Front Range fishing forecast: Bottom line? Big fun

Lots of water promises to whet appetite of anglers

By Ed Dentry, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 16, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  

• 0 Comments
• Email
• Print

Photos By George Kochaniec Jr. / The Rocky

Sander VanVeen fly-fishes on Aurora Reservoir. A huge snowpack and high fuel costs are expected to keep anglers closer to home.

UP Ed Miller, of Monument, fishes the North Fork of the South Platte River. State biologists anticipate some winterkill on the upper reaches.

Big snowpacks combined with the high price of fuel should focus anglers' attention on fishing within earshot of home this year, at least for a while.

Thanks to a wealth of well-groomed fishing spots up and down the Front Range, wetting a short line could be a good thing.

It's likely that a tasty bass pond, also stocked with catchable trout, waits not far from your lawn mower. Just follow the daily flights of Canada geese.

Larger reservoirs in nearby state parks add to the bounty. Might as well stick close and let the deluge roll from the mountains while we apply for a second mortgage to fuel more exotic outings later in summer.

Runoff will stretch long this year (hopefully, or there will be floods). Trout streams could be high and murky until August. Trails leading to many high lakes will be blocked by stubborn snow whales.

Meanwhile, those backyard fishing holes beckon. More than 200 reservoirs, ponds and some streams are detailed in Fishing Close to Home, a $7 publication of the state Division of Wildlife's Colorado Outdoors magazine.

With maps, directions, fish species and access information, the booklet is unequaled as a guide to metro and mountain waters along the northern Front Range.

"I use it all the time," said biologist Paul Winkle, who manages Denver-area fisheries for the DOW.

Other DOW biologists who spilled the beans for this preview were Kurt Davies (North Park and northern Front Range), Ben Swigle (northern foothills and lower South Platte reservoirs) and Jeff Spohn (Upper South Platte River).

No one is better qualified to forecast what the fishing fates might deliver hereabouts than the professional team of Winkle, Swigle, Davies and Spohn (their hot spots are noted below by an asterisk).

Each agrees on one item. For the second year in a row, water is abundant.

That will have profound effects on future fishing - nearly all good.

DENVER-METRO WATERS

* Chatfield Reservoir: Nobody knows how many walleyes, including big females, escaped through Chatfield Dam during heavy discharges last spring and summer.

"It was enough flow to push out a lot of fish," Winkle said.

Catches soared in the river below the dam, but his fall sampling catch plummeted.

"Smallmouth-bass fishing will be good. But the jury is still out on walleye," he said.

* Cherry Creek Reservoir: Shad are superabundant, which means walleyes and wipers could be stuffed and tough to catch. But those top-of-the- line predators are big. The chunkiest wipers run 10 to 12 pounds.

* *Barr Lake: Winkle picks Barr as a sleeper for 15- to 18-inch wipers. Fishing also should be good for 8- to 10-inch yellow perch.

* *Arvada Reservoir: The 180-acre reservoir in the foothills north of Golden is flush with channel catfish to 30 inches. Walleyes have grown to 23 inches, smallmouth bass to 18.

* *Some little gems: Sometimes, the hottest of spots for bass and panfish are community lakes. Winkle's 2008 star lineup starts with Sprat-Platte Reservoir, a 60-acre former gravel pit in Thornton.

"It's loaded with 14- to 16-inch largemouth," he said.

The keeper limit is 18 inches.

He also likes Mower Reservoir, 11 acres, one mile west of Standley Lake in Westminster Open Space - the trailhead is at Simms Street and 106th Avenue. For bluegills and bass, he picks Cottonwood Park Lake in Lakewood and West Prospect Lake in Wheat Ridge.

UPPER SOUTH PLATTE WATERS

* Antero Reservoir: Still ice covered, the vigil is on.

"The bottom line is, we are anticipating losing some fish," Spohn said.

The extent of winterkill is not yet known, but no one doubts that it happened at shallow and vulnerable Antero.

* *Spinney, Elevenmile reservoirs: Numbers and size of trout are "outstanding" now at both places, Spohn said. He picks Spinney's ice-out opener and Elevenmile to deliver high times in South Park.

A naturally occurring infestation of gill lice cut adult kokanee numbers, "but we haven't seen any declines in fish since that summer 2006 incident."

* Elevenmile Canyon: Invasive New Zealand mud snails remain an issue but have been in decline and haven't hurt the robust fishery. Rainbow trout reproduce naturally in upper reaches, but whirling-disease-resistant browns take over downstream.

* Cheesman Canyon: The canyon's famed trout fishery has remained resilient despite sediment buildup from drought and the 2002 Hayman Fire. Sediment worsens downstream from Schoonover Gulch, with some fishery decline. High water this year should allow welcome flushing flows to clean things up.

* *Waterton Canyon: Brown trout aplenty swim in the upper stretch but seldom grow longer than 14 inches. Spohn worked to tailor a regulation change upstream to address the overpopulation and stunting. The 16-inch minimum size limit has been dropped, but the daily limit remains two fish. Take a cooler and keep a couple, the biologist says. It will make the fishery healthier.

LOWER SOUTH PLATTE WATERS

* *Jackson Reservoir: "An anomaly that is kind of new is Jackson walleyes," Swigle said.

Although anglers seldom target Jackson's walleyes, plenty of them, averaging 15 inches, turned up in Swigle's net samples last fall.

"That's definitely a sleeper for walleye," he said.

Jackson also is home to plenty of 17- to 22-inch wipers.

* *Prewitt Reservoir: The word is out. "Prewitt should be hot for walleye," Swigle said. It seems Jay Stafford, Swigle's predecessor, stocked 52,000 fingerling saugeyes and walleyes in Prewitt before he retired in 2005, and they took.

"They've erupted," Swigle said. Nearly all those fish have reached the 15-inch minimum size limit. Fifteen-inch catfish are in ample supply.

* North Sterling Reservoir: An aggressive stocking of walleyes in 2006 all but failed, probably because of low water and carp. Wipers, on the other hand, have thrived.

"So go for the wipers," Swigle said.

* Jumbo Reservoir: Full and on the rebound after draining in 2006, Jumbo swarms with undersized but fast-growing walleyes and smallmouth bass. Since smallmouths love crayfish, which Jumbo has aplenty, the 31/2-inch bass Swigle introduced in September nearly doubled in size by March. While fishermen wait for everything to grow up, they can fish for stocker rainbows.

* Union Reservoir: For wipers anywhere on the Front Range, you can't beat this 620-acre fish bowl near Longmont, Swigle said. His second wiper pick is Lonetree Reservoir, south of Loveland.

NORTH PARK AND NORTH FRONT RANGE

* *Delaney Butte lakes: More than offsetting a probable winterkill at Cowdrey Lake, North Park's three Delaney sisters should be prime for sizable trout, which have survived under new slot limits for two years.

"They should be coming out of that slot now, so we expect to see more trophy-sized fish coming from all those lakes," Davies said.

He said South Delaney is ripe for big rainbows and Snake River cutthroats.

* *Hohnholz Lakes: "If you're looking for an unexpected, sleeper-type spot, Hohnholz No. 3 has the potential for some large browns," Davies said. Just a hint.

* Cache la Poudre River: Having swung to brown trout since whirling disease appeared in the early 1990s, the Poudre this year will get an infusion of WD-resistant, Hofer-strain rainbow trout.

"Historically, the Poudre was a great natural rainbow fishery, and we're hoping to bring that back," Davies said.

The Hofer-strain rainbows will enter the river as 10-inchers. They grow faster than other rainbows and, hopefully, will spawn next spring.

* *Horsetooth Reservoir: Walleye fishing is fair to good, but Horsetooth earns the hot-spot nod from Davies for its maturing smallmouth-bass fishery. The biologist said sampling nets last summer found bass up to 18 inches and heavier than 4 pounds.

FAMILY FISHING HOLES

State fisheries biologists recommend these well-stocked fishing holes for children and families.

* Arapahoe Bend Ponds (Fort Collins): bluegill and crappie.

* McCall's Pond (Longmont): bluegill, smallmouth bass, stocked rainbow trout.

* Sprat-Platte Reservoir (Thornton): largemouth bass, bluegill, yellow perch.

* Mower Reservoir (Westminster): largemouth bass, bluegill.

* Cottonwood Park Lake (Lakewood): largemouth bass, bluegill, sunfish, yellow perch.

* West Prospect Park Lake (Wheat Ridge): largemouth bass, bluegill, catfish, crappie.

* Chatfield State Park Ponds (Littleton): Largemouth bass, bluegill, yellow perch, crappie.

* Tarryall Reservoir (south of Jefferson): rainbow trout, brown trout, northern pike.

* Fairplay Beach Recreation Area (Fairplay): cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brown trout.

SOME BEST BETS FOR . . .

* Smallmouth bass: Horsetooth Reservoir, Chatfield Reservoir, Cheesman Reservoir.

* Walleye/saugeye: Cherry Creek Reservoir, Aurora Reservoir, Jackson Reservoir, Prewitt Reservoir, Horsetooth Reservoir, Bear Creek Lake.

* Brown trout: North Delaney Butte Lake, Spinney Reservoir, Elevenmile Reservoir, Hohnholz Lake No. 3.

* Grayling: Big Creek Lake, Joe Wright Reservoir.

* Rainbow trout: Spinney Mountain Reservoir, Elevenmile Reservoir, South Delaney Lake, Tarryall Reservoir.

* Snake River cutthroat trout: South Delaney Butte Lake.

* Wiper: Union Reservoir, Lonetree Reservoir, Cherry Creek Reservoir, Barr Lake, North Sterling Reservoir.

* Catfish:Arvada Reservoir, Boulder Reservoir, Chatfield Reservoir.

* Largemouth bass: Quincy Reservoir, Sprat-Platte Reservoir, Stalker Lake (Wray).

Featured

• DPS improvements

  

  This interactive shows you how schools will benefit under the bond proposal.

• 2008 Voter’s Guide

  

  Use our Ballot Builder tool to compare your viewpoints to the candidates.

• Broncos Game Action

  

  Slide shows of the Broncos-Jags quarter-by-quarter photos from Invesco.

• Rocky Truth Patrol

  

  Rocky Truth Patrol investigates a claim about Colorado Sen. Shawn Mitchell

• A Dozen on Denver

  

  Manuel Ramos' story is featured this week on 'A Dozen on Denver.' Check it out!

• Peak Picks

  

  Submit your fall foliage photos to our contest and vote on other submissions.

• Presidential Elections

  

  See how Colorado counties have voted through the years.

• County election profiles

  

  A look at how residents in each Colorado county may vote.

• A dream fulfilled

  

  A Rocky Mountain News and MediaStorm production