Three Must-Fish Fall Trout & Kokanee Runs

Winter is coming, but don't worry, some of the best fishing action of the year is about to kick off!

As the leaves begin to change each fall, a switch is flipped in the little fishy brains of the brown & brook trout, and landlocked Kokanee salmon across the US. It is spawning time, and among the primordial urges that awaken is the desire to aggressively feed! While your local trout stream should offer several weeks of hot fly fishing action, some of the biggest fish to be found will be running out of lakes and into the creeks and rivers that feed them.

Here are a few of our fall trout and salmon runs close to Denver:

Georgetown Reservoir Inlet - Georgetown, Colorado

Just 50 minutes west of Denver on I-70, you can get into brown trout 5 feet from the parking lot! Where Clear Creek winds through town and dumps into the lake the brown trout STACK UP IN THE THOUSANDS! This is not a secret fishing spot and there will be other anglers, but it is as close to a sure thing for catching trout within an hour of Denver.

The Dream Stream - Hartsel, Colorado

Photo credit to the monster trout slayers at Colorado Trout Hunter Guide Service

See the image posted above this paragraph?!? Well, this fish has friends, and some of them are bigger! The Dream Stream is located on the South Platte River between Spinner and 11 Mile Reservoirs in Park County Colorado. While the massive Brown trout and abundant schools of Kokanee are the main targets in the fall, you will also find a number of massive Rainbow and Cutbow trout moving out of the lake and into river each fall.

Gross Reservoir Inlet - Wondervu, Colorado 

An hour from Denver and just 30 minutes from Boulder, if you want to catch the big Brook and Brown trout running out of Gross Reservoir into South Boulder Creek you are going to have to work for it. If you park at the boat launch on the south side of the lake, follow the trail side west 2 miles to the inlet of the lake for massive lake run trout and Kokanee.