Including The Upper Front Range

All reports are up-dated on Wednesdays each week during the summer season and every other week during the winter season (November - March). Reports will not be up-dated the week following holiday weekends. Good luck and good fishing, The Fish Phone.

Report Date: 8/18/2010

Rivers:

Big Thompson River

A tributary of the South Platte River Approximately 78 miles long, Headwaters originate in Rocky Mountain National Park. The river flows east to the town of Estes Park down into the Big Thompson Canyon.
Fish species: Rainbow, Brown and Cutthroat Trout

Flow: Loveland: 76 CFS / Moraine Park: 65CFS
Clarity: Clear
Fishing conditions: Flows on the Thompson are at their summer levels and should stay around 125-150 for most of the season. Midge hatches are starting to fade but remain pretty thick closer to the dam. Olives are thicker down the canyon and lower reaches are starting to see caddis and stones. Start off nymphing and switch to dries when you start to see noses. Good patterns continue to be: rainbow warriors, RS2's, micro mayflies, pheasant tails, barr emergers, sow bugs, poison tungs, ray charles, blood midges, black beauty midges, top secret midge, miracle midges, and jujubees. All these should be fished in sizes 16 to 24 and with 5x or 6x fluorocarbon tippet, and 7x will definitely increase your eats!!  At a flow of almost 130cfs the fish have spread out and with the olives hatching thick, the dry fly fishing has been epic. Try hackle stackers, challenged baetis, cdc bwo and emerger patterns feed downstream to the fish on 7x to really get it on.  In the mornings the fish often hold tight to the bottom moving to feed only during insect activity, so nymphing may be more productive early. Dry dropper rigs with PMX's or Golden Stones up top have been good rigs on the T this week.  Try mayfly caddis and stonefly droppers below. The Blue wing olives over the past week have been hatching pretty thick and several anglers have said the fishing is ON FIRE!!  Lately the bite on terrestrials has been picking up so try stimulators, pmx's, and cheyrnobles.  

Cache Le Poudre River

A tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 126 miles long, Headwaters originate in Rocky Mountain National Park. The river descends east down past the cities of Fort Collins and Greeley and flows into the South Platte River.
Fish species: Rainbow, Brown and Cutthroat Trout

Flow: Below Halligan Reservoir: 145CFS / Fort Collins: 46CFS
Clarity: Murky
Fishing conditions: water levels are dropping and fishing should be improving

Trout: Fair
Flies: Midges #18-20, Beatis emergers #18-20, BWO's #18-20, Pheasant Tails #18-20, Caddis(all stages)
Lures: Spinners
Bait: Power bait, salmon eggs and night crawlers

St. Vrain Creek

South and Middle Fork begin in the Indian Peaks Wilderness; North Fork begins in Rocky Mtn. Natl. Park.  The three forks join in Lyons to form St. Vrain Creek, which continues through Longmont and eventually joins the S. Platte River.
Fish species: Rainbow, Brown, Brook and Cutthroat Trout

Flow: Below Longmont: 70CFS
Clarity: Iced tea
Fishing conditions: Button rock reservoir is full and thus the flows on this creek are up.  Fish larger, more colorful patterns with flash in the stained waters.  San juan worms work well under these conditions and small flashy streamers trailed with a stone or san juan have been surprisingly successful.  The waters in and around Lyons are seeing good bug activity and the fishing has started to pick up.   A drop in flows would help and the kayak traffic can be downright annoying.  Good patterns continue to be San Juan Worms, Rubber Legged Stones, SMall flashy streamers, and large Princes and Hares Ears.  Electric Tungsten Caddis work well and rainbow warriors have caught a dozen in a day.  Keep your fly size larger and more colorful and you can catch fish.  Lower flows can be found closer to Wild Basin, but even here we are still inside run off.  The new catch and release regulations from town to Button Rock should help this fishery.

Lakes:

Bonny Reservoir

A 1900 acre reservoir, located 23 miles north of Burlington, CO. Open year round, ice fishing is allowed.

Clarity:
Lake Level: 17 feet below normal pool, 80 degrees
Boating conditions: Lake is open for boating, no nighttime boating Sun p.m. thru Thurs. p.m.
Fishing conditions: Good

Boyd Lake

A 1700 acre reservoir, located north east of Loveland. Ice fishing allowed.

Clarity:
Lake Level: 3 feet down, 81 degrees
Boating conditions: Open for boating, mandatory boat inspections
Fishing conditions: Fair

Horsetooth Reservoir

Clarity:
Lake Level: Dropping, 72 degrees
Boating conditions: Open for boating
Fishing conditions: Good with warm weather

Jackson Reservoir

A 2700 acre reservoir, located on the South Platte River northwest of Fort Morgan on Highway 144. Open to ice fishing.

Clarity: Murky
Lake Level: About 2 feet down, 80 degrees 
Boating conditions: Open for boating. Inspections being conducted 9am-5pm Mon. thru Fri. and 8am-6pm Sat. & Sun.
Fishing conditions: Fair

Trout: Fair to Good, try along the west shore or the dam
Flies: Black or green woolly buggers
Lures: Jigs tipped with worms, John Boys, silver and blue Rapalas, Tazmanian Devils
Bait: Power bait, salmon eggs, night crawlers, shad, shrimp
Bass (largemouth & wiper): WIPERS -Fair, try the north shore or boat ramp.
Lures: Twister tails, white swim baits and slabs, Rapala's, minnow imitations, Rattletraps (blue)
Bait: Crawdads and night crawlers
Walleye: Slow to Fair, try along dam
Lures: Jigs(pink), crank baits, worm harnesses
Bait: Night crawlers, minnows
Bluegill / Crappie: NR
Lures:
Bait:
Perch: NR
Lures:
Bait:
Catfish: Fair, try after midnight
Bait: worms, crawdads

North Sterling Reservoir

One of Colorado's deepest reservoirs at over 50 feet, located 12 miles north of Sterling, CO. Ice fishing allowed.

Clarity: Algae
Lake Level: Down, 85 degrees
Boating conditions: The lake is open to boating, launch from Elks boat ramp - Mandatory inspections. The area from Balanced Rock to the swim beach area (including the South boat ramp) are closed to foot traffic due to construction.
Fishing conditions: Good, try around Balanced Rock

Prewitt Reservoir

A 3047 acre reservoir, located northeastern Colorado on Hwy 6. Ice fishing allowed.

Clarity:
Lake Level: 4 feet down, about 83 degrees
Boating conditions: Open for boating, inspections 6am-10pm daily. Boat ramp is closed at night.
Fishing conditions: Fair