Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park

[Trevor K]

Thanks everyone for all the great info! I have experience fishing mountain streams in Utah, so I think I would feel comfortable. My wife isn't as experienced though, so thats why I was considering a guide. Estes Angler is one of them that I've been looking at.

Thats good to hear that fishing can be good in Sept. I wasn't sure about that. I'd really like to catch a greenback. I've caught plenty of colorado river cutts, several pretty nice ones. I've never fished for a greenback though.

Thanks again for all the info

[ozark trout fisher]

My wife and I are considering going on a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in September. Has anybody on here ever fished it? If so, do you have any advice as far as what to use during that time of year? I was hoping to fish without a guide, but if anybody has any recommendations for a guide service that would be appreciated too. We don't need to catch a ton of fish, but it would be nice if we didn't get skunked.

I would highly recommend the Big Thompson... I've only fished it a few times but it's been good every time I've been there.

September is a great time to be fishing in Colorado, it's probably the most consistent month.

[Scott C]

My wife and I are considering going on a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park in September. Has anybody on here ever fished it? If so, do you have any advice as far as what to use during that time of year? I was hoping to fish without a guide, but if anybody has any recommendations for a guide service that would be appreciated too. We don't need to catch a ton of fish, but it would be nice if we didn't get skunked.

One thing to be prepared for when visiting RMNP in September is the traffic jams. When living in Golden right out of college a couple of buddies thought it would be cool to go up there and see the elk bugle, apparently so did everyone else in the entire front range. The rush hour traffic in Denver was nothing compared to parts of the park that had elk moving around in it. Don't know the park all that well so don't have any advice on areas to avoid during bugling season.

[Snow Fly]

Kirks Fly Shop, down town Estes Park, Lilly Lake just outside the Park!

[10pointer]

Lily lake is where its at! well for greenbacks anyways! Had a great evening on dries there a couple years ago caught 25+ in less than a couple hours

my family has a house up in estes so i know the area well but havent been able to get up there the last year or so because of school and work.

You might want to try morraine park just inside the estes entrance RMNP, its absolutely awesome for catching a ton of little brookies and cuttys. The high mountain lakes are also definitely worth the hike especially the lake of glass hike.

Like the others have said, the big thompson and st.vrain are great places to catch some trout too!

[Chris Gates]

Like mentioned above, check out Kirk's Fly Shop. I recommend reading lots of reports, talking with a fly shop and being prepared prior to going out. Good luck and have fun!!

[Trevor K]

So we made our reservations for the middle of September. We're actually staying at Grand Lake, which is on the west side of Rocky Mountain. Anybody fished over on the west side?

[Njardar]

Kirks Fly Shop, down town Estes Park, Lilly Lake just outside the Park!

I second Kirk's Fly Shop. Kirk took me out last year for my very first time and I caught 15 fish in 4-hours. There were many more bites, but I just could not set the hook in time. Kirk is a great guy and I'm probably going to hire him again this year to learn what's effective before striking out on my own.

- Charlie

[ness]

Same stuff going on on the west side, but less people. There are places where you can catch brookies all day long, or you can try for a native Colorado River cutthroat -- first cousin to the Greenbacks mentioned earlier. Your chances of seeing a moose are greater over there. We also saw a cougar once. You should be able to find spots where you can jump over the Colorado, or you could fish bigger water for bigger fish downstream. And, don't forget to pee on the divide on your way over.

[Geoff]

I stayed in Estes Park last September and fished RMNP. We got skunked. A big cold front came in and the temps dropped 40 degrees over night and it started to snow. Fishing was very very tough. However i enjoyed it alot, so much so i want to go back. We fished all over, roaring river, fall river, glacier creek, big thompson, sprauge lake, and dream lake. we did catch fish, the last day we were there the sun came back out when i was on fall river and i was catching a bunch of browns and a single tiny brookie, which finished my grand slam. Caught greenbacks in dream lake, rainbow in big thompson and i dont know what the deal was but i missed a TON of fish. if i would have hooked each one i missed, i would have been super happy, prolley had caught 30-40 of them the trip instead of 10 or so that i did.