Early Summer on the Upper Colorado: Blues, Caddis, and Twenty-Inch Browns

Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in with your Colorado River fishing report for central Colorado. We’re rolling into a classic early‑summer pattern on the upper Colorado: cool nights, mild afternoons, and clear to partly cloudy skies. Daytime highs are running in the low to mid‑70s, with overnight lows in the 40s. Light winds in the morning, picking up to 10–15 mph by mid‑afternoon, so the best bite is early and late. No tides to worry about on this inland stretch, just river flow: expect moderately high, slightly off‑color water from snowmelt, but dropping and clearing a little more each day. First light is creeping in just after 5:30 a.m., with sunrise shortly after that and sunset around 8:30 p.m. That gives you a long window, but the prime activity is the first three hours of daylight and the last two before dark. Midday has been slower, especially on bright, cloudless afternoons. Fish activity has been solid. Anglers from Pump House down through Radium and into the State Bridge reach report good numbers of browns with a mix of rainbows. Recent trips have put a couple dozen fish to the net on float days, with wade anglers seeing 6–12 quality hookups if they stay mobile. Average trout are running 12–16 inches, with enough 18–20 inch browns showing to keep things interesting. A few mountain whitefish are still mixing in on deeper nymph runs. On the bug front, we’re in the heart of the transition: - Blue‑winged olives still hanging on during cloudy spells. - Caddis popping in the evenings. - Stonefly and PMD nymphs are a big ticket sub‑surface. Best setups right now: Lures: - Small **gold or copper inline spinners** for spinning‑gear folks, especially in the softer seams below riffles. - **1/8 oz marabou jigs** in olive, black, or brown bounced along the bottom in deeper runs. - **Small crankbaits** in natural trout or baitfish patterns through deeper slots at dawn and dusk. Flies and bait: - Nymph rigs with a **stonefly nymph** (coffee/black) trailed by a **pheasant tail, hare’s ear, or RS2** in smaller sizes. - Evening **elk hair caddis** or **X‑caddis** in tan/olive skated tight to the banks. - Where legal and appropriate, **nightcrawlers** drifted under a small float in slower eddies and tailouts are putting kids and beginners onto fish consistently. Two local hot spots to keep on your radar: - **Pump House to Radium float**: Classic fast‑to‑moderate water, lots of structure, and steady trout numbers. Focus on inside bends and any softer seam behind boulders; work them thoroughly with nymph rigs or small spinners. - **State Bridge area**: Mix of pocket water and deep runs that fishes well on foot. Slide in early, hit the shaded banks with caddis dries or small streamers, then switch to nymphs once the sun gets higher. Water clarity is sitting in that sweet “two to three feet of visibility” zone: enough stain to let you get close, but clear enough for sighty fishing in the shallows. Downsize tippet in the glassy pockets—4X to 5X—especially if the sun is high and the wind lays down. If you’re planning a trip, think stealth: long casts, light footsteps, and keep your shadow off the water. Work from the bottom of a run up, covering each lane before you move on. The folks who slow down and pick apart good holding water are out‑fishing the bank‑pounders by a wide margin. That’s your Colorado River rundown from Artificial Lure. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai. Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn