About Colorado River Outfitters
Professional Guides. Local Knowledge. A Better Day on the Water.
Colorado River Outfitters is a guide-owned and operated fly fishing outfitter built around a simple idea: great guided fishing should be about much more than catching fish.
We believe the best days on the water combine great fishing with great people, beautiful places, education, safety, and an experience built around the individual angler. Whether we're introducing a family to fly fishing for the first time, teaching an experienced angler a new technique, or hunting for the fish of a lifetime, our goal is to provide every guest with the kind of day we'd want if we were the ones booking the trip.
Based in Colorado's Vail Valley, Colorado River Outfitters provides professionally guided fly fishing trips throughout the Colorado Rockies and beyond. While Vail remains our home, our expanding service area allows CRO to serve anglers visiting Vail, Beaver Creek, Aspen, Glenwood Springs, Denver, Colorado Springs and surrounding Colorado communities.
Built By Fly Fishing Guides
Colorado River Outfitters isn't a booking company that happens to offer fly fishing. We are fly fishing guides.
Our company is owned and operated by professional guides who have built their lives around rivers, trout, and teaching others how to fish. Our team brings decades of combined experience guiding throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West, and many of our guides spend well over 150 days each year on the water.
That experience matters.
River conditions change. Hatches change. Fish move. Water temperatures rise and fall. What worked yesterday may not be the best approach today. Our guides aren't simply following a predetermined routine, they're constantly evaluating conditions and using years of experience to put our guests in the best possible position for a successful day. It's also why we don't believe every guest should receive the exact same fishing trip. We consider your experience level, goals, group, location, current river conditions, weather, hatches, and fishing quality before determining where and how we fish.
Your trip should be built around you, not the other way around.
What We Believe
Don't Just Catch Fish. Understand Why You Caught Them.
Catching trout is exciting. Understanding why that trout ate your fly is what turns someone into an angler. Education is at the heart of the CRO experience. Our guides aren't there simply to tie on flies, point toward fish, and tell you where to cast. We want our guests to leave the river better anglers than when they arrived. Throughout your trip, your guide may teach you how to read water, recognize feeding lanes, identify insects, understand a hatch, improve your casting, build a better drift, adjust depth, choose flies, fight fish properly, and safely handle and release trout. For first-time anglers, that means making fly fishing approachable and fun. For experienced anglers, it means diving deeper into the small details that can turn a good day into an exceptional one. And for kids, it means creating an experience that can spark a lifelong connection with rivers and the outdoors.
The Fishery Comes First
The rivers we guide are more than places where we work, they're resources we care deeply about and want to see thrive for generations to come. Colorado River Outfitters believes that being a professional outfitter comes with a responsibility to protect the fisheries that make what we do possible.
CRO is proud to support conservation as a business member of Trout Unlimited, and our team takes an active role in caring for our local waters through river cleanups and other efforts that help protect and improve Colorado's rivers. On the water, that same philosophy guides the way we handle fish, teach our clients, and conduct our trips.
Our guides emphasize proper fish handling, keeping trout wet, minimizing unnecessary handling, using appropriate equipment, and releasing fish quickly and carefully. Just as importantly, we teach those practices to our guests so responsible angling extends beyond a single day with CRO.
These rivers have given our guides careers, friendships, memories, and countless incredible days on the water. Taking care of them isn't just good business, it's part of who we are.
Experience You Can Trust
A professional guide service should provide much more than someone who knows where the fish are.
Colorado River Outfitters maintains high standards for our guides, equipment, safety practices, and overall guest experience.
Our team includes experienced professional guides, skilled oarsmen, fly tiers, educators, and certified guide instructors who have spent years developing their craft on rivers throughout Colorado and the West.
From your first conversation with CRO to the moment your guide drops you off after your trip, our goal is to provide an organized, professional experience while maintaining the relaxed atmosphere that makes a great day of fishing so enjoyable.
We take the details seriously so you can simply enjoy your day on the river.
Licensed • Insured • Bonded • CPW Permitted • BLM Permitted
More Than One Kind Of Fishing Trip
There is no single "perfect" fly fishing trip.
That's why CRO offers experiences for a wide variety of anglers and groups.
Whether you're looking for a relaxing float through spectacular Colorado scenery, a hands-on walk-and-wade experience, your family's first fly fishing adventure, a corporate outing, or a serious day of technical fishing, we'll help match you with the experience that makes the most sense.
We regularly guide:
-
First-time fly anglers
-
Experienced and advanced anglers
-
Families and children
-
Couples and small groups
-
Corporate and team-building groups
-
Anglers looking to improve specific techniques
-
Guests chasing trophy trout
-
Visitors simply looking for an incredible way to experience Colorado
You don't need to know which river, technique, or trip is right for you before calling us.
That's our job.
Float Trips
Walk & Wade Trips
Family Trips
Our Home Waters
One of CRO's greatest advantages is access to an incredible variety of Colorado trout water.
From the freestone waters of the Eagle River running through our home in the Vail Valley to the legendary Colorado River, the productive waters of the Roaring Fork Valley, and the technical tailwater fishing of the Frying Pan & Arkansas Rivers, our guides have options.
That variety allows us to make decisions based on what is fishing best—not simply what's easiest or closest.
Depending on the season and conditions, our trips provide convenient access for guests staying throughout Vail, Beaver Creek, Denver, Avon, Eagle, Glenwood Springs, Aspen, and the surrounding Colorado mountain communities.
Quality Equipment - Professional Operation
We believe the quality of your equipment should match the quality of your guide.
CRO maintains a fleet of modern drift boats and rafts specifically selected for navigating Colorado's rivers safely and comfortably. We provide quality fly fishing equipment and the necessary gear for your trip so even someone who has never held a fly rod can show up ready to fish.
Colorado River Outfitters is a fully licensed, insured, and bonded Colorado outfitter operating under applicable Special Use Permits from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. CRO is regulated by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies under DORA #00022753.
Professionalism behind the scenes matters just as much as professionalism on the river.
Why Fish With Colorado River Outfitters
When you book with CRO, you're not simply reserving a boat or hiring someone to show you where fish live. You're putting your day in the hands of a team that takes its profession seriously.
What Sets CRO Apart
✓ Guide-owned and operated by professional fly fishing guides
✓ Experienced team with extensive knowledge of Colorado's rivers
✓ Personalized trips based on your ability, goals, and current conditions
✓ Access to multiple fisheries throughout the Colorado Rockies
✓ Patient, educational instruction for first-time anglers
✓ Advanced knowledge and techniques for experienced fishermen
✓ Family-friendly trips designed to keep kids engaged and having fun
✓ High-quality boats, rafts, rods, reels, waders, and fishing equipment
✓ Fishery-first approach to conservation and responsible angling
✓ Professional trip planning from your first phone call through the end of your day
But perhaps most importantly, we genuinely love what we do.
We get to introduce people to rivers we love, teach them something new, and share experiences that often become some of their favorite memories from Colorado.
We don't take that opportunity for granted.
Come Fish With Colorado River Outfitters
You don't need to be an experienced fly fisherman to have an incredible day with Colorado River Outfitters.
You don't need to know which river is fishing best.
You don't need to know which flies are hatching.
And you certainly don't need to bring a garage full of fishing equipment.
That's what we're here for.
Tell us who you're fishing with, where you're staying, and what you're hoping to get out of the experience. We'll take care of the details and help build the right trip for you.
Your first trout or your thousandth, we'd love to spend a day on the water with you.
Come see why so many anglers choose Colorado River Outfitters for their Colorado fly fishing experience.
Call or text 970-236-1937
