Fly fishing Blue River This includes a Blue River fishing report.
Type of Stream: Freestone and Tailwaters
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery: We can get flies to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Please see the bottom of this column for ordering options.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Species
Brook Trout
Brown Trout
Rainbow Trout
Cutthroat (Snake River)
Kokanee Salmon
(Wild Trout)
Size
Medium
Location
Central Colorado
Nearest Towns
Silverthorne
Season
Year-round
Access:
Good
Non-Resident License
State of Colorado
Seasons:
You can catch trout from this tailwater anytime of the year.
Winter:
Low winter discharges provides excellent fishing all winter long.
Spring:
Releases to accommodate the spring runoff can be heavy at times in May and June.
Summer:
Summer is a great time for fly fishing Blue River due to the cold water releases and aquatic insect hatches.
Fall:
Large brown trout and Kokanee Salmon move out of Blue Mountain Reservoir upstream into the Blue River to spawn in the fall.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 & 12 ft., 5 or 6X, Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Superb Five or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Fly and Gear ordering and delivery:
Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Blue River Fishing Report – May 01, 2014. The discharges and stream levels are a little below a normal level and the water is clear. There are good Light Green Midge, Little Black caddis, March Browns and Skwala stonefly hatches taking place. Check back with us regularly. We update the Blue River fishing report weekly.
Stream Conditions: Rate: 13 Gauge Height: 0.68
Afternoon Water Temperature: 53
USGS Real-Time Stream Flow Data at Blue River
7 Day Weather Forecast: (click the link below for more detailed information)
Recommended Trout Flies:
Brown Sculpin and White Belly Sculpin and Articulated streamers, size 6/4
Black Matuka and Olive Matuka Sculpin, size 4/6
Blue-winged Olives: size 16, 18 nymph, emergers, duns and spinners
Aquatic Worms, size 12, pink, red, and others
Midges: Light Green and Red (Blood) midges sizes 20/22, larva, pupa and adult. Our larva and pupa midge flies, pre-rigged in tandem, are very popular here. You can fish them under a strike indicator keeping the larva fly near the bottom. https://perfectflystore.com/product/pre-rigged-tandem-midge-larva-pupa-tippet
Skwala stoneflies, size 10, nymphs and adults
Little Black Caddis, size 18, pupa and adults
March Browns: 12/14, nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners
Fly Fishing On The Blue River In Colorado: The Blue River is a tailwater of Dillon Reservoir. This stream is only about an hour and a half drive from the city of Denver. In spite of a lot of pressure at times, the fish population remains good and thanks to the Mysis shrimp, the size of the fish run huge. Fly fishing the Blue River is always exciting because you have the opportunity to hook a very large trout. The Blue River begins near the town of Breckenridge, Colorado. It flows for about ten miles into the Dillon Reservoir. The Blue River Tailwater is a bottom release that flows for twenty miles into Green Mountain Reservoir. Below Green Mountain, the stream flows into the Colorado River. The Blue River freestone stream near the Breckenridge area is very different from the other sections of the river. Our Blue River fishing report includes both sections. The trout probably average about ten to fifteen inches. They consist of browns, rainbows and brook trout. The Blue River below Green Mountain Reservoir has a lot of private water that rarely sees pressure. Public access is limited to right below the dam and much further downstream near the confluence of the Colorado. The section of the Blue River that is directly below Lake Dillon Dam can be fished year-round. It doesn’t freeze over. This is one of the best winter fishing locations in the state of Colorado. During the spring, summer, and fall this section of the river can become crowded. The further downstream you go, the less anglers you will usually see. There are several public access points along state Highway #9. Fly fishing the Blue River is not all trout fishing. During the Fall Kokanee salmon come up from Green Mountain Reservoir providing some great fly fishing action. Catch and Release regulations have helped make the Blue River tailwater below Dillion a better fishery. The average rainbow probably runs around sixteen inches in the Blue River. Brown trout or the brook trout don’t average quite that large, but all three species can grow very large. Ten pound rainbow trout are occasionally caught.If your not looking at the dam, you would find it difficult to tell you were fishing a tailwater most of the time when your fly fishing the Blue River. Often, it looks and acts more like a freestone stream than a tailwater.
Blue River Fly Fishing Guide: If you are seeking the huge trout that dine on the Mysis Shrimp that get through the dam occasionally, you need to concentrate on the upper couple of miles below the tailwater. The shrimp don’t get much lower downstream than about two miles. For that reason, most of the huge size trout are caught in the upstream portion of the tailwater near the dam. That doesn’t mean that large trout are not caught farther downstream. There have been some big brown trout caught in the river above Blue Mountain Reservoir when they make their fall spawning migration upstream out of the lake.The stream doesn’t look much like a trout stream around Silverthorne. You can actually cast to trout from a paved shopping center parking lot. Don’t let that fool you though because that is where most of the large trout are. Many anglers, including myself, had rather pass up the large trout below the dam for the more average sized trout downstream where the river changes its appearance from its urban look to a very scenic background. I just don’t like the ideal of fly fishing under an Interstate highway. If you fish the upper water below the dam, you will most likely need to use a nymph to catch fish. Dry fly fishing is usually not very productive in that area. You can use imitations of the mysis shrimp, of course, and you may find they are very effective at times. On the other hand, most anglers usually have less than satisfactory success with them.Around the first of June the discharges are usually increased to allow for the melting snow. You will need to keep a close watch on the flows from for the month of June. Hatches of Green Drakes, Dark Red Quills, Pale Morning Duns, several species of caddisflies and some stoneflies occur mostly on the lower sections of the river. Dry fly action usually gets good around the middle of July.Don’t forget the spawning brown trout and the Kokanee Salmon that move upstream out of the Green Mountain Reservoir during the fall. This is a good time to catch some nice browns and battle with the salmon. Nymphs and streamers will work for the salmon during the spawning run.
Blue River Hatches and Trout Flies: Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in the Blue River and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726. The hatches are few and far between below the dam. Midges are the prime insect to focus on in the tailwater for the first two or three miles downstream of the dam. Of course you also have the mysis shrimp which are concentrated below the dam for the first two or three miles. Click Here to see the Hatch Chart. As with most trout streams the most important aquatic insect is the Blue-winged Olives or baetis species. That’s because of the overall length of time they hatch. They are bi-brooded, hatching in April and about the first two weeks of May and then again in September until about the middle of October. Pale Morning Duns would be the next most important insect. They hatch starting about the first of June. The hatch last through the month of July. The water levels can affect the benefits of the PMDs during the early part of the hatch. During the same time period, starting a week or two after the PMDs, you will find Dark Red Quills hatching. The PMDs tend to hatch in the slow to moderate sections of water and the Dark Red Quills tend to hatch from the faster sections of water. The Red Quill hatch last until about the end of July. The mayfly that gets the most attention on the Blue River is the Western Green Drake. It starts to hatch about the same time as the PMDs and the Dark Red Quills or around the first of June. It is shorter in duration and only last a couple of weeks, so it isn’t exactly an easy hatch to catch. You will find the Green Drakes in the more moderate sections of water along with the PMDs. The Little Yellow Stoneflies most anglers call the Yellow Sallies, hatch during July and August. Imitations of both the nymphs and the adults can be very effective. There are a few Golden Stoneflies in the lower section of the river. From about the first of June until the middle of August you will find several species of caddisflies on the Blue River. The majority of them are net-spinning species of the Hydrosyche genus, or Spotted Sedges. There are hatches of their Little Sisters starting about three weeks later than the Spotted Sedges start coming off. Near the faster water you will find plenty of Green Sedges. The nymphs of these caddiisflies (Green Rock Worms) work great in this river. There are several other species of caddisflies. Starting in late April you will find some Brachcentrus or American Grannon activity in the lower sections of the river. This hatch can produce some great dry fly action. The Short-horned Sedges provide another good hatch of small black caddisflies during June and July. Terrestrial insects become important in late June. Fish can be taken on imitations of beetles, ants and grasshoppers up until the first frost which usually occurs around the end of September. Don’t forget to have a selection of streamers, especially if you plan on fishing the fall salmon run out of Green Mountain Reservoir. We always recommend our own “Perfect Flies” because we think they are the best flies you can purchase. We have specific imitations of everything the trout eat in the Blue River. We encourage you to check them out. We know you will be satisfied with their performance. Thank you for checking on the Blue River fishing report.