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Blue Mesa Reservoir Fishing Report

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

Colorado's biggest lake: kokanee salmon central and lake trout that eat them.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
57 / 60 F
Wind
WSW 10 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 382847107120401, 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.

Blue Mesa Reservoir rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. Today brings cloud cover, wind WSW around 10 mph, rising pressure near 1009 hPa and a high of 60. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:47 AM-11:47 AM and 10:15 PM-12:15 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pikeGood

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perchGood

Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 50 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 walleye 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 BLUE MESA RES WEST OF DRY GULCH NEAR SAPINERO, CO.

No recent gauge reading

USGS 382847107120401 has not returned a reading for this chart; it comes back when the gauge reports again. Until then conditions are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp57 F
High / Low60 / 41 F
WindWSW 10-19 mph
Pressure1009.4 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain97% cloud, 56%
Sunrise / Sunset07:26 / 18:19
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 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 Blue Mesa Reservoir this week

Today is the pick of the week on Blue Mesa Reservoir, at 3 out of 5.

Best day this week: today, Oct 23 β€” fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
9:47 AM-11:47 AM and 10:15 PM-12:15 AM
Minor period
4:10 AM-5:10 AM
Sun
07:26 to 18:19
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 20 mph
Rain chance
56%

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

Species guide

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

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

When to come: the Blue Mesa Reservoir 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
Walleye
Smallmouth bass
Northern pike
Yellow perch
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 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 Blue Mesa Reservoir 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. Walleye led the card at good. High of 52 F, wind to 14 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 57 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 63 F, wind to 10 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

Kokanee 10/day in season. Lake trout: review current CPW rules: harvest encouraged some size classes.

Access

Elk Creek, Lake Fork, Iola, Stevens Creek ramps (inspection stations mandatory).

About this water

9,180 acres on the Gunnison, Gunnison County, CO. Curecanti NRA, impounded 1966. Colorado's largest lake.

Fishing Blue Mesa Reservoir: the full guide

High-country big water

Blue Mesa holds Colorado's largest kokanee salmon population: summer trolling with dodgers is a family tradition: and the lake trout that grew fat on them (state-record class) haunt the depths. Rainbows and browns work the shorelines: at 7,500 feet, the seasons compress and the scenery distracts.

Kokanee capital of Colorado

Blue Mesa's kokanee run Colorado's biggest salmon program: summer trollers pull dodgers and pink squids at 30-60 ft over the Sapinero basin, filling smokers statewide. The fish school hard: find one on the graph and circle: limits come in flurries.

Lake trout heavyweights

The same cold depths grow Colorado's record-class lakers: 40-plus-pounders eating planted kokanee. Winter jigging through ice near Dillon Pinnacles and summer deep-trolling both produce: a trophy program that coexists uneasily and spectacularly with the salmon.

Common questions

When is Blue Mesa kokanee best?

July-August for trolling numbers: fish at prime size before the fall spawn run up the Gunnison. Early mornings before the canyon wind is the program.

Wind, water, and access math

Blue Mesa's canyon geometry funnels afternoon wind like a turbine: the fleet fishes dawn-to-noon and surrenders the whitecaps. Shore access along US-50 is generous (Iola flats, Sapinero pull-offs) for bank-casting spoons at cruising rainbows and browns spring and fall. Check reservoir elevation before hauling a big boat: drought years strand ramps and reshape every launch plan.

Do I need an inspection at Blue Mesa?

Yes: mandatory mussel inspection before launch at all Curecanti ramps. Arrive with a clean, drained, dry boat and the process takes minutes: budget for the queue on summer weekends.

Is fishing good at Blue Mesa Reservoir 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

Taylor River24 miUncompahgre River31 miRidgway Reservoir34 miSan Miguel River55 miRoaring Fork River62 miTwin Lakes62 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 382847107120401 β€” BLUE MESA RES WEST OF DRY GULCH NEAR SAPINERO, CO
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2022-10-28 at 18:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 38.4714, -107.2113 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.