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Tarryall Reservoir Fishing Report

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

South Park's third wheel: Tarryall's sage-flat water fishes the famous valley's program without the famous valley's parking.

1/5
Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.
Water temp
~47 F est.
Air / High
55 / 56 F
Wind
SSW 26 mph

Sources: 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.

1/5Tough. Pick your battles.Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Tarryall Reservoir fishes cold and honest: earn your bites in the deep stuff. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 26 mph, rising pressure near 1005 hPa and a high of 56. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:40 AM-11:40 AM and 10:09 PM-12:09 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Rainbow troutGood

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 troutGood

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 42 F with likely rain: fish ahead of the front. 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.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp55 F
High / Low56 / 37 F
WindSSW 26-34 mph
Pressure1005.2 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain20% cloud, 53%
Sunrise / Sunset07:20 / 18:12
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 Tarryall Reservoir this week

The best day on Tarryall Reservoir this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 1 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€” Slow

Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Solunar majors
9:40 AM-11:40 AM and 10:09 PM-12:09 AM
Minor period
4:03 AM-5:03 AM
Sun
07:20 to 18:12
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Showers, 25 mph
Rain chance
53%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Tarryall Reservoir: 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 Tarryall 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
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 Tarryall 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. Rainbow trout led the card at excellent. High of 52 F, wind to 12 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 59 F, wind to 12 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 57 F, wind to 9 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 (+SWA habitat stamp). Standard trout limits; creek stretches check signage.

Access

Tarryall Reservoir SWA ramp and shore; creek accesses above/below.

About this water

175 SWA acres in eastern South Park, Park County, CO. The valley's quiet option.

Fishing Tarryall Reservoir: the full guide

The quiet Park water

Tarryall sits east of the Spinney-Eleven Mile axis: 175 acres of SWA water on Tarryall Creek: stocked rainbows and browns over a scud base, the South Park wind, and none of the gold-medal crowds. The valley's connoisseurs use it as the escape valve.

Working the little flat

Shore fishing rules (the SWA ramps small boats only): spoons and buggers off the dam, bait rigs on the inlet flats, and float tubes stripping leeches when the wind rests. The creek above and below (public SWA stretches) adds brown-trout pocket water: the two-water day is the spot's real card.

Seasons at 8,900

Ice-out (May) cruises fish shallow: summer mornings beat the punctual wind: October browns stage at the inlet: and the ice season (long at altitude) jigs steady if modest fish. The pronghorn and the quiet are the amenities.

SWA practicalities

CPW's State Wildlife Area rules apply (habitat stamp with license: camping in designated spots): facilities run primitive: and Jefferson or Lake George hold the nearest services. Spinney's circus sits 30 minutes west: Tarryall is its antidote.

Common questions

Why fish Tarryall over Spinney?

Solitude: the SWA fishes empty midweek while the gold-medal lots queue. The fish run smaller: the mornings run yours.

Can you fish Tarryall Creek too?

The SWA stretches above and below the reservoir hold browns in pocket water: the reservoir-and-creek double is the spot's best day.

How is the ice fishing at Tarryall?

Long and honest at 8,900 feet: December-March jigging for the stocked rainbows with South Park's wind as the entry fee. The SWA plows nothing: pack in, fish quiet, pack out.

Is fishing good at Tarryall Reservoir right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Tough. Pick your battles. Post-front sun and slick water make them sulk.

Nearby waters

Spinney Mountain Reservoir17 miElevenmile Canyon Reservoir20 miSouth Platte River (Deckers)21 miAntero Reservoir23 miEvergreen Lake32 miDillon Reservoir35 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 39.2170, -105.6170 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.