SHOP BOARD — FLOWS POSTED WHEN THE GAUGES REPORTFREE U.S. SHIPPING OVER $49 · SHOP STATUS: OPEN — CLOSED WHEN THE WATER'S RIGHT
THE ATLAS · CO · TAILWATER

Fryingpan River

The best month to fish the Fryingpan River is January. The month to avoid is June. Right now, in August, it is worth going.

  1. January: 71 out of 100
  2. February: 71 out of 100
  3. March: 71 out of 100
  4. April: 71 out of 100
  5. May: 71 out of 100
  6. June: 63 out of 100
  7. July: 71 out of 100
  8. August: 71 out of 100
  9. September: 70 out of 100
  10. October: 71 out of 100
  11. November: 71 out of 100
  12. December: 71 out of 100
AUGUST: GO, WITH CAVEATS71/100

This gauge does not report water temperature, so the check that would rule out water too warm to fight a fish in cannot run for this month. Treat the score as flow and season only, and ask a local shop about temperature before you travel in warm weather.

WHERE IT IS
LOADING THE MAP…

GAUGE 09080400 · COLOURED BY AUGUST

THE NUMBERS

Month by month

MONTHTYPICAL FLOWRANGE (P20–P80)WATERAIR HIGHRAINSCORE
January78 cfs69–9571
February83 cfs69–12371
March96 cfs61–13771
April125 cfs69–16071
May172 cfs118–24271
June244 cfs116–40763
July205 cfs169–24571
AugustNOW254 cfs207–27971
September264 cfs213–29270
October129 cfs99–14671
November77 cfs55–9071
December76 cfs60–9371
WHERE THESE NUMBERS COME FROM

Flow and water temperature are medians of the monthly means reported by USGS gauge 09080400 over 2006-2025. Air temperature and precipitation are ten-year normals from Open-Meteo at this river’s gauge coordinates.

The window is deliberate. USGS’s own full-record statistics for a dammed river reach back before the dam — at Lees Ferry, to 1922, forty-one years before Glen Canyon closed — and describe a river that no longer exists.

Flow is scored against this river’s own fishable band of 83205 cfs. There is no universal band: 8,000 cfs is low water on a big tailwater and a flood on a spring creek.

Water temperature is a ceiling rather than a weight. Above about 68°F a trout that is fought and released frequently dies anyway, so no month above that line is scored as worth booking, however good its flow.

IF THIS MONTH IS WRONG

The Fryingpan River is at its best in January, flows near 78 cfs.

← RIVERS GOING WELL IN AUGUST

Regulations, licences and access change without notice and are not reproduced here as fact — check the state agency before you travel. A median describes twenty years; it does not forecast your week. Source: U.S. Geological Survey, National Water Information System.