Overview of current conditions: August 26, 2010

Typical late August conditions prevai: comfortable streamflows, plenty of bugs and hungry trout. On some waters, emergences will be concentrated late on the bright/hot days but fish are moving to well-presented dry flies everywhere all day long right now. With the low and clear water of late summer/early fall, stealth and good drift management are the keys to hooking up steadily over the course of a day's fishing. On the high country lakes, just keep a hook in the water.

Give us a call at 970-586-2110 for up-to-the-minute reports.

Big Thompson Canyon (current flow)

Releases out of Olympus Dam have been flatlined in the vicinity of 100 cfs for weeks at this point. The summer game in the canyon is fairly simple: caddis early and late, PMDs here and there, good Rusty Spinner falls in the evenings, nymphing during the lulls, and terrestrials everywhere all day long.

RMNP Streams(current flow)

Park streams are a dream for sight-fishing dry flies to hungry trouty right now. A lot of fish are holding in the skinny water on the edges in most streams, and fish are widely scattered in the abundant holding water Park streams offer at this time of year. Wild Basin waters are still seeing emergences of Green Drakes and Red Quills, while the primary big mayfly emergence on waters in the Big Thompson drainage is rapidly shifting to the Flavileneas, a.k.a. the Lesser Green Drake or Small Western Drake. PMD emergences are starting to tail off and are concentrating late in the day on sunny days, but are still producing good flights of Rusty Spinners in the evenings. You may encounter any of a variety of smaller mayflies. Little Yellow Stoneflies are emerging are great numbers late in the afternoon, and a few Little Golden Stoneflies are still on the wing on some of the smaller creeks. Caddis are around in large numbers late in the day. When late summer days get hot and bright and emergences of aquatic insects are stifled, go for an ant, beetle or 'hopper.

Colorado River (current flow)

Trail Ridge Road is open, though roadwork up above treeline is making the trip to the west side of the park about 30 minutes longer than normal with potential delays in several locations between Many Parks Curve and the Colorado River Trailhead.

High Mountain Lakes

The fishing on high country lakes is excellent right now. While running into picky fish eating small is not out of the question -- pack the spool of 7X and a selection of #20 Parachute Adams and midges just in case -- expect high country trout to be inclined to eat just about anything you throw at them. If you need or just want to match the hatch, fish are seeing Gray Drakes, a variety of caddis, flying ants and grasshoppers, along with midges, as primary food sources on high country lakes.

For additional streamflows across Colorado visit www.dwr.state.co.us/SurfaceWater/