South Platte River: Eleven Mile Canyon

As a result of elevated Dream Stream flows and Eleven Mile Reservoir sitting at 102% capacity, Eleven Mile Canyon flows are gradually rising. As of today, flows are at 200 cfs but will likely rise a bit more. Water is spilling over the dam, so there’s some color in the upper section immediately below the dam but it hasn’t negatively impacted fishing as there’s plenty of visibility. Aside from a brief cold front in the forecast this weekend, healthy flows and warm weather have and will bring on strong hatches and great dry fly fishing. Midge and caddis dry fly patterns will get attention during the morning. During the early afternoon, BWO imitations will bring trout to the surface. Think Parachute BWOs, Hi Vis BWOs and Last Chance Cripples. We tend to have more success fishing a single dry fly rather than a double setup but if you have a hard time tracking small midge and mayfly patterns, lead with an Elk Hair Caddis. It’ll help you track your flies and encourage takes as well. Sub-surface, larger attractors and emerger/pupa patterns are where it’s at. Lead with a Leech, worm, caddis larva, stonefly nymph, baetis nymph or a general searcher/attractor. Mercury Black Beauties, Top Secrets, Sparkle Pupas, RS2s and Mercury Baetis will serve you well in the trailer position depending on the time of day. Pronounced pools, runs, pockets, riffles and outer seams are all holding trout right now.