Arkansas River Fishing Report | Mid September, 2025

Michael Atwood
Sep 17
3 min read

September 17, 2025

Arkansas River Flows

Leadville (Empire Gulch): ~86 cfs

Granite (below): ~187 cfs

Browns Canyon/Nathrop: ~275 cfs

Wellsville: ~360 cfs

Twin Lakes Release: ~15 cfs

Turquoise Res. Release: ~3 cfs

Clear Creek Res. Release: ~40 cfs

Arkansas River Fishing Report:

The Latest:

Recent and consistent rains have had flows up slightly, and even had the river off-color pretty often downstream of Salida. The little river (South Arkansas) has been off color and has impacted the clarity downstream. It has since cleared up mostly and is only a little bit off at this point, and the fishing is quite good in Bighorn Canyon. Our afternoon blue winged olive hatches are back! Look for those little baetis mayflys to hatch, particularly on overcast afternoons. This is always a personal favorite hatch, as it seems to bring many fish up to the surface to rise on adults. Midges are back on the menu as well. There are still grasshoppers down in the Bighorn Canyon, so a hopper-dropper rig is still going to be effective. It is important to continue to fish the river thoroughly, and don't skip over the shallow/faster riffle water. Most of my nicest catches lately have come out of quick-moving water. When the bwo's are really hatching, you'll find a lot of rising fish in the slower seams and runs. So keep your eyes peeled!

Shop manager, Michael, with a nice rainbow out of Brown Canyon this past week.

General Arkansas River Fishing Report and Tactics:

It might be time to start getting familiar with your nymph rig again. Nymphing will certainly bring more fish to the net this time of year, outside of any prolific hatches (bwos). I like to pair two nymphs together, separated by about 2 feet. The first fly will be a larger tungsten beaded (sz 16-18) CDC style nymph, and trailing behind that a smaller tungsten beaded (sz. 18-20) perdigon style nymph. My favorite colors for flies right now are olive and any natural tan/brown.

Trout can be a bit more selective, and your presentation will matter much more than the specific fly pattern that you have tied on. Start to think about using fluorocarbon tippet when fishing subsurface, in the 5X to 6X size range. Finer tippet, and longer sections of that fine tippet, will improve your presentation. Presentation matters (usually more than specific fly pattern)! Master your drift and your mending to get the best results out there.

Alpine Lakes and Streams:

Things are starting to wind down in the high country! There is still some time to get up at high elevation and chase cutthroat/brookies/grayling, but lots of high lakes will start to become icy/frosty in late Sept/early October. Fish can be a bit low energy when the water temps start to cool off. Fishing through the warmest part of the day can help you find the most active/feeding fish. A terrestrial dry/dropper setup is a great way to rig up, or a simply nymph rig suspended right on a major depth change or drop off. You better get it while you can, or we will have to wait until next July!

Spinney Mtn and Antero Reservoir Fishing Report:

It is starting to feel like Fall out on the stillwaters in S. Park. We are starting to see some early signs of staging/spawning behavior from the brown trout. Soon they will begin to move into the shallow areas closer to shore. For now, nymphing under and indicator with chironomids/callibaetis/balanced leeches/eggs will probably be your best bet. The hard part is finding where fish are congregated, and getting your depth just right. If you can find a hot spot, you might just have an exceptional outing. If all else fails, this is a good time to year to strip streamers as well. Predatory and territorial behaviors are kicking in, and you can get some explosive takes on streamer patterns.

Stillwater in the Fall is not easy, but it can be rewarding with opportunities for real trophy colored-up trout!