Fly fishing
Colorado
Live conditions, weather, snowpack, and stocking for 24 rivers and creeks and 13 lakes across 5 regions.
- Rivers
- 24
- Lakes
- 13
- Regions
- 5
- Fly shops
- 49
- Snowpack basins
- 17
Colorado fly fishing splits cleanly between the Western Slope's big tailwater rivers — Colorado, Gunnison, Frying Pan, Roaring Fork — and the South Platte tailwater on the Front Range. The state runs water-rich most years thanks to Rocky Mountain snowpack, but recent dry years have pushed earlier runoff and thinner summer flows on the freestones; the tailwaters carry more of the season than they used to.
Float and wade both work depending on the river. The Frying Pan and Gunnison's Black Canyon are technical, slow water with selective trout that have seen every pattern. The Arkansas runs faster and more forgiving in pocket water. The South Platte's named sections — Cheesman Canyon, Deckers, Eleven Mile — hold large fish under heavy pressure; bring small flies and patience. June runoff blows out the bigger freestones for a few weeks; alpine creeks and tailwaters carry July and August reliably.
The reservoirs fish when the rivers do not. Spinney Mountain in South Park is Gold Medal stillwater with a 20-inch minimum and a short ice-off window that draws anglers from the Front Range. Blue Mesa, Taylor Park and Ruedi sit above the Gunnison, Taylor and Frying Pan, so their levels tell you a good deal about the tailwaters below.
Arkansas Valley
Front Range
San Juan
San Luis Valley
Western Slope
Blue River
13.5 cfs45°F water
Colorado River
90.9 cfs48°F water
Crystal River
142 cfs
Eagle River
8.08 cfs40°F water
East River
70.2 cfs46°F water
Fraser River
18.1 cfs43°F water
Frying Pan River
75.6 cfs
Gunnison River
234 cfs48°F water
Lake Fork of the Gunnison River
199 cfs47°F water
Roaring Fork River
20.7 cfs40°F water
Taylor River
53.1 cfs45°F water
Uncompahgre River
65 cfs46°F water
Williams Fork River
91.9 cfs45.3°F water
Yampa River
25.9 cfs43°F water
Lakes
Blue Mesa Reservoir
0 mph wind15% full
Dillon Reservoir
3 mph wind62% full
Elevenmile Reservoir
5 mph wind98% full
Green Mountain Reservoir
2 mph wind10% full
Lake Granby
2 mph wind
Lake John
2 mph wind
North Delaney Butte Lake
2 mph wind
Ruedi Reservoir
5 mph wind37% full
Spinney Mountain Reservoir
3 mph wind27% full
Tarryall Reservoir
3 mph wind
Taylor Park Reservoir
5 mph wind49% full
Turquoise Lake
0 mph wind
Twin Lakes
5 mph wind75% full