leech
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Spinney Mountain Reservoir
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| Conditions: Hearing slightly more consistent reports from here than up the road at Antero. The Chironomid hatch has started and is producing some steady results using subsurface imitations as part of a multi-fly nymph rig. There may be the occasion for some dry fly activity for adult Chironomid patterns as well, it’s just that the wind has been so consistently present that there have not been enough days when it’s not blowing the adults off the water. At this time of year we recommend a mix of Chironomid, Calibaetis and small Midge nymph imitations fished under an indicator as a static nymph rig. Mix up the depth at various points with your flies in order to pin point any particular level the trout may favor for feeding. For those of you that can’t focus that long on an indicator, try a slow retrieve with streamer patterns that imitate Leeches, Damsel Fly nymphs or Crayfish. And this time of year always offers the chance at cruisers along the dam picking up Egg patterns.
Flies: Yankee Buzzer, Jumbo Juju, Tak’s Chironomid, Garcia’s Rojo Grande Midge, Rapunzel Damsel, Gaviglio’s Calibaetis Nymph, Poxyback Calibaetis Nymph, Hare’s Ear, Copper John, Diamond Lake Special, Wooly Bugger – Black, Olive or Brown, Hale Bopp Leech
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Delaney Buttes Lakes
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Conditions: All three lakes are open, with mixed results. None of them are on fire but, action has been good enough to warrant a return trip or two for Nick “The Kid”. The North lake has produced some of the nicer fish, particularly if you are not averse to fishing at night. With shore anglers doing as well, if not better than boaters. East and South have been producing slightly more action, with a smaller size on average. Streamers have been as productive as anything but, we always like to give it a try with our favorite lake nymphs under an indicator, as well. While you are up that way, don’t overlook the large impoundment just to the east, Lake John. Action over there has been slightly more consistent, with average fish running 18-20 inches.
Flies: Egg Patterns, Bead Pheasant Tail, Bead Hare’s Ear, Copper John, Jumbo Juju, Hares Ear, Zebra Midge, Tak’s Chironomid, Hale Bopp Leech, LE Leech, Wooly Bugger in Black, Olive or Brown, Sculpzilla
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