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Lower Boulder Creek Fishing Information
Town Section - near Boulder, CO
Boulder Creek is one of the more enjoyable streams to fish that are close to town. This section in particular flows right through town and has a ton of easy access and hundreds of little brown trout to catch. From Arapahoe all the way up to Eben G Fine Park, you can catch eager trout on dries, nymphs and streamers in every likely spot. These fish, though they see more and more pressure these days, still remain fairly easy to catch. If you learn to watch you backcast, you can land a lot of little brown trout in this river. If you try to stick to your traditional overhead cast, you’ll find more trees than fish.
There is an easy walking path right along the river and there is an abundance of holes, runs and riffles. Don’t overlook any of the water as you’ll find fish are spread out well through the entire river. Dry Droppers are best for most of the year, though nymphing does best in early winter and early spring. The creek freezes over most years in Jan – March, but if the temps warm up you can find some fish even in the dead of winter in the holes.
This sections only weakness is the tube hatch of college kids that float down the river from 10 am to 9pm daily it seems during June to August. When the flows drop, the tubers find more rocks than water and start to give up. For this reason the best seasons are spring and late fall to fish this river and early morning before the college kids are up. The fish don’t seem to mind the tubers but it can be frustrating in certain sections to be interrupted and other sections are better to fish when the tube hatch is strong.
Recently there have been some larger cutbows up to 16” in the river that came in from the flood in 2013. They live up next to Boulder Library in the most popular section to fish. Large dry flies and big streamers will coax these fish to your net. The entire river is catch and release in town so please practice catch and release especially during spawning times and if you catch larger fish. Fish above 14” are a prize in this river and should be released safely and quickly using our catch and release guidelines.
Fish: Many Small-Sized Fish
Popularity: High
Difficulty: Easy
Accessibility: Easy
Best Techniques: Dries & Nymphs
Best Seasons: Spring - Fall
River Type: Small Freestone
Fish Types: Rainbow Trout, Cutbow Trout, Brown Trout
Dog Friendly: Yes but Leashed
Located in the South Platte River Basin near Boulder, CO
Fishable Seasons & Current Weather
The best seasons to fish this river are Spring - Fall. See the current weather reports for the next 5-6 days listed below for the nearest city.
Knowing what flies to use is only have the battle. You have to know when the insects are active on the water and when it's likely the trout are feeding on them. Refer to our hatch charts below to understand when the insect categories and some of the possible hatches on the river.
Midge Hatches
Midges hatch year round, but their importance is from September through winter into April. During the warmer months, the trout often focus on larger insects as they are more active on the water like mayflies, caddis and stoneflies.
Aside from Blue wing olives, mayflies are active most commonly from May to August in Colorado. There are many different mayfly hatches found on most rivers and the most common are listed below.
Blue Wing Olive: September throut winter to April
Colors: Green/Olive
Sizes: #16-24
Pale Morning Dun: June to Mid September
Colors: White, Yellow
Sizes: #14 - #20
Green Drakes: June to August
Colors: Olive/Green
Sizes: #8 - #14
Caddis Hatches
Caddis hatch starting early in May and continue to the end of October.
Colors: Olive, Green, Yellow, Tan, Orange, Brown and Black.
Sizes: #10 - #20
Stonefly Hatches
We have some great stonefly hatches in Colorado and while not all rivers carry all species of salmonflies, you can often fish stonefly adult patterns with confidence from May to September. Start off in bigger sizes and get smaller till September hits (size 8 - 16)
Little Black Stone: January to May during warm sunny days.
Colors: Black, Grey
Sizes: #16 - #20
Yellow Sally Stonefly: Mid June to August
Colors: Yellow, Tan
Sizes: #12 - #18
Terrestrial Activity
Terrestrials don't hatch since they are out of the water, but they can have importance starting in Mid April and ending in September.
These are the the top flies we sell for this river. Use the hatch chart above to know what flies you will want to have in your fly box during your adventure on the river and then select the flies here 30 days before your trip to get them at a great price. All of our flies are hand tied to each order to ensure quality and to keep our prices low for you.
Click on a fly below to select a size and color for purchase.
Our fly assortments make fly selection easy. We take our entomology knowledge and years of fly fishing experience on these rivers to bring you the right fly patterns, including the correct colors, sizes and quantities to set you up for success. A good selection of flies will prepare you properly for anything the trout may be eating on the river and our fly assortments are specifically curated to maximize your success. Take a look at the assortments we provide below and add one to your box today. Use coupon code AST50 for $50 off and free shipping on these as well, just to help make fly fishing a little more affordable!
Click on any of the pictures to see what flies, colors and sizes we recommend in each assortment.
View our access map for the Lower Boulder Creek and learn public and private access points as well as other notable features around fly fishing this river. We include headwater and confluence data and in an effort to not "hotspot" river access points that are better than others, we list every access point available. This serves two purposes. First, it keeps us from hotspotting, which is just showing the best spots and bringing unwanted and harmful attention to the specific access point. The second reason is while we want to help you catch fish and find great places to explore, we don't want to spell it all out for you. If you get it all spelled out, we're doing the exploring, not you. Missing out on the journey of exploring places to fly fish is one of the more enjoyable aspects of fly fishing. While not everyone has time to go explore everything in person, we provide some of the top level data to help you know if something is worth your time, then pass it off to you to explore and find your own adventure. Now enjoy the info, if you're on this page then this river is worth exploring! Go out and find some memories.
Lower Boulder Creek Tips & Resources
Use these epic resources to get ready for your adventure. Whether you're planning your trip, learning your insects, improving your fishing with expert tips or getting detailed resources from the USGS streamflows or DoW, we got you covered to help you find the river and find the success you want.