The Yampa River south of Stagecoach Reservoir dam, which has been closed to fishing since May 24, is about to reopen, according to an announcement Friday from the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife (CPW).

“Stream flow has stabilized at 40 cfs (cubic fee per second) downstream of the dam and all indications are that this will be the case through the spring,” said CPW Senior Aquatic Biologist Lori Martin. “If there are changing conditions during the upcoming winter, we may need to consider another fishing closure. We appreciate the continued patience and understanding of anglers during this difficult water year in the northwest portion of Colorado.”

The Yampa has been closed in several different sections since the spring due to the multiyear drought. The Yampa also was placed on its third “call” in the past three years, which required irrigators to reduce their use of river water. Summer monsoons, however, allowed the Colorado Division of Water Resources  to lift the call after just a few days.

The section of the Yampa through Steamboat Springs closed on July 1 to all commercial recreation, including fishing, tubing and rafting. That closure was lifted earlier this month, and according to Steamboat Flyfisher, the stream flow, at 125 CFS, is high enough for fishing. The river in that section hasn’t been fished in three months, the Flyfisher reported yesterday. “It’s about as good as it gets right now!” the report said.

The Yampa, both south of Stagecoach and in the town of Steamboat Springs, is renowned for its rainbow trout.

To help restore the Yampa’s stream flows, organizations like the Colorado Water Trust have been buying water from Stagecoach. That started in 2012, according to Andy Schultheiss, the Trust’s executive director. In some years, the water purchased by the trust represented a third of the river’s stream flow, he told Colorado Politics recently.

The Yampa supplies about a third of the water to the Colorado River and is a major tributary to the Green River, whose headwaters start in Wyoming and flow through eastern Utah. The Green River merges with the Colorado River at Canyonlands National Park, in southeastern Utah.