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Report Date: 3/18/2025

Current Conditions: 

ANTERO IS ABOUT 80% ICE FREE!

Its looking like ice off is coming early this year. Antero has lost most of its ice over the last 4-5 days and is now about 80% ice free. The fishing has been good along the existing ice lines for fish cruising for those early season meals. Its been beyond windy though and thats made for some tough conditions.

Hatches:

Early season stillwater (ice off) there are not many bugs active. Midges are active but not on a large scale yet. Its a game of eggs, scuds, leeches, and some chironomids right now.

Tactics:

At ice off, most of the fish will be cruising very tight to the shorelines. You wont need to cast far right now and will likely be fishing pretty shallow. Focus on the edges of the ice.

Tips:

Dodge the wind! Try to focus on the times of the day where there will be less wind. Keep your casts rather close to shore. Think more parallel to the shore. The clarity is off a bit but you still mat be able to see some fish cruising and sight fish them.

Weather:

Short Term-  Temps have been pretty warm, but we have seen a ton of wind up here (everywhere for that matter) The next 5 days will be extremely windy and challenging. Today we will have a quick front move through the area. We could see some brief precipitation, but it shouldnt amount to much and be pretty short-lived. Temps will cool today and tomorrow and we will again see lows in the teens through Thursday. Friday looks like the nicest day, although there will still be some good wind. This upcoming weekend will be extremely windy with highs in the 40's.

Long Term-  Looking ahead, some very nice weather is on tap for us next week. The best news is that the wind should calm down as well! Temps will be above seasonal averages and in the 50's and maybe even 60's. Longer range forecasts are still showing a system coming through the state at the very end of March. Its too far out to tell exactly what will happen, but the forecasts are all starting to agree that something will happen. For the sake of our snowpack and the overall situation, lets hope its something significant. We are getting too warm too fast this early spring.

Despite the recent warm weather and wind, we have seen some higher elevation storms in the South Platte basin. Our snowpack is holding strong. This basin is one of the strongest in the state actually and is sitting at 102% of average as of today. As we roll into spring we will have longer days, a higher angle of the sun, and a lot of wind. This combination can start to decrease the overall snowpack at a good pace. With our biggest snow months historically on the horizon March and April), lets hope we can keep building this for our summer water. Snow now means water later, and we can use all we can get!

NOW BOOKING STILLWATER TRIPS FOR SPRING 2025. WE ARE FILLING UP FAST!

This is an area we offer guided fly fishing  trips. Angler's Covey is home to some of the best and most passionate anglers in the area.  Ice off can be one of the most exciting times of the year to fish stillwater. If you would like to try your hand at  stillwater fly fishing, give us a call! You wont be disappointed.

RECOMMENDED PATTERNS
For a custom fly assortment for this location, click here!
Our top 6 nymphs for today-
  • Sunny side up eggs, all colors
  • Slapshot scud, orange-grey, sizes 14-16
  • Flashtail egg, orange, sizes 14-16
  • Mini leech jig, black, green, sizes 14-16
  • Frostbite chironomid, sizes 16-18
  • Balanced leech, black/green, sizes 12-14
Our top Dry flies for today-
  • N/A
Our top Streamer patterns for today-
  • Dungeon, white/natural, size 4
  • Double Gonga, yellow. Size 4
  • Meat whistle, white or lighter, sizes 2-8

 

 

Antero Reservoir is a shallow reservoir with healthy plant life and more scud shrimp than you can shake a hook at. Because it is so loaded with these protein-rich scuds the trout feed on, their growth rate is significantly higher than fish in most other reservoirs within a reasonable driving distance. So if you have an appetite for catching large and beautifully colored Rainbows and Browns, consider Antero.

This is an area we specialize in and are permitted to guide, so give us a shout if you have any questions or if you are interested in allowing one of our Orvis-Endorsed guides show you how best to conquer Antero Reservoir.

Interested in Booking a Trip?

Distance - 73.2 miles - 1 Hour 20 Minutes