Best month to fish the Fryingpan River

Month-by-month fishing quality

Why these months?

Two things decide your odds on the Fryingpan River: flow and season. You need the river in its fishable-flow band — so a freestone in spring runoff is out no matter how good the hatch would be, while a dam-fed tailwater holds shape year-round. On top of that, the hatches and water temperatures line up best in September and October and November and July, which is why those months edge out the rest. The Fryingpan River's season runs year-round tailwater; prime july–november.

The Fryingpan below Ruedi Reservoir is a jewel-box Colorado tailwater — 14 miles of cold, clear, intimate water famous for outsized rainbows and browns that gorge on the river's signature Mysis shrimp drifting out of the dam. Small, technical, and wadeable, the "Pan" rewards precise presentations with some of the biggest trout-to-water-size ratios in the Rockies, fishable year-round but at its dry-fly best from summer green drakes into fall BWOs.

Where to fish the Fryingpan River

The "toilet bowl" plunge pool right below the dam holds the legends; downstream the river is a series of wadeable pools and pocket water along the Fryingpan Road. It's small water — flows above ~900 cfs from heavy summer releases push it off, so mind the discharge.

Guided trips & lodges to book