About
An independent fly fishing resource
AnglerTrove writes fly fishing information for US anglers: river-specific guides, educational material, planning and conditions information, and gear recommendations built around particular waters rather than around whatever is on sale.
It is independent, it is small, and it started in 2026. Those three facts shape everything below.
Why It Exists
The useful part of fly fishing advice is the part about a specific river
There is no shortage of writing about how to nymph, how to read a riffle or how to pick a tippet. There is much less about what the Fryingpan is actually like in October, which stretch of the Poudre is open right now, or why the Dream Stream fishes differently at 90 cfs than at 250.
That second kind of knowledge is what makes or breaks a day, and it tends to live in someone's head, in a fly shop conversation you had to be present for, or in a forum thread from years ago that may no longer be true.
AnglerTrove exists to write that down: one river at a time, with the source next to it, and with a plain note wherever the honest answer is that it depends or that it changes and you should go and check.
Who Runs It
One person, and no pretence otherwise
AnglerTrove is run by one person. It is not a magazine, not a media group and not a team of staff writers. Formally it operates as an independent sole proprietor based in the Philippines, which is stated the same way in the Terms and the Privacy Policy.
Being small is why the coverage is narrow and why it is researched the way it is. Fifteen rivers written properly is a realistic amount of work for one person. Fifty rivers written from a distance would be faster and worth considerably less.
Every question, correction and refund request goes to one inbox and is read by that same person. If something here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed.
What We Do Not Claim
The things a site like this usually implies
- No guide certification, and no professional guiding credential.
- No claim to have personally fished every water covered.
- No product testing claims. Where gear is recommended, the basis is stated.
- No traffic, audience or subscriber numbers, because there are none worth quoting.
- No endorsement by any agency, brand or fly shop.
- No reviews or testimonials, because none have been collected.
This list exists because the absence of these claims is easy to miss, and because a reader deserves to know which kind of site they are reading.
Coverage Today
15 Colorado rivers
Colorado is where this started, not what it is limited to. The rivers below are the ones written up so far.
- South Platte - Cheesman / Deckers
- South Platte - Dream Stream
- South Platte - Eleven Mile Canyon
- Big Thompson & RMNP
- Cache la Poudre
- Arkansas River
- Blue River
- Colorado River - Upper
- Eagle River
- Taylor River
- Gunnison - Black Canyon / Gorge
- Fryingpan River
- Roaring Fork River
- Yampa River
- Rio Grande
RiverFinn, the conditions app in development, is being built to cover 52 reaches across 5 states. It is not released, and it is described as in development everywhere it appears on this site.
How It Is Put Together
The method, since there is no track record to point at yet
A new site cannot ask to be trusted on reputation. It can say exactly how it works and be judged on that.
Written for named water
Every guide, card and question is written for a specific river and a specific section rather than for fly fishing in general.
Built on primary sources
Access rules, regulations and flow guidance come from the agencies that publish them, paired with where to check the current version yourself.
Nothing is promised
No hatch, no flow and no fish is guaranteed. Where information changes, the page says so and points at the authority that keeps it current.
Corrections are welcome
Report something wrong or out of date and it gets corrected. Buyers of an affected product get the corrected version.
How gear recommendations are decided, and how commercial links are handled, are set out in full in the editorial policy.
How We Approach Gear
The fishing situation first, then the kit
We start with the fishing situation: the water, the season, the technique, the conditions and what the trip actually requires. Then we explain what type of gear may be useful for it, and why.
That order matters. A rod that suits a small cold tailwater is the wrong rod for a big freestone in runoff, and layering that keeps you fishing a canyon in February is dead weight in August. Advice that starts from a product and works backwards cannot tell you any of that.
It also means the honest answer is sometimes that you do not need the thing. Every gear page here has a section for exactly that, because it is the most useful gear advice there is and a format that cannot express it is a format that only ever sells.
Gear & Flies is where that work lives. The reasoning behind it is set out in full in the editorial policy.
And What That Is Not
The claims we do not make about gear
- We do not claim to have personally tested the products we discuss.
- No star ratings and no scores, because both imply a measurement process we do not run.
- No sponsored content, and no page written to a brand's brief.
- Specifications, prices and availability are the retailer's to state. Check current details with them before buying.
Some links to retailers may earn us a commission. It never changes your price and never affects what is recommended. Read the disclosure.
Limits
What this site does not do
There are no live river conditions anywhere on this site: no flow monitoring, no alerts, no weather forecasts and no real-time recommendations. That is a different job, and it is the one RiverFinn is being built to do as a separate app.
AnglerTrove complements live river reports, current regulations, USGS flow data and your local fly shop. It does not replace them. Regulations, public access, permitted methods, bag limits, seasonal closures and access fees all change, and water levels and weather change daily and can be hazardous.
AnglerTrove is independent. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife or any government agency, and nothing here is a certification or a guarantee of anything on the water.
Start Somewhere
Where to go from here
Learn
Fundamentals, situational skills, and a free test that shows you where your gaps are.
Waters
River-by-river information for planning a day, with the gauge and the authority to check.
Gear & Flies
What to carry for a particular river, season and situation, and why.