Share your catch
US

Clear Creek (Golden) Fishing Report

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

Clear Creek in Clear Creek Canyon Park: Jefferson County Open Space land along US 6 west of Golden, with trailheads and creek access points.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
58 cfs
Air / High
71 / 71 F
Wind
SW 19 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 06719505, 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.

Clear Creek (Golden) fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. The river is running 58 cfs, steady over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SW around 19 mph, rising pressure near 1002 hPa and a high of 71. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:39 AM-11:39 AM and 10:08 PM-12:08 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 51 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 Clear Creek at Golden, CO.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 06719505.

53616858 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 52 years of October 23

At 58 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 06719505 (Clear Creek at Golden, CO) is at the 22nd percentile for the date: below normal. In half of the 52 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 74 cfs; the highest was 174 cfs and the lowest 46 cfs.

p10 53median 74p90 100

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 06719505; 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 / 51 F
WindSW 19-28 mph
Pressure1002.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 32%
Sunrise / Sunset07:20 / 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 Clear Creek (Golden) this week

The best day on Clear Creek (Golden) 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
9:39 AM-11:39 AM and 10:08 PM-12:08 AM
Minor period
4:02 AM-5:02 AM
Sun
07:20 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 Clear Creek (Golden): 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 Clear Creek (Golden) 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 Clear Creek (Golden) 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 16 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 70 F, wind to 10 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 65 F, wind to 11 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

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 with a habitat stamp. CPW's Chapter W-1 regulation, approved in November 2025, has no special rule for Clear Creek in Jefferson County, so statewide regulations apply; some tributaries upstream in Clear Creek County carry their own rules.

Access

Clear Creek Canyon Park trailheads on US 6: Gateway, Tunnel 1, CCR (42 cars), Big Easy and Mayhem Gulch, plus Cannonball Flats.

About this water

Clear Creek in Clear Creek Canyon west of Golden, Jefferson County, CO. Flow on this page comes from USGS gauge 06719505, Clear Creek at Golden.

Fishing Clear Creek (Golden): the full guide

The canyon park

Jefferson County Open Space's Clear Creek Canyon Park follows US 6 west of Golden, with the Gateway, Tunnel 1, CCR, Big Easy and Mayhem Gulch trailheads and the Cannonball Flats access. The paved Clear Creek Trail runs beside the creek: the CCR Trailhead segment, opened in November 2025, added 1.5 miles of accessible trail and several creek access points, and the Huntsman segment is under construction through 2026.

Fishing in the park

Jeffco requires anglers in the park to carry a Colorado fishing license with a habitat stamp, and asks visitors to use caution when getting to the fast-flowing creek. Prospecting is allowed in places under Open Space rules, but not within 100 feet of structures such as bridges, steps and fish habitat improvements.

Flow

USGS gauge 06719505 measures Clear Creek at Golden; it read 52.3 cubic feet per second on Oct. 8, 2026.

Common questions

Do I need a habitat stamp to fish Clear Creek Canyon Park?

Yes. Jefferson County Open Space requires a valid Colorado fishing license with a habitat stamp.

Are there special fishing regulations on Clear Creek near Golden?

CPW's Chapter W-1 lists none for Clear Creek in Jefferson County, so statewide rules apply.

Is fishing good at Clear Creek (Golden) 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

Bear Creek7 miEvergreen Lake8 miChatfield Reservoir20 miSouth Platte River (Deckers)34 miAurora Reservoir37 miLake Granby39 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 06719505 β€” Clear Creek at Golden, CO
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 39.7420, -105.3300 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.