Fly Fishing Breckenridge Area?

[vanven]

I am heading out west in a couple of weeks with the family for a vacation. I will have an opportunity to take my fly rod along for some fishing. Not a ton but enough to get me motivated for the drive. Anyone have suggestions for fun locations to hit?

I will likely be dragging along a brother in law or two so I would like to avoid super technical mountain streams and stick to easily accessible waters. Any suggestions on a decent area fly shop also?

-Jerod

[ness]

Nothing's more easily accessible in Breckenridge than the Blue River. It runs right through town, and the road into town (Highway 9) follows it (as they usually do in the mountains). There are several places to access: just outside town is a park; there are pulloffs along the road too. It'll be a little early in the season, and runoff will still be pretty high, but I suspect you could still catch fish in through there. It'll be a nice diversion if you're just trying to squeeze in some fishing time on a family vacation -- which is exactly what I was doing. Never made it into the local fly shops. Good luck.

In town it gets a little crowded:

In park:

This is just outside town, and fished very well. Those are mine tailings along there.

There are lots of these:

Didn't really want to turn this into my photo album, but wanted to give you the pics of what's there since I have them handy. Feel free to PM me

[Smalliebigs]

Ness is correct the Blue is the closest and the best. I lived in Silverthorne for two years when I worked for Dopplemeyer installing the new quads and gondolas at Keystone and A Basin. If you want to avoid the crowds and the poor fishing in Breck follow the Blue down stream or North thru Frisco into Silverthorne and further.The fishing gets better and the trout get bigger the further you get from Breck.You have to ask yourself above Dillion reservoirs or below. My condo was actually just above flood stage on the Blue and I took full advantage of that and fished it quite a bit as weather permited.Call these guys My link they are located right on the river right next to where my condo was.They are very cool and relaxed, they are responsible for me getting into flyfish at all.They can give you directions to a creek that flows into the Blue north of Silverthorne, at the confluence is a great area that none of the tourist even begin to know about.There is also a great creek that flows down Buffalo Mountain which is the first really round looking peak that you see when you come out of Eisenhower tunnel.This creek flows into the Blue right at HWY 70 in an industrial looking area but, if you follow that creek back up the mountain it holds so many nice trout that are easy to catch, plus the scenery hiking up the creek is friggin crazy, just make sure you are in shape, it goes back up the mountain fast and can be tough....the boys at Cutthroat Anglers will show you.There is also a really nice creek or river that flows behind the Ten Mile range out of Leadville down to Copper Mountain that has nice Browns, I forgot the name of it, I need my old map!!!!!!!!

BLUE RIVER HIT IT

[AZ_Trout]

The guys at Cutthroat can help...if they want. I've had great service there and crap service there over a 3 year window. A couple of the guys can be kinda arrogant and snotty---look for someone else.

The Blue in Breck can be good. Might be high with snow melt. A couple years back my son got a 20+ rainbow on a size 22 thread midge tan. Water was a little high in July that year. Downstream at the mall in Silverthorne can be very technical fishing but big fish ---san juan worms, mysis shrip, small midges.

A few near by lakes if rivers are still up. Or call Pat Dorsey at Blue Quill Anglers, he'll find somewhere for you.

[flyfishmaster]

Vanven

How long can you fish at any given time? If you have limited time like 4 hours or so, Ness already gave you the best option. If you have more time, then go to Silverthorn and hit the Blue below the Dillon Dam and about 2 miles out of town of silverthorn.

Shoot me a PM if you want a list of all the files I would use on the Blue.

Later,

FFM

[MOFishwater]

i know the Breckenridge Outfitters folks, solid crew and great people. My dad used em every summer when he heads out for a visit. They'll treat you right and get you on some fish. Cheers!

[vanven]

Thanks for all the great information guys!

Cutthroat Anglers was a place that I had picked out as a must stop based on their location, website, and the quality of their fishing reports. They seem to have a good grasp on the local rivers.

We have rented a cabin for a week just south of Breckenridge and the whole family (15) will be there. I know I will get at least one full day fishing with a good possibility of a couple other 4 hour chunks, so I will be motivated to get to an easily accessible spot and get my rod wet. I was assuming the Big Blue in Silverthorne would be a safe bet since it's a tailwater and the flow will likely be regulated and clear.

I fished the Dream Mile a couple years ago and will probably avoid it this trip. Although fun, I am not sure my skill level was polished enough at the time to fish it properly. It was much more technical than your standard wade in a spot and fish tailwater. I would like to give it a retry at some point. If the trout are moving up from the reservoir it might be worth the jaunt over.

I am trying to stay flexible in planning with the temperamental spring mountain weather.

-Jerod

[vanven]

Fishing report based on the trip:

I only got to fish one day last week in Breckenridge. The water was high and most of the other rivers were blown out with spring snow melts. I fished for about 4 hours from the rec center north to the edge of town. I caught one nice 18 inch bow. That was the only take I had all morning. My first drift past him had him taking my indicator. On the second drift he took a shot at the large pheasant tail I was using as a weight/lead fly. That was about it for the fishing excitement. I was actually starting to wonder if there were even fish in the water after 3 hours without a take. It is definitely different than fishing some of the waters we routinely have access to here in Missouri.

The upper Blue in Breckenridge was nice. There have been a lot of improvements to the waterway in the city. It felt a bit manufactured similar to the upper end of Roaring River State Park. It was nice to fish in jeans while maintaining easy access to the water though. I really wanted to fish further north, but the flow in Silverthorne was ridiculously fast and high. It was not wadeable at all. My brother-in-laws took a rafting trip that started just north of Silverthorne, they finished in just over an hour. Their guide said the river was flowing at about 20 mph.

Parts of the Snake River were wadeable, but with limited time I never got a chance.

-Jerod

[ness]

Glad to hear you had some success. Given the early date, and big snowfalls in the Rockies this winter, it could very well have been a total bust. I'm hoping to get a purely-fishing trip to CO scheduled in July.

[ozark trout fisher]

Fishing report based on the trip:

I only got to fish one day last week in Breckenridge. The water was high and most of the other rivers were blown out with spring snow melts. I fished for about 4 hours from the rec center north to the edge of town. I caught one nice 18 inch bow. That was the only take I had all morning. My first drift past him had him taking my indicator. On the second drift he took a shot at the large pheasant tail I was using as a weight/lead fly. That was about it for the fishing excitement. I was actually starting to wonder if there were even fish in the water after 3 hours without a take. It is definitely different than fishing some of the waters we routinely have access to here in Missouri.

The upper Blue in Breckenridge was nice. There have been a lot of improvements to the waterway in the city. It felt a bit manufactured similar to the upper end of Roaring River State Park. It was nice to fish in jeans while maintaining easy access to the water though. I really wanted to fish further north, but the flow in Silverthorne was ridiculously fast and high. It was not wadeable at all. My brother-in-laws took a rafting trip that started just north of Silverthorne, they finished in just over an hour. Their guide said the river was flowing at about 20 mph.

Parts of the Snake River were wadeable, but with limited time I never got a chance.

-Jerod

Thanks for the report. I am also surprised you did anything given the unprecedented snow pack this year. Early June is a very unreliable time to plan a fishing vacation to Colorado. Sounds like you got super lucky and had a great time.

I am also looking forward to a Colorado fishing trip a the end of this summer (mid-August) although that will be to the Northwest corner of the state (Yampa River, Trappers Lake, Flattops Wilderness, etc.) Hopefully it will be a good time, and it should be very nice to get out of the Missouri heat for a week or so.