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Bear Creek Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Sep 4, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Denver’s backyard trout stream: forty minutes from downtown, Bear Creek’s canyon pockets hold browns that ignore the traffic above.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
7 cfs
Air / High
86 / 87 F
Wind
ENE 11 mph

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

Satellite view
Friday
4
September 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 is in transition: bait on the move and predators following. The river is running 7 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 11 mph, rising pressure near 1002 hPa and a high of 87. Water sits around 54 F for the season (estimated). With the last quarter, the solunar majors run 5:39 AM-7:39 AM and 5:39 PM-7:39 PM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutGood

Blue-winged olives and midges on soft seams; streamers on overcast days move the better fish.

Brown troutGood

Pre-spawn aggression: this is streamer season for the fish of the year.

Tomorrow: Similar at 85 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Sep 5, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Water and weather

Live readings from Bear Creek above Evergreen.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06710385.

916247 cfs08/0508/1508/2509/04

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp86 F
High / Low87 / 64 F
WindENE 11-18 mph
Pressure1002.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 7%
Sunrise / Sunset06:32 / 19:27
MoonLast Quarter, 50%
Water temp (seasonal)~54 F est.

Bite planner

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

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Next 7 days

Tap a day for the detailed outlook.

Fri Sep 4 · Showers, 87/64 F, wind 16 mph, rain 7%

Fair or better. A 16 mph breeze puts a working chop on the banks it hits: fish the wind-blown side.

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

Best: Apr-Jun, Sep-Oct

The workhorse of western rivers: riffles, seams and dry-fly eats. Blue-winged olives and midges on soft seams; streamers on overcast days move the better fish.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Best: Sep-Nov

Wary, predatory and nocturnal by preference. The big ones eat streamers. Pre-spawn aggression: this is streamer season for the fish of the year.

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
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 54 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovSep, ~54 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, Sep 3

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at good. High of 85 F, wind to 20 mph.

Wed, Sep 2

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at good. High of 83 F, wind to 18 mph.

Tue, Sep 1

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Rainbow trout led the card at good. High of 79 F, wind to 16 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 license. Artificial flies and lures only on some park reaches: check CPW and Jefferson County signage. Standard limits elsewhere.

Access

Jefferson County parks: Lair o’ the Bear, O’Fallon, Corwina, Little, and Dedisse: all with lots off CO 74. Evergreen Lake has separate access.

About this water

A foothills trout creek from Mount Blue Sky’s drainages through Evergreen to Morrison, Jefferson County, Colorado, inside a corridor of public parks.

Fishing Bear Creek: the full guide

The front-range escape hatch

Bear Creek drains Mount Blue Sky’s foothills through Evergreen and a winding canyon to Morrison, giving the Denver metro its closest legitimate trout water. It is small: hop-across small in places: but the gradient builds endless pocket water, and the brown trout population is wild, self-sustaining and surprisingly stout for a creek this size. Lair o’ the Bear and the chain of Jefferson County parks put most of the good water inside a public corridor.

Small-stream tactics

This is short-line country: a seven-foot rod, a single dry or a dry-dropper, and enough stealth to keep your shadow off the pools. Attractor dries (Humpies, small Chubbies) carry summer, with caddis and yellow sallies in the mix from June. The browns hold exactly where the textbooks say: current seams behind boulders, undercut banks and the shaded tailouts. Winter pushes fish into the few deep pools, where a slow midge gets looks on warm afternoons.

Flows and the urban factor

The Evergreen gauge typically runs 20 to 80 cfs through the season: the creek fishes well across that range and blows out briefly after summer cloudbursts. Evergreen Lake’s dam warms and settles the water below town. Weekends bring hikers, dogs and tubers to the parks: fish early, fish weekdays, or walk further from the trailheads than the crowds will: fifteen minutes of walking buys real solitude.

The park ladder

From top to bottom: Evergreen Lake itself (stocked rainbows, easy bank access), the creek through downtown Evergreen, Dedisse Park, Lair o’ the Bear, O’Fallon and Corwina parks in the canyon, then Bear Creek Lake Park on the plains with its warm-water mix. Each has parking and trail access: Lair o’ the Bear is the consensus best stretch of trout water.

Common questions

Are the trout stocked or wild?

The canyon browns are wild and self-sustaining. Evergreen Lake and some easy park reaches get stocked rainbows that spill into the creek.

Can I fish it after work?

That is its purpose in life: summer evenings fish well past seven, and the canyon parks are under an hour from most of Denver.

How does it handle runoff?

Being a foothills creek, runoff is short: high and off-color a few weeks in May-June, fishable most of the rest of the year.

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
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