Where to Go South Platte River – Cheesman Canyon

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Fall Hours: 9am TO 6am DAILY

Report Date: 3/21/2025

Current Conditions: 

  Spring in Cheesman can be a magical thing, and this season is starting out great in the canyon. The river has been fishing great over the last couple of weeks. The sustained warmer temps have helped get the fish a little more into eating. Fish are spreading out a bit more and starting to occupy more areas of the river. This is pretty typical for the canyon in early spring. As the water temps begin to warm a bit, the fishing will really turn on. The flows have been stable for a couple of weeks now and are currently at 153 cfs.  These are slightly above average flows for this time of year.  We could see flows fluctuate pretty good through the remainder of the winter and into spring. Denver Water uses this branch of the river for most of its water demand. If we enter a warmer and drier stretch, its reasonable to assume the flows will increase. The fish want good clean drifts, so be prepared to work!  Pay attention to all of the details right now. Water temps are in the 30's and 40's.

Surprisingly, Cheesman reservoir is currently 91% full!

Hatches: 

  As usual for this time of year, Midges are  are the staples. Focus on them in all life stages. The fish have been keying in particular bugs so make sure you pay close attention to their sizes. Its a good time to start carrying some larger or longer profiled midge nymphs now. We are starting to see some of the bigger spring midges. If you see days of low bug activity, try dead drifting smaller streamers. We should start to see the famed spring BWO's here soon!

Tactics: 

  The canyon is definitely fishing technical as usual, but the fish are letting anglers get away with a little more now. Using big indicators with bad presentation could be a recipe for disaster. Focus not only on what patterns you are fishing, but how you are fishing them. Good dead drifts right on top of the fish will be key. 5x and 6x are also a good idea. The key is getting your flies down and as close to the bottom as possible. The dry fly fishing has been decent during heavier midge hatches. A well presented midge during a hatch will take a good number of fish.

Tips: 

  While most of the snow and ice are gone from the trail, there are still areas that are a little sketchy, especially higher up in the canyon. USE CAUTION!

Weather:

Short Term-  The wind machine has been cranking as of late. There will be a bit of a reprieve in the canyon coming up. We will still see some wind but it wont be as bad as it has been. This weekend, especially Saturday, will be the windiest day. We should see winds in the 15-20 mph categories. Sunday will still be windy but not quite as bad. Temps will be in the 50's and we should see a lot of sun. Monday will be nice with temps in the mid 60's and will be kicking off a very warm week ahead. It will feel like spring next week and we will see highs in the 60's and 70's through Friday.

Long Term-  Next weekend a storm system will be coming into the high country. Right now it doesnt look like it will have a big impact here, although precipitation chances will increase. Temps will cool into the 50's as well and morning lows will be chilly. Since it still a week or so away, things could change. Longer range forecasts are lining up to show some potential storm activity at the end of March/first part of April. Lets hope this happens as all of this recent wind has really dried things out. Speaking of wind, we will be seeing quite a bit more of that this spring. 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 101% 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!

This is an area we offer guided fly fishing trips. We are one of two outfitters permitted to operate in Cheesman. There is not better way to learn an area like Cheesman Canyon than hiring one of our Orvis endorsed professional guides!

RECOMMENDED PATTERNS 

For a custom fly assortment for this location, click here! 

Our Top 6 Nymphs for Today:

• Money midge, brown, sizes 20-24
• Slim Shady, olive, size 22
• Sunny side up eggs, orange, sizes 14-18
• Wader midge, brown, size 22
• Blindside midge, purple, sizes 20-22
• Mercury midge, sizes 20-24

Our Top Dry Flies for Today: 

• Mole Fly, brown. Size 22 
• Vis a dun, black, size 20
• Parachute adams, sizes 20-24
• Iwane dun, BWO, sizes 20-22
• Sparkle dun bwo, olive, size 20

Our Top Streamer Patterns for Today:

• • Wooly Buggers, black, green, brown, Natural. Sizes 12-8
  • Baby Gonga, brown, grey. Size 6
  • Jig Streamer/leech, dark, sizes 4-8

Standard nymph rig set up for the South Platte:

Screenshot the diagram above to reference while you're out on the water!

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT OUR "WHERE TO GO" PAGE FOR DETAILED INFORMATION ON OTHER AREAS!