Welcome to the Trouts Monthly Frisco/Mountain Forecast!

The summer sure has flown by this year. It’s really hard to believe fall is just around the corner. While I will miss the summer temperatures, hatches, and all that this short window of time offers us here in Colorado, fall is also a very special time here in our state.

We will start to see some cooling temperatures as we move toward the end of August and into early September. With these cooling temperatures, there can be a resurgence of fish and bug activity. Along with this, the number of anglers starts to diminish and all of these make for some great reasons to get on the water in the weeks to come.

Here are some sections I will be looking to fish in the weeks to come.

The Colorado River from Glenwood Springs to Rifle:

With some cooler temperatures starting to enter Colorado in the weeks to come, I will start to think about venturing downriver to the Glenwood Springs area. This section can fish extremely well in the fall and early winter. This will extend my dry dropper and float fishing for at least a month compared to sections upriver.

The Colorado River from Kremmling to Dotsero:

Although I am thinking about fishing some of the lower sections as we enter fall, this section has a couple of months left of excellent fishing. The hopper-dropper fishing should extend into early October and look for blue-winged olive hatches on the cloudy days.

The Colorado River from Hot Sulphur Springs to Kremmling:

This section is a favorite walk-wade fishing location for the late summer and early fall. The water levels have been staying quite nice and this has been offering some excellent fishing. Look for dry dropper fishing to continue to be successful for some weeks to come and then look to transition to nymphing as the waters cool. Look for blue-winged olive hatches on cloudy days for some excellent dry fly fishing.

The Arkansas River from Granite to Salida:

As late summer and fall approach us, the water levels will start to drop on the upper Arkansas River. When this starts to happen, I will venture farther downstream for higher flows which will give the fish more cover and offer some good hopper dropper fishing for a bit longer than the upper stretches. Get to these lower sections in the weeks to come.

The South Platte above Spinney Reservoir:

With miles and miles of bend after bend of fishing opportunities, the stretches of the South Platte River above Spinney Reservoir can offer some excellent late summer and early fall fishing. Hopper dropper fishing can be excellent for the weeks to come, but it's also a great time of year to strip some streamers along the undercut banks looking for some large resident trout or trout moving up into the river's system out of the reservoir.

The Colorado River at Hot Sulphur Springs- 156 CFS

The Williams Fork below Williams Fork Reservoir- 94.6 CFS

The Colorado River at Parshall- 244 CFS

The Colorado River at Kremmling- 940 CFS

The Colorado River at Catamount Bridge- 1030 CFS

The Colorado River at Dotsero- 1500 CFS

The Colorado River at Glenwood Springs- 2530 CFS

The Arkansas River at Leadville- 41.8 CFS

The Arkansas River near Malta- 88.8 CFS

The Arkansas River at Granite- 600 CFS

Lake Creek below Twin Lakes Reservoir- 406 CFS

The Arkansas River at Nathrop- 715 CFS

The Arkansas River at Salida- 709 CFS

The South Platte above Eleven Mile Reservoir- 153 CFS

The South Platte above Spinney Reservoir- 64.9 CFS

The South Fork of the South Platte above Antero Reservoir- 22.7 CFS

As we enter the middle of August, we will continue to see the summer monsoons for the next few weeks. As we get closer to September, look for temperatures to slowly start dropping and that the monsoon pattern to start to exit our region. As we move into September, look for sunny weather but with temperatures starting to drop slightly.

Stop by our Denver or Frisco locations to see what locations and flies are fishing best!