Time: 10:45AM – 3:30PM

Location: Between Wolcott and Avon

Eagle River 10/20/2026 Photo Album

A day that began as a fall back, after water flows scuttled my plans, evolved into one of my best days of the year. I worked hard to carve out a fourteen fish day on Monday, and I was unsure whether my body could endure back to back days of fly fishing. The flows on the South Platte River in Eleven Mile Canyon were steady at 69 CFS, and fly shop reports documented decent fishing using small flies. I decided to make the two plus hour trip to Eleven Mile.

Quite a Fatty

Unfortunately, when I checked the flows on Tuesday morning, I discovered that the tap was partially closed, and the flows dropped to 49 CFS. I concluded that this would dictate tough, technical fishing, and I shifted my thoughts to the Big Thompson River. I opened the DWR site, and I was again surprised by the resulting chart. Flows on the Big T were elevated to 153 CFS. I knew from experience that this quantity of water flowing through the Big Thompson Canyon created difficult fishing conditions. What was I to do?

Major Girth

I grumbled to my wife, Jane, and she suggested the Eagle River. I experienced a so-so day there on 10/12/2026, so I was reluctant to return, but the shifting releases along the Front Range left few options. I decided to make the drive and fish the Eagle River.

A Third Large Trout from the Pool

Head of Pool Produced the Fat Brown

The two hour drive was uneventful, and I arrived at my chosen parking lot by 10:15AM. The air temperature was a chilly 46 degrees with a moderate breeze, so I pulled on my Columbia long sleeve insulated undershirt and then added my fishing shirt, my fleece hoodie and a raincoat. I slid my fleece lined long underwear beneath my waders, and I was very comfortable during my day on the river, when the temperature rose to the upper fifties.

Love These Markings

I began my day at a huge pool, where I historically encountered some very nice blue wing olive hatches. Since I began before the typical hatch period, I decided to deploy a three fly dry/dropper set up that included an amber ice dub chubby Chernobyl, a 20 incher and an olive perdigon.

Exposed Rocks and Pockets

As I was configuring my line, another angler arrived. He was perplexed that I was there, since his car was the only one at his parking pullout, so he asked where I parked. I told him my alternative spot. He was from Glenwood Springs, and he labeled himself a dry fly purist, and he made the drive to the Eagle to seek a blue winged olive hatch. I was ready before him, so I claimed the entering run, but I invited him to fish the bottom three-fourths of the pool. My plan was to nymph the head of the pool until lunch and then circle back to the tail, if a hatch developed. If a hatch was not forthcoming, I planned to migrate up the river toward the place where I parked.

Oh My. Another Big Boy.

Bank Side Dweller

Well, what transpired in the hour before lunch was a pleasant surprise. If my day had ended at lunch, I would have been very pleased. I landed four trout and three of them were spectacular beauties that stretched between fifteen and twenty inches. The three large trout were thick slabs, and I was in total amazement. Three of the morning catch were brown trout and one was a torpedo of a rainbow.

Football

North Bank Run

I retreated to a bench overlooking the pool to eat my lunch, and my new acquaintance waded to the shoreline and complained that he was cold and not adequately dressed. As I ate my lunch, I noted a few very sporadic rises in the lower two-thirds of the pool but not enough to entice me to stay; and besides, the other gentleman was present, and I invited him to fish there. It would have been impolite to reverse my offer at that stage.

Near the Boulders

I moved back to the top of the pool, and I landed another fifteen inch brown trout, as I prospected the small yet deep pockets above the long pool. In addition to the fifteen inch brown, I netted a couple browns in the twelve to thirteen inch range. For the remainder of the afternoon I progressed up the river while tossing the three fly combination in all the likely fish holding spots.

Very Respectable

Other than a lull from 1:30 until 2:30, the fishing was magical. It did not match the morning, but I boosted the fish counter from four at lunch to sixteen by the end my day. I circled around a wide and shallow riffle section and did the some for two slow moving pool areas. I was anxious to cover the narrow section with numerous deep runs and pockets, but that section coincided with my dry spell. It seemed that the fish were already seeking slower moving shelf pools and long seams between faster water and slower side pools.

Seam Inhabitant

By the end of my day I landed sixteen trout. Six stretched the tape to lengths in excess of fifteen inches, and those six were not suffering from malnutrition. They were healthy slabs that displayed the physical attributes of footballs. Two of the big ones were rainbows, and four were portly browns.

Ending the Day on This

The olive perdigon seemed to be the hot fly in the morning and early afternoon session, but the 20 incher came on strong after the afternoon lull. I estimate that half the trout nabbed the 20 incher and half grabbed the olive perdigon. By the end of the day the 20 incher was deteriorating, as the copper wire unraveled and broke off, and the peacock herl body was in a state of shredded fibers.

Tuesday was a total surprise. I was concerned that the brown trout were in spawning mode, but judging from the number of large browns of spawning age that I landed, I am certain that spawning is over or has not yet transpired. Sixteen fish made my day excellent, but six fish in excess of fifteen inches and another half dozen in the twelve to fifteen inch range moved the needle from excellent to outstanding. I suspect the number of larger fish landed on Tuesday was my best ever on a solo fishing trip in Colorado without a guide. If the weather cooperates, I will return.

Fish Landed: 16