Fishing Season: Year Around

Arkansas River Tailwater - CO

Fishing Outlook & Conditions

Water Temp:

45

Royal Gorge Anglers's Tip of the Week

Decent stable winter flows on the tailwater. Fish are holding in their normal winter locations, including seams, pockets and riffles. Midge and BWO nymphs are your winter bread and butter, but there can be some decent BWO hatches late morning too.

Directions open in app

Map of Arkansas River Tailwater

Water Flow Data

Tidal Conditions

Orvis-Endorsed guides nearby

Royal Gorge Anglers
Angler's Covey

5-Day Outlook as of 1/25/23

Low flows currently. Cold mornings and cool afternoons. Water clarity continues to be good, with at least 24" of visibility. For the coming week, we'll have pretty average highs in the 30s and 40s, lows in the teens and twenties.

Techniques & Tips as of 1/25/23

Tactical rigs with quick drop presentations. Get down in a hurry to take advantage of indicator or tight line nymphing. Morning dry fly fishing can be quite good.

Local Species Available Year Around

  • Fish Icon

    Rainbow Trout; Brown Trout

Royal Gorge Anglers's Recommended Fly Patterns

"Must-have" fly fishing patterns in descending order of importance:

Name: Colors: Size(s):
Rojo Midge red 20
Indicator Spinner - Trico black 22
Tunghead Pheasant Tail Jig natural 20
Griffith's Gnat Peacock 22
Micro Leech olive 16
Slim Shady Baetis 22
RS2 Black 24
Sparkle Dun Grey 24
Micro Leech Black 16
Trico Spinner Black 22

Rojo Midge

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Item #68Y6

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Royal Gorge Anglers's Recommended Gear

Description: About Arkansas River Tailwater

The Pueblo Tailwater has grown to be one of the more productive fisheries on the Front Range of Colorado. One of the major attributes that attracts anglers to this section of water is the winter fishery. Anglers can expect more temperate weather and more productive flows in the winter than most tail waters in the state. This fishery produces some excellent size ranges of both Rainbow and Brown Trout, with solid hatches year around. A new Catch and Release section has been placed from Valco Ponds to the Nature Center.

Nearest Airport:

Pueblo

Hatches:

Midges, BWOs,

Best Time to Fish:

10AM to 3PM

Best Stretch:

Quality water from Dam to Nature Center

Best Access:

CO Rd 96