Lake Eileen Fishing Guide, Routt County, Colorado

• Overview

  The Routt County entry here is Lake Eileen, in Colorado. It stands 10,312 feet above sea level. At 3 acres it is the sort of place you fish for an evening rather than a day. Our Routt County list holds plenty of bigger water. Head to Steamboat Springs, 30 miles away, for anything you forgot. Saratoga is 39 miles and Hayden 42 miles. There is no boundary nearby to worry about.

• Where to Fish on Lake Eileen

  Depth is unmeasured here, so let the shoreline guide you. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Open biodiversity records for Routt County list brook trout, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and mountain whitefish. The county list is broader than any single water. Treat Lake Eileen as a water to read rather than to cover.

• Seasonal Patterns

  In an average year July sits at 52°F and January at 17°F. Winter closes the water for a while, and the reopening is worth catching. Ice-out usually falls in late May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Open water usually runs from late May until about early November. Look to early summer and the first cool weeks of autumn. Keep it in mind when planning a trip to Lake Eileen.

• Tackle & Baits

  Whether you may fish here is not something records settle. Mapping shows an empty shoreline: no ramp, no jetty, no marked entry. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Should this one be busy, Gem Lake is 3.5 miles off. For Lake Eileen in particular, ask before you travel.