Charlie Meyers State Wildlife Area
14 Day Forecast: Look for hatches of midges, Tricos, and blue-winged olives.
Effective Patterns: #18-22 Mercury Pheasant Tail, #20-22 Jujubaetis, #20-22 Top Secret Baetis, #20-22 Chocolate Foam Wing Emerger, #20-22 Red Larva, #20 Mercury Blood Midge, #10 Pine Squirrel Leech, #16 San Juan Worm, #20-22 Flashback Mercury Black Beauty, #18 Buckskin, #20 Mathew's Sparkle Dun, #22-24 CDC Biot Trico Comparadun, #10 Amy's Ant, #10 Hoppers, and #20-22 Parachute Adams.
Measurements
Fly Fishing Information for The Dream Stream Between Spinney & Eleven Mile Reservoirs Colorado
The lush meandering, meadow portion of the South Platte between Spinney and Eleven Mile Reservoirs is known as the “Dream Stream” or the Spinney Mountain Ranch. This beautiful 3-mile section of the Platte offers anglers the opportunity of a lifetime to catch large trout. This fabulous tailwater fishery is located in the heart of South Park, tucked between 14,000 foot snow capped peaks on the west, rich ranchland to the north and south, and Pikes Peak on the east. Spinney is a well-balanced fishery where anglers can catch trout on nymphs, dry flies, and streamers.
The river is comprised of prime trout habitat, which includes, riffles, runs, gravel bars, shelves, and undercut banks. Fly-fishers can expect to catch a mixed bag of rainbows, browns, and cutthroats in 10-18 inch range. In addition spring (rainbows, and cutthroats) and fall (browns and kokanee salmon) spawning runs from Elevenmile Reservoir are quite impressive with fish up to 10 pounds landed during a key three-four week period. Ideal flow conditions for “Dream Stream” are between 100 and 250 cfs. The regulations are flies and lures only and all fish must be returned to the water immediately.
The Charlie Meyers State Wildlife Area (commonly called the Spinney Mountain Ranch or Dream Stream) is a classic meandering, meadow stream. Anglers have the opportunity to catch rainbows, cut-bows, cutthroats, and brown trout when they fish this fabled stretch of water.
Tips & Other Information:
The outflows are currently 64 cfs below Spinney Mountain Reservoir. Crowds are a heavy right now as anglers are targeting migratory trout and salmon moving up from Eleven Mile Reservoir. Egg-midge (mayfly) combos as well as streamers will fool these lake-run fish. Otherwise, anglers should prepare themselves for reliable hatches of midges, a few blue-winged olives, and Tricos. The dry fly fishing is pretty good right now. Don’t forget about terrestrials like hoppers, beetles, and ants on the downwind stream banks. They can be deadly this time of year. Revised 9/28/26