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Clear Creek Fishing Information
Town Section - near Golden, CO
The Town Section of Clear Creek is a good place to fish with the family, or get away for an hour or two when you’re short on time but gotta catch some fish. It sees a fair bit of pressure from a variety of anglers, but any angler who can make a drag free drift with some flies that are close enough to the hatch should be able to find some trout.
Nearly all rainbows and browns ranging from 4 – 14 inches, the town section holds quite a few fish and during the spring and fall months when other recreational activity is lower on the creek, you can have some pretty good days. Even early winter on mild years can stay open providing a quick get away and time on the water.
When possible, fish a dry dropper set up and make sure to fish all the likely areas. You won’t need many drifts in the same spot to find trout or not, so make 1-2 good casts to each line or pocket and if nothing comes, move up a few feet and try the next spot. The angler who sits in the big holes and just makes the same cast all day won’t find many fish in this creek. Cover some water, and hunt every spot for the hungry trout willing to take your fly.
If you have to fish in summer, be wary of water temps getting too high (above 66) during the hot summer days and stop fishing before 2pm. Usually at this time anyway the fishing gets tough as the tube hatch is going strong and between the waders, dogs running into the water and tubers and kayakers, there is little room to cast in peace. Early in the am and late in the evening is best. Overcast days anytime of the year can produce some strong hatches and fun fishing for small trout near town.
Take a look at the river on days where time is short or if you’re taking your kids or family out with you as there are plenty of parks, ice cream shops and restaurants nearby to keep everyone happy.
I’ve always had best luck with flashier bugs on clear creek. Rainbow warriors, flashback pheasant tails and the like seem to produce well. I’ve heard from many others that red is a popular color as well if you’re unsure where to start. These are a bit anectodal in their advice and I recommend to instead, get a bug seine and figure out what insects are active to match the hatch.
If you find no bugs in your seine or hatching around, use the advice above.
Fish: Some Small-Sized Fish
Popularity: High
Difficulty: Medium
Accessibility: Easy
Best Techniques: Dries & Nymphs
Best Seasons: Spring - Fall
River Type: Small Freestone
Fish Types: Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout
Dog Friendly: Yes but Leashed
Located in the South Platte River Basin near Golden, 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
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)
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.
I’ve always had best luck with flashier bugs on clear creek. Rainbow warriors, flashback pheasant tails and the like seem to produce well. I’ve heard from many others that red is a popular color as well if you’re unsure where to start. These are a bit anectodal in their advice and I recommend to instead, get a bug seine and figure out what insects are active to match the hatch.
If you find no bugs in your seine or hatching around, use the advice above.
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 Clear 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.
Clear 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.
