Where to Go Spinney Reservoir

Angler's Covey Bug of the Month 

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Photo- Covey Guide Josh Heney

SPRING HOURS 9am to 6pm Daily

Report Date: 4/28/2026

Current Conditions: 

Spinney reservoir has started to pick up a bit. The lake levels are ever so slowly increasing. This is because of the addition of water from Homestake canal. Anglers that are exploring and fishing areas they wouldnt normally fish are having the better days. This lake changes at lower levels. Get out and explore some other areas. We do expect some water fluctuations in the next month as Antero reservoir is drained. Accessing this lake with float tubes or kayaks is a great idea right now. This will help the angler get to some of those other spots and be able to cover a lot of water effectively. Spinney has had a couple of challenges early on this season. First, the lake is extremely low. This has made access a little more challenging. Be careful in sandy looking areas along the shoreline. Some of these places are extremely soft and its really easy to get stuck in the mud. Second, the usual prime fishing areas are not really accessible now. The water levels are so low, homestake cove is barely there. This will force anglers to rethink the lake. Try and target spots that have some gradient. We saw a lot of smaller fish caught on opening weekend. This has remained fairly consistent since opening.   Fishing times have varied, but the angler will want to focus more on the wind forecasts than anything. Its a good time to work the lake with indicator rigs or slow crawling flies. Be sure to start playing with your depth on your rigs now, some fish are feeding a little deeper.

Tactics:

While you can still fish pretty close to shore and shallow, dont be afraid to bomb those casts out there too!  Depth is absolutely key and will be the difference between a good day and a slow day. Depths have varied, but the sweet spot recently has been 2-4 feet below an indicator.

Hatches:

The bug life is starting to become a little more active. We are seeing some decent chironomid hatches along with the standard leech, scud, and even egg patterns bringing fish to the net. This is also a great time to focus on some baitfish patterns! (streamers)

Tips:

Work tandem indicator rigs a couple feet below the surface.

Weather:

Short Term-  Yesterday marked the start of a much cooler and wetter weather pattern. We saw some decent rain and even some wet snow fall in this area yesterday and overnight. Today will dry out a bit and high temps will be nice in the low 50's. We will see a good amount of wind today though, so the temps will feel much cooler than that. Wednesday will be another transition day ahead of a potent system that will move through the area. Thursday will be more widespread rain and snow pretty much statewide. We could see a few inches of snow fall here. This storm will taper off through the day on Friday. The weekend looks beautiful and we will see right around seasonal temps for the first part of May. Temps will be in the 50's and 60's although there will be some wind. A little break before the weather changes again.

Long Term-  Next week, we will see a return of some more frequent storms in the area. Later in the day Monday is when the next system will arrive. Precipitation chances will skyrocket again Monday through Thursday next week and we will see a good amount of precipitation. This should fall in the form of rain and sleet mostly, but we wont be surprised to see some snow as well. The high country looks to get some good snow during the next 7 days as well. While its a little too late to make a huge difference, any little bit we can get with certainly help. Towards next weekend, we will dry out a bit and temps will be right around seasonal averages.

 NOW BOOKING STILLWATER WALK/WADE OR KAYAK TRIPS!  LEARN FROM AN ORVIS ENDORSED PRO THIS SEASON!

See below for Spinney Mountain Reservoir Map, or CLICK HERE for a downloadable PDF.