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Bear Creek Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Bear Creek: a Jefferson County foothills stream below Evergreen Lake, where CPW allows only flies and lures and requires rainbow trout to be released.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
12 cfs
Air / High
71 / 71 F
Wind
SW 15 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06710385, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Bear Creek fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. The river is running 12 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind SW around 15 mph, rising pressure near 1003 hPa and a high of 71. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:07 PM-12:07 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutExcellent

In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 55 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Colorado requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $57.63 for residents. What a Colorado licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing rainbow trout here? Check the size and bag limits with CPW before you keep anything. The season dates for Colorado, read off the agency, are on the Colorado seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Bear Creek above Evergreen.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06710385.

10141712 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 42 years of October 23

At 12 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 06710385 (Bear Creek above Evergreen) is at the 10th percentile for the date: below normal. In half of the 42 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 18 cfs; the highest was 80 cfs and the lowest 6 cfs.

p10 12median 18p90 34

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 06710385; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp71 F
High / Low71 / 55 F
WindSW 15-28 mph
Pressure1002.8 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 32%
Sunrise / Sunset07:19 / 18:10
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Bear Creek this week

The best day on Bear Creek this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:07 PM-12:07 AM
Minor period
4:02 AM-5:02 AM
Sun
07:19 to 18:10
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 19 mph
Rain chance
32%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Bear Creek: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Rainbow trout illustration

Rainbow trout

Spring and fall in most lakes; rivers fish year-round while the water stays cool

A cold-water trout native to Pacific drainages from Alaska to Baja California, now stocked in most states and fished in rivers, tailwaters and lakes. In cold water rainbows use the deepest pools in rivers (Vermont), so slow, deep drifts there are the usual approach; Michigan DNR notes lake rainbows are also taken with bait or by jigging through the ice.

When to come: the Bear Creek calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Rainbow trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Bear Creek today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 69 F, wind to 19 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 71 F, wind to 14 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 11 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Colorado requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Colorado fishing license. CPW special regulation, base of Evergreen Lake dam to Bear Creek Reservoir: artificial flies and lures only; 2 trout (other than rainbow trout and cutbows); all rainbow trout and cutbows released immediately.

Access

Lair o' the Bear Park (Jefferson County Open Space), 22550 State Highway 74, Idledale; the Bear Creek Trail continues west through Denver Mountain Parks.

About this water

A foothills stream in Jefferson County, Colorado, flowing through Evergreen Lake and down the State Highway 74 canyon past Idledale to Bear Creek Reservoir.

Fishing Bear Creek: the full guide

Special regulations

Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Chapter W-1 rules (approved Nov. 13, 2025) cover Bear Creek in Jefferson County from the base of Evergreen Lake dam downstream to Bear Creek Reservoir: fishing is by artificial flies and lures only, the bag and possession limit for trout other than rainbow trout and cutbows is two fish, and all rainbow trout and cutbows must be returned to the water immediately.

Lair o' the Bear Park

Jefferson County Open Space says Lair o' the Bear Park, at 22550 State Highway 74 in Idledale, is a visitor favorite for its picnic tables and for fishing Bear Creek. The Bear Creek Trail runs from the park to Denver Mountain Parks' Pence Park, a 12.6-mile round trip through three adjoining Denver Mountain Parks to the west.

The flow gauge

Flow on this page comes from USGS gauge 06710385, Bear Creek above Evergreen, which sits upstream of Evergreen Lake and of the special-regulation reach.

Common questions

Can I keep trout from Bear Creek below Evergreen Lake?

Two trout a day, but not rainbow trout or cutbows, which must be released at once under CPW's special regulation.

Is bait allowed on Bear Creek?

Not between Evergreen Lake dam and Bear Creek Reservoir: CPW limits that reach to artificial flies and lures.

Where can I get to the creek?

At Jefferson County's Lair o' the Bear Park on State Highway 74 in Idledale, where the Bear Creek Trail follows the creek west.

Is fishing good at Bear Creek right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Evergreen Lake5 miClear Creek (Golden)7 miChatfield Reservoir13 miSouth Platte River (Deckers)28 miAurora Reservoir32 miTarryall Reservoir36 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06710385 β€” Bear Creek above Evergreen
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 39.6650, -105.2570 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 8, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 8, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.