Rifle Gap Reservoir

Type
Lake or reservoir, Colorado (West)
Designation
Featured sport-fishing water
USGS gauges
Lake gauge
Guides
1 nearby
Shops
2 nearby

Today on Rifle Gap Reservoir

Reading the gauge…

Regulations & access Guides & shops

Rifle Gap Reservoir is a lake or reservoir in Colorado, listed as Featured sport-fishing water by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

More about Rifle Gap Reservoir

A USGS gauge reports the lake level. 1 guide and 2 shops nearby are listed here.

Updated · Sources: CPW Quality Waters, USGS Water Data

Representative photograph of similar water; not a photograph of this place.
Representative photograph, not this water.
Where it is

Rifle Gap Reservoir is a lake or reservoir in Colorado.

Lake level now
Reading the gauges…

Where to fish

About this

Start from the agency's public access map. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Rifle Gap Reservoir on the map

About this

Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles

Map of Rifle Gap Reservoir: gauges, shops and guides

RestroomsAccess map

Map of Rifle Gap Reservoir with 1 USGS gauge, and shops and guides with an exact address within 40 miles.

Restrooms near Rifle Gap Reservoir

Restrooms near Rifle Gap Reservoir

Restrooms within 2 miles of Rifle Gap Reservoir in a straight line, nearest first, with what anglers found when they went. The map says a restroom is there, not whether it is clean or open today.

Map of the restroom near Rifle Gap Reservoir

Skip the map; every place is in the list below

Map of 1 restroom near Rifle Gap Reservoir, numbered as in the list, with the water’s point marked.

  1. Restroom

    0.7 mi away in a straight line

    Not rated yet — be the first to tell other anglers if it's clean.

    We don't know yet: is it clean? · flush or vault? · free? · open to everyone? · step-free? — tell other anglers: show the questions
    • Is it clean?
    • Flush or vault?
    • Free?
    • Open to everyone?
    • Step-free?

    Mapped on OpenStreetMap · see or fix it on the map

Restroom locations and map details: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, read Oct 24, 2026. Ratings, answers and photos are members' own; who shared them is never shown, and every photo is reviewed before it appears. Visits older than 18 months no longer count. Distances are straight-line miles, not driving. Nothing here grants access to private land. Community guidelines.

More water near Rifle Gap Reservoir

  • The Roaring Fork River in Basalt in autumn, with golden cottonwoods along the bankGold Medal Water
    Photo credit

    The Roaring Fork River in Basalt, Colorado. Photo: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Roaring Fork River

    Colorado · about 40 mi

    Rainbow & brown trout

  • The Fryingpan River just below Ruedi Dam, with the dam's outlet works upstream and a dry, grassy slopeGold Medal Water
    Photo credit

    The Fryingpan River below Ruedi Dam at the Rocky Fork day-use area. Photo: Klambpatten (with Bureau of Reclamation), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Fryingpan River

    Colorado · about 53 mi

  • The Gunnison River at the North Fork confluence, a wide riffle below dry hillsCatch and releaseRepresentative photo · not White River
    Photo credit

    The Gunnison River at the North Fork confluence, Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. Photo: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not White River.

    White River

    Colorado · about 57 mi

  • The young Colorado River meandering through meadow and spruce in the Kawuneeche Valley, with mountains behindFeatured sport-fishing waterRepresentative photo · not Yampa River
    Photo credit

    The Colorado River and Onahu Creek in the Kawuneeche Valley, Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo: KimonBerlin, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Yampa River.

    Yampa River

    Colorado · about 64 mi

  • The Taylor River running through a rocky, wooded valley in Gunnison CountyFeatured sport-fishing waterRepresentative photo · not Eagle River
    Photo credit

    The Taylor River, Gunnison County, Colorado. Photo: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Eagle River.

    Eagle River

    Colorado · about 65 mi

  • Navajo Lake's blue water and mesa shoreline seen through juniper from Navajo Lake State ParkFeatured sport-fishing waterRepresentative photo · not Elkhead Reservoir
    Photo credit

    Navajo Lake from Navajo Lake State Park, New Mexico. Photo: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Elkhead Reservoir.

    Elkhead Reservoir

    Colorado · about 69 mi

Regulations

About this

Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.

Official designation: Featured sport-fishing water

Each comes from the agency's own published list; where the list names a reach it is quoted. A designation applies to the listed reach, not necessarily the whole water.

The water on the map

About this

Measured from the NHDPlus High Resolution (flowlines and waterbodies) (U.S. Geological Survey, read 2026-11-04) for this water’s own mapped feature. Rounded figures; they describe the channel, not today’s conditions.

Surface area
241 acres
Watershed
Colorado Headwaters-Plateau

Public land along it

About this

Areas the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), public access (U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Project, read 2026-11-05) lists as owned or held in easement and open to the public, crossed by the mapped shoreline. Boundaries are mapped, not surveyed. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

4.2 of 4.2 mi of shoreline on public land

  • Rifle Gap State ParkState Fish and Wildlife · 4.2 mi

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Guides and shops near Rifle Gap Reservoir

About this

Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.

Guides

  • Harcourt Fly Fishing 3G

    New Castle, CO · 12 mi

    Float trips · Wade trips · Roaring Fork & Colorado

    • Unclaimed

    Nearby

2 shops nearby

  • Fly Water Outdoors

    Glenwood Springs, CO

    Fly shop

    • Unclaimed
  • Hookers

    Glenwood Springs, CO

    Fly shop · Guided trips · Float trips

    • Unclaimed
How these are chosen

Guides whose own website names this water come first, nearest first. After them, fly-focused guides within 40 miles whose website does not name it. Distances are straight-line.

Shops: fly shops first. A distance is shown when the shop’s website gives its location (within 60 miles); otherwise the shop is in one of the towns within 25 miles of the water.

Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories.

Species and hatches

About this

What 1 nearby guide website mention: what guides advertise, not a survey or a promise of what you will catch.

Named on 1 nearby guide website

  • Bass1
  • Northern pike1
  • Rainbow trout1

When the bugs come off

Regional hatch months: Southwest and Colorado
About this chart

1 hatch charted for the region, not measured on this water. From Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

  1. January: no charted hatch
  2. February: no charted hatch
  3. March: no charted hatch
  4. April: no charted hatch
  5. May: no charted hatch
  6. June: 1 charted hatch
  7. July: 1 charted hatch
  8. August: no charted hatch
  9. September: no charted hatch
  10. October: no charted hatch
  11. November: no charted hatch
  12. December: no charted hatch

Green drake (June to July)

How we put this together

Named by guides nearby (within 40 miles), counted from the species each guide lists on its own site. No agency page we hold lists species for this water.

Plan a trip here

About this

None of our destination hubs is within 40 miles in a straight line. The trip planner builds a trip around the water itself: the guides and shops listed within 40 miles of it, its gauges and its nearest towns and airports.

No hub within 40 miles

Gear checklist

About this

A stillwater fly-fishing checklist for lakes and ponds: a 9–10 ft 5–6 weight rod, floating and intermediate lines, chironomids and leeches, and float-tube options, with estimated prices and where to buy.

An angler stands knee-deep in a calm lake with the rod bent, playing a trout

Lakes & stillwater

9′–10′ rod, 5–6 weight, floating + intermediate lines · Rainbow, brook and brown trout in lakes

Open the checklist
Videos for this water (3)

Watch: stillwater trout basics

About this

Chironomids, leeches and where fish hold in a lake.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • Catch More Trout in Lakes Using Indicators – Stillwater Fly Fishing TipsEmbedded from YouTube · Fly Fish Food · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Stillwater Fly Fishing Is Simpler Than You Think! | Introduction to Stillwater Fly FishingEmbedded from YouTube · Fly Fish Food · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Why is this Chironomid Fly Pattern So Versatile? | Two-Toner BC Chironomid | Fly Tying TutorialEmbedded from YouTube · Fly Fish Food · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on stillwater

Fish Tales

About this

Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Rifle Gap Reservoir.

No stories from here yet.

Sources for this page

Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.

Something wrong?

All 13 sources and dates

A water page organises discovery. It does not assert public access, legal access, current fish presence, guide availability or fishing conditions.

Flows, gauge statistics and flood stages come from USGS and the National Weather Service when the page is shown. Regulations, stocking, species and season statements link to the agency that publishes them; this page copies only the species names and the quoted sentences. Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories. Position: the point for “Rifle Gap Reservoir” (reservoir) in the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Water type is our own classification.