Arkansas River
near Avondale, Colorado · USGS gauge 07109500
For October 18, flow and water temperature are about usual.
These readings do not say whether fish are biting, whether there is parking, or whether the season is open. The shop reports below cover what is biting.
Arkansas River reports from local shops
Each shop writes its own report. Listed here: the date on each one and the hatches and flies it names. Their words stay on their sites; follow the link to read them.
Three local shops have posted a report on the Arkansas River in the last two weeks. All three mention blue-winged olives; two of them mention hoppers and midges; one mentions beetles, caddis, golden stones, stoneflies and terrestrials.
Before you drive
| Overnight | 40°F, wind 5 mph Mostly Clear |
|---|---|
| Sunday | 76°F, wind 5 to 10 mph Sunny |
| Sunday Night | 42°F, wind 5 to 10 mph Partly Cloudy |
| Monday | 69°F, wind 5 to 10 mph Sunny |
How this water changes through the year
Over 22 years of record, flow on Arkansas River peaks in June, when the median runs about 2,040 ft³/s, and falls to its lowest in December at around 301 ft³/s. Today's 295 is below even that seasonal low. The band on the chart is where the middle 60% of years fall, so a reading inside it is ordinary for the date and one outside it is not.
Nearby monitored waters
No water here is recommended over another. Same measurements, three closest waters.
Species
Listed by Colorado CPW for Arkansas River #3A: Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Common Carp.
The agency's list covers CPW's Fishing Atlas reach, water code 28978; the atlas lists species per reach, not per river. CPW's own stream-gage layer joins USGS 07109500 near Avondale to water code 28978. This is the lower, warm-water river below Pueblo Reservoir. CPW's upper-basin reaches from Leadville to Canon City list brown and rainbow trout; they are different reaches and are not borrowed here. The agency prints no date on the list; read 2026-09-08. Colorado CPW's water temperature guidance is a trout rule, and with no trout or salmon on this list the temperature card does not apply it here.
Access points
| Coordinates | To gauge |
|---|---|
| 38.2481, -104.3986 · near Avondale USGS gauge location. Not a listed public access point; check access before you travel. | 0.0 mi |
Sources and method
- Live
- USGS gauge 07109500, ARKANSAS RIVER NEAR AVONDALE, CO., 0.0 mi from the listed access point. Fetched 2026-10-18 07:19 UTC.
- History
- USGS daily values: flow 2005–2026, 7,940 daily values; water temperature 2005–2026, 7,640 daily values. Percentile is the share of readings within 7 days of this calendar date, across all years, below the current one (flow n=315 over 21 years, water temperature n=310 over 21 years).
- Rules
- Seasons, limits and licences are not on this site and are not copied from the agency that publishes them: Colorado CPW.
- Species
- Colorado CPW, Arkansas River #3A, undated, read 2026-09-08.
- Shop reports
- Chosen from the organic search results for “arkansas river fishing report” (Ahrefs, read 2026-10-01), keeping shops and guides and dropping social media, forums and other aggregators. Linked, not quoted, and not endorsed. Report dates, hatches and fly names read from each page 2026-10-18, by matching a fixed list of insects and patterns: a name not on the list is not shown, and a report older than 30 days shows its date only.
- Forecast
- NOAA National Weather Service, api.weather.gov, for the coordinates of the nearest access point.
Independent presentation of public data. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by the USGS, NOAA or Colorado CPW.