The Green Stimulator is an excellent fly for the Eagle. Photo by Roger Wheaton.

One of Colorado’s premier untamed freestone rivers, the Eagle, is born in the high mountain peaks near Tennessee Pass just north of Leadville. A myriad of crystal-clear snowmelt rivulets trickle down from Colorado’s Sawatch and Gore Mountain ranges, eventually combining to form this beautiful mid-size river, a “smaller version of the Roaring Fork.”

In fact, the Eagle got its name from the resident Ute Indians who said these feeder streams were as numerous as the feathers of an eagle’s tail.

The Eagle also drains the slopes of some 19th-century zinc, gold, silver, and lead mines responsible for much of Colorado’s historic past. Metallic tailings from one of those mines poisoned the Eagle’s prime trout waters in the last century, killing the trout and decimating the river’s biomass.

In 1985, Colorado initiated legal action against the Gulf+Western Company to force cleanup of the tailings from their Gilman Mine site near Minturn. In 1990, a chemical treatment plant was built to treat the polluting mine-seepage waters, putting the Eagle on the road to recovery.

Today, the river provides quality fishing for fine brown and rainbow trout that average 12 to 15 unusually powerful inches. More than a few stretch to 20 inches or longer.

Browns, along with some cutthroat and brookies, dominate the river above Wolcott. Below there, rainbows become more prominent.

THE RIVER’S ANATOMY
Some 70 miles downstream from its alpine origin, the Eagle joins the Colorado River after passing through the beautiful, wealthy Vail Valley. This picturesque river flows through a diverse environment of ranchlands, multi-million dollar mansions, expensive resort communities, scrub oak, massive cottonwoods, and sagebrush hills that contrast with stark canyon walls and distant green alpine slopes.

As summer passes into fall, multi-colored dying leaves paint the various softwoods in a spectacular salute to nature’s beauty.

Headwaters
The headwaters above Minturn contain nice pocket water and beaver ponds that hold smaller 10- to 12-inch brown, brook, and rainbow trout, as well as a few natives.

Pollution caused the greatest damage to the Eagle in the water from Gilman down to the Gore Creek confluence. Today, this part of the river has recovered dramatically and holds mostly medium-size browns. These 8- to 14-inchers seem less affected by the pollution than the other trout species. The upper section is characterized by beautiful runs, sparkling riffles, and rambunctious pocket water.

Middle Section
The middle section, from the confluence down to the town of Eagle, increases in size significantly from the flow out of Gore Creek. Brown trout continue to dominate, but rainbows become more prominent in this section. Deep holes characterize the upper part of this section down to the town of Avon, where the river begins to widen.

Afternoon rainstorms may muddy the river below the confluences with Alkali and Milk creeks, making the Eagle unfishable for a period of time. If you find murky water, you can move upstream above these creeks, and the river will be clear.

Lower River
The lower river, from Eagle to the Colorado River confluence at Dotsero, deepens and the river bottom becomes silted as well. Willows and undergrowth along the bank also hinder fishing. This section is difficult to wade. It’s best fished by floating as long as flows allow, and that’s usually well into July. This stretch of deeper, lazier water holds larger fish than the upstream sections.

Always a rough-and-tumble river marked by frequent passive runs and holes, spring runoff turns the Eagle into a discolored torrent from early May into late June or early July. It’s floatable during this high-water period, but summer’s lower waters almost demand wade-fishing, except for the lower section. The river is popular with recreational rafters during the runoff, but post-runoff low water gradually stymies the “rubber hatch” that afflicts many other rivers.

Some Class IV rapids along the Eagle make float-fishing a hazardous undertaking. I highly recommend float-fishermen utilize local guides for float trips.