Five cfs and a wildfire: the 2026 season
If you are reading this in 2026, the short answer is to wait. On July 13 Colorado Parks and Wildlife asked anglers to stay off the Dolores below McPhee Dam to Bradfield Bridge from noon to midnight each day, citing flows of only 5 cfs, high water temperatures and closures tied to the Ferris Fire, and the closure is still listed as ongoing. Duranglers in Durango put it plainly in its current report: the lower Dolores had serious setbacks this year from low water and the fire, fishing probably will not be great at 5 cfs, and it is worth waiting until next year.
Above the reservoir it is not much better. Telluride Outside's September 8 report says the upper river lost its 40 cfs release from Groundhog Reservoir and was running about 32 cfs through the town of Dolores, a historically low flow, with smallmouth and a few kokanee showing near town.
What McPhee took and gave back
The tailwater exists because of an irrigation project. Duranglers reprints the history from Fly Fishing Southern Colorado: from the 1930s so much water was diverted toward Cortez that the river often ran dry below the town of Dolores in summer. McPhee Dam, completed in 1983, sends water to the bean fields north of Cortez, and when cold releases began that year the state stocked 10,000 fingerlings each of brown, rainbow and Snake River cutthroat trout.
The fishery has lived or died on release decisions ever since. Minimum flows were once set at 78, 50 or 20 cfs depending on the reservoir forecast. In 1990 the gates were held at 20 cfs for more than 100 days, and 40 to 60 percent of the trout died before flows were raised to 50. A committee of federal and state agencies, water users and Colorado Trout Unlimited then moved to a pool of water released on a variable schedule, which the book describes as producing a better river with less water: roughly 30 to 40 cfs in winter and 70 to 90 cfs in summer, with spring anywhere from 50 cfs to as much as 5,000.
Eleven miles to Bradfield Bridge
CPW's 2026 regulations cover the Dolores from McPhee Dam downstream approximately 11 miles to the Bradfield Bridge: artificial flies and lures only, and every trout must be returned to the water immediately. Duranglers and RiverReports both round the stretch to 12 miles. Above McPhee, from the West Fork confluence down to the reservoir's standing water line, the only special rule is a kokanee snagging season from November 15 through December 31.
The canyon itself is easy to get around. The Duranglers account describes a wide sandstone canyon with piñon and juniper on the walls, low gradient and easy wading, many shallow riffles and slow turns, and not much pocket water. At summer flows the holding water is scattered, so plan to walk a lot of river. It says hatches are strongest near the dam and grow sporadic lower down, and that most fish run 12 to 16 inches with some over 20.
Why the Slick Rock gauge reads high
No USGS gauge on the hub's list sits in the catch-and-release water itself, so this page uses the Dolores near Slick Rock, well downstream of Bradfield Bridge. Its drainage area is 1,434 square miles, which includes everything that reaches the river below the dam, so it reads higher than the release and lags behind changes. In late September 2026 Slick Rock showed about 63 cfs, while CPW's closure notice described the tailwater at only 5 cfs in July.
The 50 to 90 cfs band is the release range the shops quote for good summer fishing: RiverReports calls 50 to 90 cfs fishable summer water, 30 to 40 cfs tough winter lows, and 100 to 200 cfs higher releases that are good for streamers. Slick Rock's own record since 1997 lands in the same place, with median monthly flows of about 70 to 85 cfs from June through August. Use it as a trend, and call Duranglers for the actual release.
Tiny olives, long leaders
RiverReports describes the Dolores as fishing more like a spring creek than a typical tailwater: slow, clear and technical, with leaders of 12 feet or more and 5X to 6X tippet. The Duranglers account calls blue-winged olives the most consistent hatch, strongest in spring and fall, and by late September they are down to size 24 and carry the fishing through November. PMDs come off late in the morning in midsummer, caddis are important but unpredictable, and green drakes show briefly.
Terrestrials fill summer. The Duranglers account recommends ants and beetles from 10 to 16 all season and big hoppers from June into mid-fall along the banks, and notes that large numbers of dace and sculpins make streamers worth fishing any time. Cloudy days are generally best.