5. Blue River
The Blue River runs north from the dam at Dillon Reservoir near Silverthorne to its confluence with the Colorado River near Kremmling. When you visit the Blue you are in "fourteener country." Colorado has 54 peaks that soar to 14,000 feet and above. Quandary Peak, 14,265 feet, is the highest point in Colorado's Tenmile Range, where the headwaters of the Blue River begin.
The Gold Metal water section runs from the dam in Silverthorne to the town of Kremmling. The river acts like a typical tailwater through Silverthorne and more like a freestone river below town. In town, the fish count of browns and rainbows is about 1,400 per mile. Large brood trout from the Crystal River Hatchery are retired to this section each year.
As you drive from the Dillon Dam toward Green Mountain Reservoir, the fish density decreases but the scenic beauty of the river with its mountain backdrop increases. There are numerous turnouts and fishing access points along the road. Camping and picnicking areas are also available. Just below Green Mountain Reservoir, access down to the river is possible but very difficult (and impossible in the winter). As the Blue flows out of the Arapaho and Roosevelt national forests, public access is lost for the 10 miles to the confluence with the Colorado River. From Denver, the Blue River can be reached in the town of Silverthorne, 66 miles west of Denver on I-70.
6. Colorado River
The Colorado River is an amazing place to experience all the beauty that Colorado has to offer – including great opportunities to target big brown trout in the fall. The river starts high in Rocky Mountain National Park and is Colorado's largest watershed drainage. From deep canyons to panoramic meadows and majestic peaks, the Colorado River is a great river to explore.
The Upper Colorado River traverses from Windy Gap Reservoir, just west of the town of Granby, to the confluence of the Blue River near Kremmling. This section is Gold Metal water and closely follows Highway 40, making it a fairly easy road trip. Major public access points include Hot Sulphur Springs, Buyers Canyon, Parshall (with access to the Williams Fork) and Kremmling (Pumphouse Campground). The rainbow above migrated out of inaccessible Gore Canyon. Your mileage may differ.
Two things to know about Colorado Trout.
Cutthroat trout are recognized as one of the most beautiful trout species. Anglers from all over the world come to Colorado just to catch a cutthroat trout.
They evolved from the Pacific Rim rainbow trout. Our subspecies of cutthroats were landlocked in the Rockies in ancient times. The greenback cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii stomias) is the Colorado state fish native to the South Platte River watershed. It was thought to be extinct in 1937 until a small population was found near Colorado Springs. In 2012, DNA comparisons with museum specimens confirmed that they are the same subspecies of cutthroat trout collected following Lewis and Clark expedition. Their reestablishment is slow and painstaking because they easily cross with both rainbows (yielding cuttbows) and the other Colorado cutthroat subspecies: Colorado River cutthroat and Rio Grande cutthroat.
Check under the jaw to see if there is a distinctive red or orange slash indicating a cutthroat descendent. Catching a cutthroat in Colorado could be the peak of your fly-fishing career. It will not be a greenback cutthroat since they are just being reestablished in protected waters, but you’ll be able to take a photo showing that it is, in fact, a cutthroat.
Although an occasional cutthroat or cuttbow can be found in all of the rivers and creeks above, they are most easily found in the high alpine lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park.
If you are a serious hiker, a two-hour drive from Denver Union Station will take you through Estes Park to the Fern Lake trailhead. Take the 3.6-mile trail to Fern Lake or the longer 4.1-mile trail that branches off to Spruce Lake. Both are a 1,500 feet elevation gain to 9,555 feet over a moderate to difficult trail, but the cutthroats are plentiful and easy to catch and release. With careful planning, the locals do this in a one-day out-and-back trip. This trip is only possible when the ice has melted over the alpine lakes.
An easier trip to RMNP for cutthroats is to the Wild Basin trailhead. This 90-minute drive from Denver Union Station through Allenspark puts you on North Saint Vrain Creek and in fly-fishing author John Gierach’s stomping grounds. You can start fly-fishing from the trailhead parking lot. The fishing is technical along the overgrown banks of this wild 8,500-foot stream but bow-and-arrow casts or steeple casts will put a Parachute Adams in front of a brown, brook or cutthroat. This is a popular hiking spot for visitors from all over the world but does not get a lot of traffic from fly-fishing anglers and little if any from guided operations. Beware that the parking lots fill up early in the day with hikers.
All the fly shops and guide operations can take you to cutthroat waters if you let them know in advance. You won’t catch big fish because life is tough and food is slim at the elevations favored by cutthroats, but you will catch the most beautiful of Colorado trout.
The brown trout (Salmo trutta) are an anadromous fish introduced from Germany that now naturally reproduce in rivers across the state of Colorado. Being an anadromous fish, browns have an instinct to ascend into rivers from the sea to spawn. In landlocked states, this drive still exists and browns typically begin a migration from lakes or lower sections of a river to upper sections when the days begin to get shorter.
This biological switch is triggered during the beginning of the fall months – the shortening daylight hours and decreasing water temperature are a signal to brown trout. In addition to reproduction urges that drive their runs into the upper reaches of waterways, they also bulk up for the coming winter months. This means browns will often charge big dry flies, streamers and the occasional mouse pattern.
When the browns begin to move in Colorado they get aggressive; it is one of the most beautiful and stimulating seasons to explore the different river systems that our state has to offer. You can fly-fish and target browns on walk/wade trips or float trips via raft or hard boat.
Once the trout form redds and spawn, Colorado anglers do not target the spawning fish but fish below the redds with egg imitations for marauding rainbows in the fall and browns in the spring looking for an easy meal of washed-down eggs. Catching a spawning brown or a spawning rainbow will NOT go down well with local Colorado anglers. There are a number of Facebook groups and Instagram feeds focused on Colorado fly-fishing and Colorado tenkara fishing.
The fish of Colorado look forward to meeting you.
Special thanks to John Davenport for helping update this page and for contributing information on where to fish and trout species.
