Artificial Lure here with your Colorado River fishing report for this brisk Monday, November 17th, 2025. Out here on the river, we’re waking up to sharp late-fall conditions—temperatures scraping the upper 30s at dawn, with an afternoon high in the low 50s under mostly clear skies. Sunrise hit at 6:48 a.m., setting us up for an almost twelve-hour window to get after it, with sunset due around 5:00 p.m. Don’t bother checking the tidal tables—no significant tide changes in this stretch, but keep an eye on falling water levels, which are pulling fish tighter to structure and the deeper channel edges.

Recent angler reports and local chatter have the striped bass bite running hot from dawn until about 10, especially if you’re working the upper river near Rifle or down in the Glenwood Canyon slot. With ware temps holding steady in the mid-to-low 50s, stripers have been schooled up heavy, chasing shad balls and cranking up flurries of action around current seams. Most fish coming in right now are in the 2- to 5-pound range, but a few chunky 7s have been weighed when folks hustle after working birds and fast-moving bait balls—Lake Mead reports from Sunday, November 16th, confirm solid striper action persisting through to mid-afternoon for patient anglers. Cut anchovy and fresh-cut shad are the ticket—drift or tight-line those baits off deeper ledges and you’ll stack a limit fast if you stay ahead of the feeding schools. For the lure folks, 1- to 2-ounce white or chrome jigging spoons have been money, especially when fished vertically above the deeper schools. Dawn patrols with topwater walkers—think Zara Spook or larger Sammys—in shad patterns are getting heart-stopping blow-ups near rocky banks and points.

Bass fishing is no slouch either. Smallmouth are bundling in tight to main river rock piles, especially up near De Beque and the brushier pockets close to the Eagle River confluence. Finesse is king: Ned rigs in green pumpkin or watermelon have been consistently boating footballs, and the largemouth are nosing their way into the shallow stuff at sunrise, responding well to creature baits and the odd crankbait worked slow along submerged wood. Mixed bags aren’t out of the question right now, with some bonus stripers busting finesse baits during low-light hours.

Catfish are mostly quiet, but the dedicated bottom-soakers are still pulling a few channel cats after dark with chunk baits in the sandy coves below Parachute and toward the Grand Valley. And while walleye catches have been slim—a few are popping up for anglers slow-trolling nightcrawler rigs across gravel bars. Fly anglers—you’ll still find action on streamers and leeches in the slackwater pockets, but with cooler water, slow your retrieve and focus on deeper runs where trout and smallmouth stack up before winter. Watch for invasive zebra mussels, recently confirmed as established from the Eagle confluence down to the Utah border; Colorado Parks and Wildlife is urging all of us to thoroughly clean, drain, and dry any gear or boats before leaving to protect these fisheries (Summit Daily News and Vail Daily, November 16th, 2025).

A couple of hot spots worth your morning effort: the humps and flats outside Hemenway Harbor if you can swing the trip, and the windblown coves north of Echo Bay, which have been pumping out both quality bass and bonus stripers on breezy days. If you’re staying closer to Rifle or Silt, look for deeper channel edges downstream of town, where striped bass and smallmouth are feeding on migrating shad.

Final tip—early and late is the name of the game; midday bite drops off hard, so focus your best efforts right around sunrise and the last hour of light. As always, keep safety top of mind, especially with shifting water levels and new rock piles cropping up.

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