Colorado River
below Baker Gulch, Colorado · USGS gauge 09010500
For October 18, flow is lower than usual.
The last October 18 it ran this low was 2020, at 10 ft³/s.
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.
Colorado 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.
Two local shops have posted a report on the Colorado River in the last two weeks. All two mention blue-winged olives, caddis, midges and tricos; one mentions golden stones, pale morning duns, salmonflies and yellow sallies. RS2 is on every one of their fly lists.
Before you drive
| Overnight | 28°F, wind 2 mph Mostly Clear |
|---|---|
| Sunday | 61°F, wind 3 mph Mostly Sunny |
| Sunday Night | 32°F, wind 1 to 5 mph Partly Cloudy |
| Monday | 62°F, wind 1 to 6 mph Mostly Sunny |
How this water changes through the year
Over 22 years of record, flow on Colorado River peaks in June, when the median runs about 311 ft³/s, and falls to its lowest in February at around 8 ft³/s. Today's 13 sits between the two. 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 Colorado River #12: Brook Trout.
The agency's list covers CPW's Fishing Atlas reach, water code 19718; the atlas lists species per reach, not per river. CPW's own stream-gage layer joins USGS 09010500 below Baker Gulch near Grand Lake to water code 19718. The headwater reach inside Rocky Mountain National Park. Reaches downstream at Parshall and Radium list brown, rainbow and whitefish and are not this reach. The agency prints no date on the list; read 2026-09-08.
Access points
| Coordinates | To gauge |
|---|---|
| 40.3258, -105.8561 · below Baker Gulch USGS gauge location. Not a listed public access point; check access before you travel. | 0.0 mi |
Sources and method
- Live
- USGS gauge 09010500, COLORADO RIVER BELOW BAKER GULCH NR GRAND LAKE, 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 2022–2026, 741 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).
- 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, Colorado River #12, undated, read 2026-09-08.
- Shop reports
- Chosen from the organic search results for “colorado 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.