Brown Town: How to Fly Fish Colorado During the Spawn - Without Being That Angler

It’s October in Colorado, and the riverbed looks like a jewelry counter, golden leaves above, glowing browns below. Trout are pairing up on gravel, anglers are tip-toeing the line between opportunity and bad form, and every cast feels a little dangerous.

This is Brown Town in full swing, equal parts magic and minefield.

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How to Fish During the Spawn Without Crossing the Line

Spawning trout aren’t the problem.
Anglers who don’t know what a redd looks like are.

1. Know What You’re Looking At

A redd is a clean, bright patch of gravel where a pair has swept away silt to lay eggs. You’ll often see one or two glowing fish guarding it.
→ Do not cast to them.
→ Do not walk through it.
Those eggs are next season’s 10-inchers.

Instead, step back twenty feet. That soft current downstream? It’s where the freeloaders hang - rainbows, younger browns, even cutbows picking off drifting eggs and bugs. That’s where you fish.

2. Fish the Feeders, Not the Lovers

The best bite of the year happens below the action.
Target post-spawn and opportunistic fish that sit behind redds, cleaning up the buffet.

Go-to rigs:

• Egg + Midge Combo: Glo Bug (#14–16) + Zebra Midge (#22–24)
• Egg + RS2: Unreal Egg + Gray RS2 (#20–22)
• Streamer Follow-Up: Mini Leech (#10–12) after the morning crowd leaves

Use light-weight, short drifts, and let the current do the work - those fish are eating, not chasing.

3. Time Your Moves

• Morning: Cold water, spooky fish - start below riffles.
• Mid-Day: Eggs roll; nymph rigs shine.
• Afternoon: Cloud cover? Swing a small leech through deeper runs.
• Evening: Drop temps push fish off the gravel - streamer bite wakes up.

Where to Go Right Now

• Dream Stream: Peak spawn; kokanee overlap; crowded but electric.
• Eagle River: Lower valley fish on gravel, upper river still nymphing well.
• Arkansas below Salida: Active browns in riffles; great egg-midge drift lanes.
• Blue River: Clear, technical, sight-fishing heaven.

Each stretch offers world-class fishing if you fish the right ten feet of river.

Ethical Checklist (Save a Spawn, Catch a Trout)

✅ Avoid clean gravel shallows.
✅ Don’t post photos of spawning pairs.
✅ Fish behind or below active beds.
✅ Handle fish gently - they’re burning calories fast.
✅ Educate politely; every redd saved helps.

The Reward

There’s a calm power in fishing through the spawn the right way.
You’re part of the rhythm, not fighting it - a quiet observer catching trout that earned their place downstream.

And when that post-spawn hen eats your RS2 like it’s her first meal in a week, you’ll know: respect doesn’t mean restraint - it means understanding.