Where the Water Actually Is: The Upper Colorado in August 2026

Conditions below reflect gauge and reservoir readings as of August 7, 2026 — see the date on each number. Check the live gauges linked at the bottom of this post for what’s happening today.

I’ve fished the upper Colorado for years, and every summer someone says, “the river is low this year.” Usually, that’s just talk. This year, it’s true.

I want to share what I’m seeing on the gauges from Pumphouse down to Catamount, because real numbers matter more than just saying “conditions are tough.” After that, I’ll talk about what this means for fishing and when we might be able to fish all day again without risking harm to the trout.

The reservoirs upstream are the whole story.

In our favorite stretch of the Colorado River, it all comes down to water management. A series of storage reservoirs feeds the river through Gore Canyon and past State Bridge, but this year, those reservoirs are running low.

Let’s start at the top. Lake Granby was holding about 328,000 acre-feet on August 6. On the same date last year, it held roughly 505,000. That is a third of the reservoir gone, compared to a normal August. Shadow Mountain looks unchanged from last year at around 16,600 acre-feet, but that one is a pass-through pool and it always looks full, so do not let it fool you.

Come down to the Blue River. Dillon Reservoir was at 192,026 acre-feet out of a 257,304 acre-foot capacity in Denver Water’s August 3 report. That is 74 percent, against 93 percent last year and a long-run average of 98 percent for early August. Green Mountain is the one that really got my attention. It was holding about 29,500 acre-feet on August 6. Last year, same day, 114,234. It is sitting near 43 percent of what is normal for the date.

The Williams Fork is worse in relative terms. It is roughly 51 feet below full pool, somewhere near a quarter full. Denver Water banned motorboats there for the entire 2026 season because there is not enough water to float them safely.

Wolford Reservoir, which is the one that props up Muddy Creek and the Colorado late in the season, was at 28,240 acre-feet on August 7 against a 66,000 acre-foot capacity. A year ago it held 60,790. That is less than half of last year’s cushion heading into the part of the season when Wolford normally does its most important work.

Here’s why this is happening: the snow season was weak, and the summer has been hot and dry. Grand, Summit, and Eagle counties are all in the worst drought categories. That’s the whole story — there’s no more to it.

What that looks like at the boat ramp.

Flows on August 7. The Colorado near Kremmling was around 928 cfs against a long-term median of 1,020 for the date, so the top of the run is close to normal. That is storage releases doing their job.

At Catamount Bridge, the river was flowing around 960 cfs, while the median is usually closer to 1,260. The Blue below Green Mountain was at 290 cfs, half its usual median of 583. The tributaries that normally add water as you float west just aren’t contributing this year, so the river you start on at Pumphouse is basically the same river you finish on.

The water is unusually clear, and that is not good news.

Here is something you will notice the second you push off. The river is gin clear.

On the morning of August 7, turbidity at Catamount Bridge was 2.3 FNU, and at Kremmling it was 5.8. These are numbers you’d expect from a spring creek, not a big western river in August. In wet years, this water usually has a green tint from Rock Creek, Sheephorn, Piney, and all the small drainages adding sediment after storms. This year, those creeks are barely flowing. Without side water, there’s no color.

Clear water looks nice in photos but makes fishing tougher. Fish in this section can see much more than usual, and they’re already stressed from the heat. You’ll get more refusals than normal, and fish will move from shallow inside seams to deeper, broken water where they feel safer.

So what should you do? Use a longer leader — twelve feet or more — and switch to fluorocarbon for your tippet. Make longer casts and avoid drifting the boat directly over the water you want to fish. Pay extra attention to your shadow and oar noise.

Clear water and warm water call for different tactics. Clear water makes you want to use lighter tippet, but warm water means you need heavier tippet to land fish quickly. Don’t just switch to 6X. Instead, lengthen your leader and keep your tippet strong enough to land a fish in under a minute. Fighting a fish for four minutes in 68-degree water could mean it won’t survive, and no fish is worth that this year.

Temperature is the number that matters.

I’ve been closely watching two gauges, one at each end of our stretch.

At Kremmling, since mid-June, the daily maximum has crossed 68 degrees on 5 out of 40 days. It peaked at 69.8 on August 2 and has not touched 71. The last few days it has been running 65 to 66. The top of our section is holding.

At Catamount Bridge, it is a different river. Since mid-June, the daily max has been above 68 on 36 out of 53 days, and above 71 on 18 of those days. It peaked at 75 degrees on July 20. This past week, it has still been topping out right around 70.5 every afternoon.

That is why CPW put a full-day voluntary closure on the Colorado starting at Red Dirt Creek, effective July 17. Their trigger criteria are a daily max above 71 degrees, flows at or below half of average, visible fungus or stress on fish, or dissolved oxygen under 6 parts per million. The lower half of our section has been hitting the temperature trigger regularly.

To be clear, everything below Red Dirt Creek is under a full-day voluntary closure right now. That means no fishing in the morning or at any time. State Bridge, Two Bridges, and the stretch down to Catamount are all off-limits until things improve.

The water from Pumphouse down to Radium is still open for fishing, and I’m still fishing it, but only early in the morning. I get on the water at first light and finish by late morning, or even earlier if the thermometer says so. If the stream thermometer hits 68, I stop, no matter the time. If it’s 65 and rising quickly on a hot day, I quit early.

You already know the basics of fish handling, but they matter even more this year. Wet your hands, keep the fish in the water, skip the grip-and-grin photo, and always carry a thermometer. A cheap thermometer costs less than a few flies and is the most important tool you can have right now.

When do we get our afternoons back?

Here’s my take, and I want to be clear that this is just my opinion, not a guarantee.

The record at Catamount is reasonably consistent about when daily maximums drop below 68 for good. In 2022, it was August 12. In 2021, August 14. In 2024 and 2025, both August 20. In 2023, it hung on until August 29. So the historical window is roughly the middle to the end of August.

I don’t think we’ll see cooler water early this year. Flows are well below average, so the river heats up faster and stays warm longer. I expect the lower half to stay warm through most of August and not drop below 68 degrees all day until the first week or so of September, if the usual cooling pattern holds.

The upper stretch is a better option. Kremmling is already at 65 to 66 most days. If nighttime temperatures in Grand County start dropping into the 40s, which usually happens in late August, I think the section from Pumphouse to Radium will be good for all-day fishing before Labor Day.

There’s one wild card that could help us. The Climate Prediction Center’s August outlook calls for above-normal rain in western Colorado, with a good chance of monsoon storms. A wet monsoon would lower air temperatures and add water to the side creeks, helping both temperature and clarity. It won’t refill the reservoirs — only next winter’s snow can do that — but it could move our timeline up by a week or two.

Watch it yourself

Both of these gauges show water temperature, turbidity, and flow, and they update throughout the day for free. If you’re planning a float, check them the night before and again in the morning.

• Colorado River near Kremmling
• Colorado River at Catamount Bridge

I’ll keep updating this page as the numbers change.

Take care of the fish this year. There will be plenty more Septembers to come.

If you’d like help timing a trip around these conditions, a guided trip lets us pick the water and the hours based on what the gauges are actually saying that week.

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Conditions in this post reflect gauge and reservoir readings as of August 7, 2026.

Ed Weston is the Chief Fish Wrangler at Drifters Fly Fishing, a Golden-based guide service focused on getting new and beginner anglers on the water across Colorado’s Front Range and mountain rivers.