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Big Thompson River Fishing Report

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

Estes Park's canyon workhorse: pocket water rainbows below Olympus Dam.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
8 cfs
Air / High
79 / 82 F
Wind
SSW 9 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06741510, 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.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Big Thompson River fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. The river is running 8 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 9 mph, steady pressure near 1003 hPa and a high of 82. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:36 AM-11:36 AM and 10:05 PM-12:05 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.

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 57 F. 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 BIG THOMPSON RIVER AT LOVELAND, CO..

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06741510.

917268 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 47 years of October 23

At 8 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 06741510 (BIG THOMPSON RIVER AT LOVELAND, CO.) is at the 33rd percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 47 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 10 cfs; the highest was 263 cfs and the lowest 2 cfs.

p10 5median 10p90 151

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 06741510; 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 temp79 F
High / Low82 / 50 F
WindSSW 9-20 mph
Pressure1002.9 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 7%
Sunrise / Sunset07:18 / 18:07
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 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Big Thompson River this week

Today is the pick of the week on Big Thompson River, at 3 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” fair at 3/5, steady pressure, neither help nor hindrance.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:36 AM-11:36 AM and 10:05 PM-12:05 AM
Minor period
3:60 AM-4:60 AM
Sun
07:18 to 18:07
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 17 mph
Rain chance
7%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Big Thompson River: 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.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the Big Thompson River 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 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 Big Thompson River 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 74 F, wind to 8 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 76 F, wind to 9 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 74 F, wind to 14 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

Artificials-only, C&R stretches marked; standard bag elsewhere. Confirm with CPW.

Access

US-34 pullouts through the canyon (mind private stretches); Olympus Dam area lots.

About this water

Freestone-tailwater hybrid from Lake Estes through Big Thompson Canyon, Larimer County, CO.

Fishing Big Thompson River: the full guide

The Big T

The Big Thompson gives the northern Front Range its everyday trout fix: tailwater consistency below Lake Estes, pocket-water rhythm through the canyon, and wild browns mixing with rainbows the whole way. Small attractors and copper johns cover 90% of the year.

Canyon rhythm

The Big T's canyon fishes classic pocket water: high-stick the seams, dry-dropper the buckets, move constantly. Flood recovery (2013) rebuilt habitat deliberately: the fish counts responded, and the canyon now fishes as well as any Front Range freestone.

Below Olympus Dam

The first miles below Lake Estes run tailwater-stable: winter midging, spring baetis, summer caddis in the evening shade. Proximity to Estes Park means company: the canyon's middle miles thin the crowd for those who walk.

Canyon rebuilt, fishery reborn

The 2013 flood rebuilt the Big Thompson's canyon channel, and the recovery work engineered better habitat than before: constructed riffle-pool sequences below Olympus Dam now hold wild browns and stocked-gone-wild rainbows at big-river densities in pocket-sized water. The tailwater's first two miles fish all winter on midges; summer spreads caddis and PMD action down the whole canyon with pullout-to-pullout access along US-34.

Common questions

How did the 2013 flood change the river?

It rebuilt it: post-flood restoration engineered pools and structure that fish better than the pre-flood channel. A case study in recovery done right.

How does Estes Park's dam affect the fishing?

Olympus Dam smooths flows and keeps the upper canyon cold and fishable year-round: the tailwater reach is Colorado's most dependable winter dry-fly water within an hour of the Front Range cities.

Is fishing good at Big Thompson River right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Boyd Lake15 miHorsetooth Reservoir25 miCache la Poudre River38 miAurora Reservoir52 miClear Creek (Golden)52 miBear Creek54 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06741510 β€” BIG THOMPSON RIVER AT LOVELAND, CO.
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:30 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.3544, -104.7602 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.