Welcome to the Trouts Monthly Frisco/Mountain Forecast!

This fall in Colorado has been quite spectacular with some beautiful weather, moderate temperatures, and one of the best fall foliage seasons I have seen in a while. We have had a couple of fall storms bringing some rain and snow to the highest elevations, but for the most part, the weather has been quite pleasurable. While the nice weather doesn’t bring the prolific blue-winged olive hatches, I have managed to find a few hours of good dry fly action on the stormier days. The nicer weather has allowed me to extend my hopper-dropper season with great success. I do expect this trend to change in the weeks to come, as cooler temperatures and weather systems start to flow through Colorado.

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

The Arkansas River Salida to Buena Vista:

Not much will change with wanting to fish the area for the next couple of months. The lower altitude brings a wider window of prime feeding hours with warmer temperatures. Look for the prime fishing times to start moving to the middle of the day, and extending into the evening and as we move into winter, look for these peak feeding times to move to the middle of the day. This is a favorite place to look for blue-winged olive hatches on cloudy and stormy days. The sunny and warm days can have some very active and hungry trout on the move during these prime feeding hours.

The Blue River North of Silverthorne:

Fishing locally is sometimes overlooked with the desire to get out and explore. I tend to forget just how pleasing fishing the Blue River north of Silverthorne can be. The Gore Range looms in the background for a beautiful backdrop and the Blue River itself is quite spectacular. Add in the opportunity to fish blue-winged olives to rising fish and you have a win-win situation.

The Colorado above Dotsero:

As the weather cools you will find me heading to some lower altitude destinations to not only enjoy some warmer temperatures, but also enjoy that longer feeding window in the shortening and cooling days. This area brings just that and more with beautiful scenery, fall foliage, minimal people, and some great fall float and wade fishing opportunities, to name a few.

The Colorado below Glenwood Springs:

As we keep moving into shorter and cooler days, I will start moving my fishing experiences down the valley and into altitude. This area is a great place to extend your fly fishing season, whether you are float or wade fishing. Besides the extended season and warmer temperatures, this area offers some active and feisty trout looking to fatten up for the winter months.

The South Platte above Spinney Reservoir:

The next few weeks will offer some of the last opportunities to fish this section of river before the temperature and ice-up start to send the trout back to the reservoir or deeper holding water to winter under the ice. The flows are low and the fish can be spooky, but you might just find some large fish fattening up before the impending winter. There can be a good run of browns spawning in these waters, so steer clear of reds and paired-up fish.

The Blue River below Dillon Reservoir- 55 CFS

The Colorado at Hot Sulphur Springs- 75 CFS

The Williams Fork below Williams Fork Reservoir- 194 CFS

The Colorado at Kremmling- 762 CFS

The Colorado at Catamount Bridge- 812 CFS

The Colorado at Dotsero- 1090 CFS

The Colorado below Glenwood Springs- 1820 CFS

The Arkansas near Leadville- 33 CFS

Lake Creek below Twin Lakes- 20 CFS

The Arkansas at Granite- 132 CFS

The Arkansas near Nathrop- 335 CFS

The Arkansas at Salida- 318 CFS

The South Platte above Spinney Reservoir- 42 CFS

The South Platte above Eleven Mile Reservoir- 149 CFS

In the next month, we should start to see the transition into full-on fall conditions and the arrival of some of the first snow storms of the season. With these snow storms and cloudy days look for blue-winged olive hatches. We will still see plenty of sunshine for weeks to come but look for daytime high temperatures to start falling. Look to fish the days as they warm and into the early evening.