Solitary Lake Fishing in Eagle County, Colorado

• Overview

  Solitary Lake sits in Eagle County, out in Colorado. The setting is mixed forest. Surface area runs to about 8 acres — small enough to read in one session. Supplies mean a trip to Gypsum, 23 miles off. Boulder is the closest city, 98 miles away. More in the same country: Mud Lake (1 mile), Muskrat Lake after 1.1 miles, Road Lake (1.2 miles), Keener Lake after 1.9 miles and Bailey Lakes (2 miles). It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Solitary Lake

  Depth figures are not published for this one. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Survey and observation records for Eagle County include brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout and cutthroat trout. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. On Solitary Lake the first feature you find is usually worth a session.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Typical July readings run about 52°F; by January the average is down near 15°F. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. After late May the shallows warm and the fish move up. Averages suggest open water from about late May through to roughly early November. Right after break-up, and again as the nights sharpen, is when to go. Plan around that when you fish Solitary Lake.

• Tackle & Baits

  No access rule appears in what we hold. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. A phone call first saves an afternoon. Check whether bait restrictions apply before you buy any. Should this one be busy, Mud Lake is 1 mile off. What applies at Solitary Lake may have changed since it was mapped.