Metro Denver Area
Aurora Reservoir
The reservoir is open to boating and the water temperature is 72 degrees. Trout fishing from shore is rated as slow to fair. Fish will be deeper so cast out 40-50 yards! Trouthave been caught using PowerBait from a slip rig. Boaters are having success ranging from slow to fair on trout trolling with rapalas, spoons and pop gear with crawlers. Walleye fishing is from slow to fair, and good from boats trolling with bottom bouncers with crawlers, jigs and drop shots. Most walleye caught are under the 18 inch size limit. There have also been reports of yellow perch caught using jigs and worms in the coves. Some anglers are having fair to good experiences catching largemouth bass in the coves using top water lures and plastics. The reservoir is restricted to electric motors only and all watercraft must be inspected prior to launch. For more information call 303-326-8425. The park hours of operation in August are 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Quincy Reservoir
The reservoir is open to boating and the water temperature is 74 degrees. Fishing for bass is rated as slow to fair. Most anglers are catching bass on soft plastics, jerk baits, crank baits and top water lures. Fishing is restricted to artificial flies and lures only. Only watercraft launched by hand are permitted and electric motors only. All watercraft must be inspected prior to launch. New for this year, the fee system is now per vehicle and the West access gate has been permanently closed. Access will only permitted through the East access gate. The park hours of operation in August are 5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information call 303-326-8424.
Northeast Colorado
Carter Lake
Fishermen are catching walleye on night crawlers, jigs, and bottom bouncers along the western shoreline, and trout with night crawlers and spinner baits on the north and south ends. A few bass have been caught and the lake was stocked on July 23 with 35,000 rainbow and cutbow trout.
Eldorado Canyon State Park
Fishing conditions in the canyon are good. Water levels are average for summer (50 cubic feet per second as of Aug. 2.) Fishermen have been having success with stout flies, BWO's, and worms. Colorado fishing licenses are required and are available for purchase at the park Visitor Center.
Eleven Mile Reservoir
The trout fishing at the reservoir has been good and the fish are active at Roger's Mountain, Rocking Chair, Lazy Boy, Suckers Cove, Witchers Cove and North Shore. Trolling anglers are still having better results than shoreline anglers. The best results for the shoreline anglers are still late night or early morning. Some very nice sizes have been caught at Suckers Cove in the early morning. The color pink is still a very good choice, worms, salmon peach PowerBait, garlic PowerBait, spinners, tube jigs, needlefish and tasmanian devils all are working. The kokanee salmon fishing has been slow, but some have been caught between Deer and Duck islands. Keep trying everything in the tackle box. The pike fishing has been good and it has been picking up this week. There have been more anglers catching pike this week. Stick to the weedy areas. Rapala's, tube jigs, spinners and pike bunnies have been working well, and surprisingly some pike have been caught on worms.
Flatiron Reservoir
Fishermen are catching trout with PowerBait of various colors and night crawlers.
North Sterling Reservoir
The water temperature is now 84 degrees. The South Boat Ramp has been reopened on a day to day basis depending upon weather. Walleye were caught at the West Trailhead and wiper were caught up the Darby Arm on worms, minnows, minnow lures, and leeches. Catfish were caught off of Sunset Cove and Sunset Point, as well as off the West Trailhead during the day and at night mostly on worms. Fishing licenses can be purchased at the Visitor Center that is open 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. daily.
Pinewood Reservoir
Trout are being caught with PowerBait of various colors, night crawlers, and dry flies.
Spinney Mountain Reservoir
The trout fishing at the reservoir has picked up again. Large pike and trout are being caught with rapalas, tasmanian devils, dick nites, needlefish, AP's, hares ears, damsels, and callibaetis. The most popular way ofcatching pike is using large rapallas along the shore. At the Dream Stream the flows are higher than normal, but the water is dropping. Anglers can expect to see hatches of PMDs, yellow sallies, caddis, micro caddis and tricos. Effective flies right now have been #14 san juan worms, #10 leeches, #14 scuds, #18 mercury pheasant tails, #18-20 buckskins, #16-18 mercer's swing nymph, #18 graphic caddis, and #20 barr emergers (PMD). Anglers may also wish to try out #20 top secret midge, #20 mercury blood midge, #20 minute midge, #20 jujubaetis, #18 orange San Juan worm, #18-20 mercury flashback pheasant tail, and #20 foam wing chocolate emerger. Fish the softer currents and along the edges. Anglers willing to work hard are picking up a mixed bag of browns, rainbows, and cut bows. The flows will remain higher than normal for a while yet. The river above Spinney Mountain Reservoir has high flow rates, but they are beginning to drop back down. The bridge at the Spinney Wier has been closed for safety reasons.
Staunton State Park
The ponds were last stocked on July 28th, 2015.
Southeast Colorado
Arkansas River
Heading into August, the Arkansas River is fishing extremely well. Flows are in the 700's in Bighorn Sheep Canyon, 450 cubic feet per second at Granite and 200 cubic feet per second in Hayden Meadows. The water, as of today, is clear from Leadville to Canon City and water temperatures are peaking in the upper 60s. All of this is supportive of good brown trout fishing. Hatches are not as prolific as earlier in the summer but fish are very surface oriented and open-minded about large attractor dries. In fact, visitors to the Arkansas should be reminded that we do not need any hatch for browns to take surface flies and that the absence of rising behavior is no indication of how fish will respond when a large stonefly/hopper type dry-fly is drifted above them. Look for browns along the edges during times of low light, and expect them deeper or in more broken water at midday. Big dries, dry-dry or dry-dropper combos and streamers are all taking fish. No question deep nymph rigs would do well too but very few people are currently using them.
Clear Creek Reservoir
Fishing last week at Clear Creek Reservoir has been good. Most of the catches reported by anglers were homogeneous groups of 8 to 12 inch rainbow trout. Either sherbert PowerBait or yellow berkley’s floating magnum eggs typically works well for shore fishermen. Trolling with cowbells coupled with worms, tasmanian devil lures (1/4 oz), and orange rooster tail lures along the southern part of the reservoir has been very productive for trout. Kokanee salmon fishing has been slow from a boat. Boat anglers targeting kokanee salmon usually employ Squids and dodgers near the dam of the reservoir at depths of 15 to 25 feet. A few anglers reported tiger musky following lures up to the boat but not taking the lure. Rapalas usually work well for anglers targeting tiger musky. The reservoir is closed to trailer motorized watercrafts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The current boating hours are from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Cottonwood Lake
Fishing has been steady for 8"-12" trout. PowerBait, worms, spinners, and flies have all produced good numbers of fish. The outlet and south bank tend to be fishing the best. The stream above and below the lake has been productive as well. Those fishing from small boats have had the best luck. Hand propelled watercraft only are allowed on the lake.
Frantz Lake
Frantz Lake has been fishing consistently well. Fly fisherman are doing well along the inlet. Bait fisherman are doing well along the south and east bank, with worms and PowerBait to bring in the most fish. There have been a few smallmouth bass caught in the last week. There has been some success by bass anglers using crawfish imitation lures.
Lake Pueblo
Boggs Creek Cove has been a productive destination for catfish and bass this week. A limited number of walleye have been caught by fisherman trolling along the rock shelf between Rock Creek Cove and Peck Creek Cove. The walleye are hitting on green and orange lures. Wipers are plentiful in Shiprock Cove and Juniper Breaks Cove. Wipers have been feeding on worms and minnows. The North Marina cove is a good spot to hook into small bluegill.
Lathrop State Park
Catfish are still active at night, several smaller ones are being pulled in at night. Horseshoe has been productive for bass throughout the day. Water temperatures in the mid 70's are causing most other fish to still be slow to bite. No reports of northern pike or muskie this week. As always stop by the Visitor Center to show off any impressive catch, and get your picture in the book of fame.
O'Haver Lake
The lake has been busy with anglers this summer. Bait fisherman are doing well along the south shore and green PowerBait has been effective. Fly fisherman have done well with float tubes and two fly rigs. The best action for fly fisherman has been at the inlet.
Riverside Ponds
These ponds have been fishing well in the evenings and mornings. Lure fisherman with spinner lures have been doing well at the inlets. Popular baits include PowerBait and worms.
Trinidad Lake
The lake is at 907 surface acres with a surface elevation of 6199.38. The water temperature is in the upper 60's. The trout are still biting from shore using PowerBait and night crawlers in Reilly Canyon. A few walleye and perch are being caught from shore in Reilly Canyon using night crawlers. The fishing for catfish remains slow at Trinidad Lake with anglers sporadically catching them. Boaters are catching walleye, perch and trout using jigs, and trolling. Boaters are reminded that hazards on the lake may not be marked.
Northwest Colorado
Pearl Lake
Fishing is slow at Pearl. The area by the dam is doing the best during the early mornings and late evenings.
Stagecoach Reservoir
Many anglers at the headwaters have been catching rainbow trout using black and olive wolly buggers, rapala size 7 orange and black jigs, black zonkers, and lots of colorful PowerBait! The water is definitely warm with all of the sun. Northern pike are biting, and large pike have been spotted cruising the banks. Most anglers have been using barry's pike fly in red and white, gen x bunny fire tiger, and a hammer swim bait (soft lure). Fly fishing at the tail waters has been steady with anglers catching lots of trout. The new renovation project has increased fish reproduction and size tremendously. The waters below the dam are at perfect conditions and the fish are hungry! Fishing in the morning, afternoon, and on overcast days are the prime times to catch fish. On clear days anglers must make 6 and 7 X fluorocarbon tippets a must. Try using small indicators and micro split shots to not spook the fish. When using nymphs try: :RS2 in any color, flashback scuds, red d midge, grey WD-50, bling midge, mirrored midge, befus, barr's BWO and PMD emergers. When using dries try: Size 22-24, brooks sprout midge, hi-viz griffiths gnat, spent midge, CDC midge adult, parachute midge, spider midge, blue ribbon foam baetis, or a vis-a-dun baetis. The responsible harvest of pike at Stagecoach is encouraged. County Road 18 to the tail water is open. For current flows p lease visit the USGS website .
State Forest State Park
The days have been hot and the nights have been cold. Fish are on the move here at State Forest State Park. The rising temperatures are coupled with lower water levels, measured at 4 cubic feet per second just below Cameron Pass according to the USGS. That is still slightly above average for this time of year. Anglers have been catching fish all over the park and have been less concentrated in specific areas, although people have been catching large cutthroats regularly in Lake Agnes. The American Lakes have also been seeing a lot of anglers lately. For a less crowded experience you may want to make the trek to Kelly or Clear Lake but bring plenty of water as it has been very hot, even at timberline. The willow marshes above and below North Michigan Reservoir have been seeing less fishing lately possibly due to the full sun being out and they could be a good option for evening fishing. Nymph season is still in full swing and people are having success in the alpine lakes with smaller flies.
Steamboat Lake
The water is warming up so shore fishing is slowing down. However, anglers that have "matched the hatches" that occur during the evening hours have caught large trout. Fishing in deeper water during the day at the reservoir seems to be the name of the game. Popular fishing patterns have been fishing in a boat to reach the deeper water and using anything from green wooly buggers all the way to using kastmasters, and rapala's. The steam fishing has slowed down and early mornings and late evenings seem to be the best time to be out there.
Southwest Colorado
Crawford Reservoir
Fishing is starting to pick up again after having slowed for a few weeks. Anglers are starting to catch catfish, rainbow trout and crappie.
Pa-Cu-Chu-Puk Ponds
Fishing in the Uncompahgre River at Pa-Co-Chu-Puk is excellent. The river flows are currently at 364 cubic feet per second below the dam, and 213 cubic feet per second coming into the reservoir. Fly fisherman are doing well on bead-headed nymphs, wooly buggers, copper johns, pheasant tails, and small midges. Spin fisherman are doing well with gold mepps and yellow/black panther martins. Please remember that the Uncompahgre River in Pa-Cu-Chu-Puk is restricted to flies and artificial lures only, and all fish caught must be returned to the river immediately. The ponds at Pa-Co-Chu-Puk have a population of rainbows and some brown trout. Fishing in the ponds has generally been very good. There have been several larger fish (18"-20") caught. Fishermen have been doing well with worms and salmon eggs on top in the mornings and evenings, and various colors of PowerBait off the bottom in the afternoon.
Ridgway Reservoir
The reservoir is at 95.4 percent capacity and falling slowly. The reservoir was stocked July 14 with 2,700 catchable rainbow trout. Both shore fisherman and boaters are reporting very good fishing for stocker-sized rainbows (8"-14") with a few larger fish (18"-22") being caught. The catch is mostly rainbows, but there have been some bigger brown trout and smallmouth bass caught. Shore fishermen are doing well along Dallas Creek day-use-area and Mears Bay shorelines. Shore fisherman should try gold kastmasters, green and rainbow PowerBait, or worms off the bottom. Boat fishermen are having luck with gold pop-gear and black/silver sinking rapalas near the dam and around the opening to Mears Bay. The bag and size limits have been removed for smallmouth bass in Ridgway Reservoir. Fishermen are encouraged to take smallmouth from the reservoir to protect the rainbow and brown trout fishery.
Taylor Park Reservoir
The water level is still high, and the lake is getting a little more of its shoreline back. The surface temperature is 62 degrees. The water is very clear which has made it a little harder to fish from shore. However, there have been anglers catching nice size rainbow trout using PowerBait and worms. Fishing off the bottom with worms for Lake Trout has been excellent. Trolling with cowbells, worms and lures for rainbows has also been good. The pike are now in about 15-18 feet of water and they are hitting on lures. Again, with the water being so clear the pike fishing is a little slow.