Dunckley and Dubeau Reservoir Fishing in Routt County, Colorado

• Overview

  Dunckley and Dubeau Reservoir falls in Routt County, part of Colorado. The water sits 8,947 feet up. Surface area runs to about 7 acres — small enough to read in one session. Hayden lies 16 miles from the water. Further out sit Craig (24 miles) and Steamboat Springs (26 miles). This one is safely inside the county line. The character changes with the season more than with the year.

• Where to Fish on Dunckley and Dubeau Reservoir

  We hold no depth figure for this one. Inflow corners move water, and moving water gathers fish. Built water gives depth close in, which suits a bank angler. County-wide records name brook trout, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, mountain whitefish and mountain sucker. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. The near bank of Dunckley and Dubeau Reservoir is often the one people ignore.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate records put July near 60°F and January near 19°F. The freeze arrives properly here and holds. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from late April. Ice usually gives way near late April, and forms again about late November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. The season on Dunckley and Dubeau Reservoir rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Nothing in the way of made access shows up nearby: no ramp, no car park, no path. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. If the gate is shut, Shaffer Reservoir at 0.3 miles is the nearest alternative. None of that is settled for Dunckley and Dubeau Reservoir in what we hold.