It might feel like summer, but that's not necessarily a good thing for anglers eager to sling off cabin dust.

The last we looked, it was still March. This is prerunoff season, when Colorado rivers are supposed to behave. But some have grown suspiciously unruly almost two months ahead of schedule.

Others are so cold that anglers have been shocked to find sluggish trout, if any trout at all.

"People come in here thinking it's summer, but it's not summer to the fish," said Mitch Vogt of Cutthroat Anglers, hard by the Blue River in Silverthorne.

Experienced trout fishers can deal with cold currents. They have learned to drift weighted nymphs and zen out until the days when trout start rising.

But runoff in March is something else. In three weeks, the statewide snowpack has shrunk to 79 percent of average, from 91 percent.

All that melted snow has to go somewhere. In fact, during the past week, runoff flows have washed out the lower Roaring Fork River and the entire Colorado River from Hot Sulphur Springs through Rifle.

"If this isn't runoff, it's . . . close," said Bob Streb of Fly Fishing Outfitters in Avon, whose guides and clients were bumped off the lower Roaring Fork by murky flows.

"It has to be prerunoff," said Tim Heng of Taylor Creek Fly Shop in Basalt.

He confirmed the Roaring Fork was washed out downstream from the Crystal River.

On Tuesday, the Fork flowed 868 cubic feet per second at Glenwood Springs. The Colorado ran dense with mud and ice chunks near Kremmling.

Downstream of Glenwood Springs, the Colorado pushed a stout 2,730 cfs.

Luckily, the fish scouts offer river anglers some options:

ARKANSAS RIVER: "Nymph fishing has been great," said Bill Edrington of Royal Gorge Anglers in Cañon City.

Water temperatures warm to 48 degrees.

Golden stonefly and blue- winged olive mayfly nymphs have been active, along with free- swimming caddis larvae. The first BWO hatches should perk when skies turn cloudy.

Low-elevation runoff has been "intermittent, but not bad," Edrington said.

FRYING PAN RIVER: "There's been good midge action in the afternoons," Heng said.

No BWO hatches yet, but seldom crowds, either.

The flow from Ruedi Dam is a clear, stable 148 cfs.

EAGLE RIVER: Clear currents rule through Wolcott. "But then there are (runoff) problems," Streb said. The river is chilly, in the upper 30s. But fish are taking black and gray midges, Prince Nymphs and RS2s.

CHEESMAN CANYON: Flows from Cheesman Dam are a little dirty, but the low visibility is no big deal, said guide Kay Dushane of The Hatch Fly Shop in Pine Junction.

"I think it's muddy because the lake is turning over, but it's fishing well," she said. "I suggest you go with big flies, up to No. 14."

BLUE RIVER: Vogt said anglers can fish the Silverthorne town stretch or make a run for the Williams Fork, which is low but fishing well. He said the Blue is dirty downstream from Green Mountain Dam.

As for that roiling gunk elsewhere, he trusts it's not a sign of early summer.

"I think it's a prerunoff," he said. "I don't think winter's over yet."

dentrye@RockyMountainNews.com

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