Top 5 Colorado Rivers Fishing This Week | July 2026

The East River – Crested Butte is currently flowing at 72 cfs (normal) with a rising trend. Flows are fishable today. Water Temperature: 59°F (prime). The Verdict: Excellent Conditions This week’s forecast shows temperatures ranging from 64-82°F. Calm winds make indicator nymphing more effective.

Insect Activity: The East sees the coolest air on this list — low 80s rather than the mid-90s the Western Slope is getting — and the water is holding right where trout want it. Caddis carry the morning and evening on a size 14 Elk Hair Caddis, with PMDs in size 16 through midday and a size 20 Griffith’s Gnat for fish sipping in the flat water. Hoppers are worth a look along the meadow grass once the sun is up, but with storms firing at 85% odds most afternoons, the reliable window is early.

Where to Fish: At 72 cfs this is low, clear, spooky water — lengthen your leader, drop to 5X or 6X, and stay off the skyline as you work the undercut banks and meadow glides. The Roaring Judy Wild Trout section is artificial flies only with a 2-fish, under-12-inch limit, and the hatchery outlet down to Roaring Judy SFU closes August 1st, so this is your last week there. Fish the morning and be walking back when the thunderheads build.

Gear Tip: Start with a streamer rig in softer edges. Switch to a two-fly nymph rig and a yarn indicator as flows settle. A 9-foot 5X leader with light tippet keeps the rig natural in these flows.

Presentation: Start shallow, then add weight or depth as you move into deeper runs and pockets. Use longer drifts to cover tailouts and seam water.

Regulations: Artificial flies & lures only

The Gunnison River is currently flowing at 339 cfs (normal) with a rising trend. Flows are fishable today. Water Temperature: 60°F (prime). The Verdict: Excellent Conditions This week’s forecast shows temperatures ranging from 68-86°F. Calm winds make indicator nymphing more effective.

Insect Activity: Gin-clear and holding prime temperatures, the Gunnison through town is the most forgiving water on this week’s list. Yellow Sallies are the pattern to have — a size 14 Yellow Sally Tung Nymph dead-drifted, or a size 16 adult in the faster broken water — with a size 12 Squirmy Worm producing deep through the runs. Midges in size 20 fill the afternoon gap, though with highs near 88°F you want to be wrapping up before the water starts climbing.

Where to Fish: Real volume at 339 cfs with genuine depth in the runs — work the seams and deeper bends from the bank or the shallow inside edge. From the East/Taylor confluence to the US-50 bridge it’s artificial flies and lures only, browns must be 16 inches with a 2-fish limit, and rainbows go back immediately. Start at first light: this clear water gets harder to fish as the sun climbs.

Gear Tip: Start with a streamer rig in softer edges. Switch to a two-fly nymph rig and a yarn indicator as flows settle. A 9-foot 5X leader with light tippet keeps the rig natural in these flows.

Presentation: Start shallow, then add weight or depth as you move into deeper runs and pockets. Use longer drifts to cover tailouts and seam water.

Regulations: Artificial flies & lures only

The Roaring Fork River is currently flowing at 310 cfs (normal) with a falling trend. Flows are fishable today. Water Temperature: 53°F (prime). The Verdict: Excellent Conditions This week’s forecast shows temperatures ranging from 76-94°F. Calm winds make indicator nymphing more effective.

Insect Activity: Here’s the week’s best trick: this stretch sees the hottest air on the list at 97°F, yet holds the coldest water at 53°F, because the Fryingpan dumps cold Ruedi Reservoir water in at Basalt. That buffer keeps fish active when everything else shuts down. Caddis larva in size 16 and a size 12 Green Weenie are moving fish subsurface, with a size 8 Kaufmann’s Stone worth swinging through heavier water.

Where to Fish: At 310 cfs there’s real push here, so pick your crossings carefully and fish the inside seams rather than trying to reach the far bank. Start near the Fryingpan confluence where the cold water enters and work down — the further below Basalt you go, the more the water warms through the afternoon. Artificial flies and lures only from Upper Woody Creek Bridge to the Colorado confluence, 2 trout at 16 inches minimum. Even here, carry a thermometer: 97°F air will move the needle by late day.

Gear Tip: Start with a streamer rig in softer edges. Switch to a two-fly nymph rig and a yarn indicator as flows settle. A 9-foot 5X leader with light tippet keeps the rig natural in these flows.

Presentation: Start shallow, then add weight or depth as you move into deeper runs and pockets. Use longer drifts to cover tailouts and seam water.

Regulations: Artificial flies & lures only

The Colorado River is currently flowing at 193 cfs (normal) with a falling trend. Flows are fishable today. Water Temperature: 57°F (prime). The Verdict: Excellent Conditions This week’s forecast shows temperatures ranging from 66-84°F. Calm winds make indicator nymphing more effective.

Insect Activity: CPW has voluntary closures posted on the Colorado from Red Dirt Creek through Glenwood, but this upper stretch below Granby is a different river — cold, gin clear, and fishing well. Yellow Sally adults in size 16 are the highlight along the faster canyon water, backed by a size 14 San Juan Worm and size 16 Caddis Larva down deep. Highs near 87°F give you a longer productive window than most of the state gets this week.

Where to Fish: Byers Canyon is pocket water — short, precise drifts behind boulders and into the slots, not long mended presentations. At 193 cfs wading is manageable, but the canyon rock is slick. Two overlapping special-regulation zones cover this corridor, with a 2-trout limit through the Windy Gap stretch and catch-and-release water below, so read the signs at your access point before you keep anything.

Gear Tip: Start with a streamer rig in softer edges. Switch to a two-fly nymph rig and a yarn indicator as flows settle. A 9-foot 5X leader with light tippet keeps the rig natural in these flows.

Presentation: Start shallow, then add weight or depth as you move into deeper runs and pockets. Use longer drifts to cover tailouts and seam water.

Regulations: Artificial flies & lures only; Catch and release required

The Boulder Creek is currently flowing at 33 cfs (normal) with a stable trend. Flows are fishable today. The Verdict: Excellent Conditions This week’s forecast shows temperatures ranging from 71-89°F. Calm winds make indicator nymphing more effective.

Insect Activity: Boulder Creek is the one Front Range option on this list, and the only one without a live water-temperature reading — with highs hitting 94°F, carry a thermometer and check it yourself before you commit to a session. At 33 cfs the fish are spooky and the bugs are small: size 22 Griffith’s Gnats and size 22 Sparkle Duns for the slicks, a size 18 Elk Hair Caddis on the riffle edges. Ants and beetles earn their keep once the sun is high — a size 20 Parachute Ant tight to the bank grass beats anything flashy in water this thin.

Where to Fish: Stick to the plunge pools and pocket water in the canyon above town, where standard statewide regs apply, and dead-drift a size 12 Pat’s Rubber Legs under a small dry. Below Eben G. Fine Park it’s artificial-only and catch-and-release — good technical water, but its low elevation means it warms fastest of anything here, so fish it at dawn. Private property lines the upper canyon tightly; fish only from the public pullouts along Boulder Canyon Trail.

Gear Tip: Start with a streamer rig in softer edges. Switch to a two-fly nymph rig and a yarn indicator as flows settle. A 9-foot 5X leader with light tippet keeps the rig natural in these flows.

Presentation: Start shallow, then add weight or depth as you move into deeper runs and pockets. Use longer drifts to cover tailouts and seam water.

Regulations: Two distinct sections with different regulations. Canyon section (Boulder Canyon / BOCOROCO gage area upstream of city limits): standard Colorado statewide regulations apply —…