Where to Go Spinney Reservoir

Open 9 am to 6 pm Daily

Report Date: 9/18/2026

Spinney Boat Ramp Closure - The North Boat Ramp is closed to trailered launching due to low water levels. Spinney Mountain Reservoir remains open to hand-launched, motorized vessels.

CPW’s official Spinney Mountain Pike Management Tournament is underway and continues through September. It’s heavily affecting how the lake is being fished. Because sampling showed a dangerous spike in northern pike preying on young trout, CPW is offering cash prizes to remove them.

Conditions:

Spinney is currently sitting at 34% of total capacity. Very low! Access is tough, but as surface temperatures drop heading into autumn, large rainbow, brown, and cutthroat trout move out of deep summer basins to aggressively patrol shallow weedlines, gravel points, and the inundated river channel inlet. The water is clear, meaning cruising fish will spot harsh line slaps or unnatural movement quickly, but surface wave action provides excellent cover for stealthy approaches.

Weather:

Short-Term -

Highs reaching low-to-mid 60s Fahrenheit. High-elevation conditions bring freezing, crisp mornings followed by bright sun and predictable afternoon winds blowing across the open valley.

Long-Term -

Daytime temperatures hover in the 50s and low 60s Fahrenheit with overnight lows routinely dropping well into the 20s. Cold nights continue to drive down water temperatures, triggering pre-winter feeding frenzies along shallow margins during overcast afternoons.

Hatches:

Mornings bring steady midge hatches in calm coves and protected weed pockets. Midday shifts toward active aquatic life within the weed beds, including dense populations of freshwater scuds, damselfly nymphs, water boatmen, and backswimmers. Overcast windows trigger localized olive mayfly hatches along windward shores.

Tactics:

Unlike river fishing, tactics here rely on horizontal coverage along structure transitions. Target the windward shores where wave action concentrates drifting food, focusing on the boundary lines between dense weed beds and open gravel bottom. Deploy long, light fluorocarbon leaders with slow-intermediate sinking lines or static indicator rigs set precisely above the top of the submerged vegetation. Retrieve leech, scud, or damselfly patterns with long, slow draws followed by extended pauses to let the flies hover in the strike zone.

Tips:

Do not avoid the wind; target the banks where the breeze is blowing directly into the shore, as wave action dislodges crustaceans and masks leader entry. Concentrate early morning efforts near the western inlet where cold inflow creates a distinct feeding corridor, then transition to southern gravel points as the sun warms the shallow weed flats.

Photo by Josh Heney

NOW BOOKING STILLWATER TRIPS FOR 2026! KAYAK, FLOAT TUBE, OR WALK/WADE. EXPERIENCE OUR WORLD-CLASS STILLWATER WITH ONE OF OUR EXPERTS!