Fishing Report | Colorado River | Fly Fishing Outfitters

Fishing Report For:
March 27th. 2023

One of the most famous river in the state, the Colorado River, is also probably the most diverse fishery as well. The section of the Colorado we fish and guide starts above the town of Kremmling and extends to the Rifle area west of Glenwood Springs – roughly 80 plus miles of floatable and wadeable river.

A fisherman caught a fish and is trying to pull her out with his fly fishing rod while his colleague is trying to keep the boat steady

A man holding a fish caught with march brown on streamer

Kid is in the boat with his guide who is holding a brown trout they caught on a hopper fly

Trout head with open mouth seen from close.

The Royal Wulff | A great dry fly for prospecting, it can be fished in slow or fast water | Fly Fishing Outfitters

An experienced fisherman is teaching young boy essentials of fly fishing.

Many miles of the upper Colorado make its way through some of the most scenic areas in the entire country and can only be accessed by boat or hiking in. Large Browns and Rainbows as well as some native Colorado River Cutthroats inhabit this majestic river.

The Colorado is a great terrestrial river during the warmer Summer months when big fish are looking for a grasshopper falling from the banks. Spring and Fall are Streamer seasons on the “C”, that’s when we like to throw large double streamer rigs on 6 – 7wt rods for the big Pre-spawn Browns in fall and Rainbows in spring.

If you are mystified by the whole streamer program, then it’s time to get on board by taking advantage of our off-season guide rates and get out with us.

3/27/2023– The upper Colorado river from Pumphouse to Horse Creek is till icing off and usually takes a couple weeks for the bugs and fish to get active. The upper Colorado doesn’t really begin to fish good until April due to the cold water temps.

However the Colorado below Glenwood Springs is a great winter/spring Trout river. There is a lot of wading access as well as float fishing opportunities. Floating the Colorado below Glenwood Springs is very good this time of year. There’s a March brown hatch down there that we fish with size 12-14 Mayfly imitations. The Colorado at Dotsero has opened up and although a little off color it should be starting to fish well.

The spring Streamer fishing can be crazy fun too. Although there aren’t as many Trout per mile on the lower Colorado, the opportunity is there to catch the fish of a lifetime. CDPW has shocked Trout in the 10-15 pound range during their surveys. This is a favorite float for many of our regular guests during the spring and fall.

The Brown Trout are in full spawn so please respect the Redds and let them do their thing. There are ample opportunities for wade and float fishing on the Colorado as most of the river flows through public lands. There are more than 100 miles of trout water on the upper C. Our guide staff is the most experienced in the Vail valley for the last 30 years! We are also available to book trips on short notice. Call 970-845-8090

Recommended Patterns:

Nymphs: Prince nymphs #10-14, Pats Rubber Legs Black/brown #8-14, Red/Black Copper John’s #12-16, Two Bit Hookers, Black #14-18 Newbury’s Alt Rocker Black, Blue #12-16 Pardigons #12-16 Frenchies #12-18 Pheasant Tails(#12-18), Jiggy PT #12-16 Eggs

Dries: Parachute Adams #12-16 Royal Wulff #12-14,

Streamers: (#16-22) Tequily (#2-6) Mongrel Meat(#2) Cheech Leach(#2) Sex Dungeon’s Olive, Black, Purple #2-4, Gaiski’s Jig Leech (#12-16) Buggers White, Black, Olive live #8-12 Autumn Splendor #4-8 and any other big ass streamers you can think of.

Get the App, Get the Map.

Avenza Maps® uses your device’s built-in GPS to locate you even when you are out of range of a network or internet connection. BLUE GPS DOT follows you wherever you go so you always know where you are on the map. Get the free Avenza PDF Map App.

Maps are highly detailed including all Federal, State, County and City public fishing access lands along with boat put-ins, take-outs, river miles, insect hatch charts and more. Drop pins/placemarks to mark your favorite locations or fishing holes. Add notes to your pins like insect hatches, water clarity, water temperature and more. Snap photos with your camera and geo-tag to one of your pins/placemarks.

Click here to download the free Avenza PDF Map App for Iphones
Click here to download the free Avenza PDF Map App for Androids

Discounted Bundles available.

After downloading and installing the free Avenza Map App, open the app, store tab, in the Location, Keywords, Activity grey search bar type FFO and enter. You will now see all of the mobile fishing maps available for purchase and download.