Tailwater · Mixed · Colorado

Blue River (below Dillon)

A partly frozen stretch of the Blue River tailwater near Silverthorne, Colorado, with forested mountains behind.

The Blue below Dillon is the tailwater you can fish in your lunch break off I-70 — it runs straight through Silverthorne past the outlet malls, which is exactly as strange as it sounds.

Fair · Brown Trout
Sparkle Dun · 14-18
Fairlive now
A side-water session, not the main event
Low and clear — careful approach country. Long leader, small flies, slower casts.
75% confidence
What moved it
  • Level0.26 mLast reading 21h ago
  • Water temp5.7°C
  • ClarityClear
Today's fly
SD
Sparkle Dun14-18
High-confidence seasonal pick
Conditions on the water
Live gauge
Level
Steady
0.26 m
Last reading 21h ago
Water temp5.7°C
ClarityClear
Weather14°C
WindSE 6 km/h
Pressure1021 hPa
Rain · recent1.5 mm
Rain · ahead1.7 mm

Live readings only. Trends shown where the gauge supports them.

Water temperature for Brown Trout
Cool — slow
5.7°Cideal 10–16°C
0°14°28°
How to fish it · for Brown Trout
When
Nymphing can work through most of the day.
Where
Cover mixed depths.
Method
Start with tight-line nymphs and adjust if fish rise or drift higher.
Kit
9 ft #4 rod, floating line, 12 ft tapered leader to 4–5 lb fluoro tippet.
Why this works
Good — water clarity is working for you, but water temperature is the limiting factor today.
Hatch timeline · todayQuiet day

Hatch predictions

Today's headline hatch shown — see all 2 active hatches hour by hour with Pro.

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Sub-surface · on the nymphunder the surface

Hatch predictions

Top nymph shown — see all 2 guilds with Pro.

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Beyond the hatch · worth watchingambient prey

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Evidence
ModelledModerate confidence

Modelled from regional ecology — no survey or occurrence data for this water yet.

Through the year
0–3 scale · July highlighted
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Trout seasonSeason
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
Western Blue-Winged OliveHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
Pale Morning DunHatch
2
3
3
2
TricoHatch
2
3
2
Black MidgeHatch
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2

Numbers are intensity 0 (none) to 3 (peak) — a guide, not a guarantee.

Ranked for today
Brown Trout fly box
Permits & access
Permit required — see local rules.
  • Colorado licence
  • Gold Medal / special-regulation town water — verify CPW rules
  • Mind fragmented public/private access downstream of Silverthorne.
What's coming
Plan ahead
5-day outlook
Other water nearby · 1
Colorado River — Upper (Kremmling / Pumphouse / Gore Canyon)
55 km
Brown trout · Rainbow trout
Gallery · 2
  1. A partly frozen stretch of the Blue River tailwater near Silverthorne, Colorado, with forested mountains behind.
    Blue River
  2. Terrain map of the venue
    Terrain map
About this water

The Blue below Dillon is the tailwater you can fish in your lunch break off I-70 — it runs straight through Silverthorne past the outlet malls, which is exactly as strange as it sounds. There are big fish in here, fat on mysis shrimp flushed through the dam, but they're low-water-clear-water spooky and they've been cast at by everyone who ever pulled off the highway. Below town it gets better and more complicated, with public water tangled up in private. It's a good place to preach small flies, fine tippet and stealth, and an honest place to separate 'technically fishable' from 'actually pleasant'.

  • Mixed
The full read · show the working · for Brown Trout · confidence 75%
How the 60 is built — score × weight = contribution
Temperature31 × 28%8.7
Flow80 × 22%17.6
Clarity95 × 18%17.1
Feeding Time55 × 13%7.2
Pressure80 × 7%5.6
Insect activity33 × 12%4.0
Conditions total= 60
Can you trust it?
Water temperaturelive gauge readinggauge
Level / flowon-river gaugeobserved
Prey activitymodelled from regional profilemodelled
What would change the calculation
Warmer water — toward the 10–16 °C ideal band — would lift the temperature score.
The dawn and dusk windows score higher than the midday lull.
Directions
Apple MapsGoogle Maps
Seasons & zones
  • Trout1 January → 31 December
Related guides
Euro Nymphingsubsurface methods
Booking & contacts