Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Items that do not fit the categories above.
Forum rules
  • This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
  • Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
  • Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
  • Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
User avatar
434stonemill
Posts: 92
Joined: 9/6/2011
14ers: 33 
13ers: 4
Trip Reports (2)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by 434stonemill »

nyker wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:18 pm is it fair (or not) to assume the more remote mountain lakes are more wild fish and the stocking is more concentrated in the more heavily fished rivers/reservoirs? Do you feel there is a good combination of wild/holdover fish as well as recent stockers?
A cool short video on how CPW stocks the mountain lakes.

https://youtu.be/co02OuM9zcw

That must be a cool and I would think slightly terrifying job as a pilot of the planes stocking these alpine lakes. For the fish, that must be a surreal experience :-o
User avatar
nyker
Posts: 3227
Joined: 12/5/2007
14ers: 58 
13ers: 25
Trip Reports (69)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by nyker »

That's pretty cool.
User avatar
cottonmountaineering
Posts: 849
Joined: 5/11/2018
14ers: 58  7  18 
13ers: 178 38 31
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by cottonmountaineering »

434stonemill wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:38 pm
nyker wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:18 pm is it fair (or not) to assume the more remote mountain lakes are more wild fish and the stocking is more concentrated in the more heavily fished rivers/reservoirs? Do you feel there is a good combination of wild/holdover fish as well as recent stockers?
A cool short video on how CPW stocks the mountain lakes.

https://youtu.be/co02OuM9zcw

That must be a cool and I would think slightly terrifying job as a pilot of the planes stocking these alpine lakes. For the fish, that must be a surreal experience :-o
ive done a bit of research on stocking in CO and my belief is that nearly every alpine lake in the state has had fish dumped into it at some point, some took and some didnt. cpw now taking a lot more measured approach and trying to get the right species into the right lakes

2019-2020 big snow year i saw a few alpine lakes where the entire fish population was wiped out though
User avatar
cedica
Posts: 723
Joined: 6/25/2014
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by cedica »

434stonemill wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:38 pm For the fish, that must be a surreal experience :-o
Just to think that I'm worried sick not to injure those couple three four inches younglings when I accidentally catch them. Never touch them with dry hand, lay them down gently into the stream while singing Amazing Grace... And CPW just dumps them from the plane! :wft:
AndrewLyonsGeibel
Posts: 442
Joined: 7/3/2015
14ers: 9 
Trip Reports (0)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by AndrewLyonsGeibel »

cedica wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 6:53 am
434stonemill wrote: Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:38 pm For the fish, that must be a surreal experience :-o
Just to think that I'm worried sick not to injure those couple three four inches younglings when I accidentally catch them. Never touch them with dry hand, lay them down gently into the stream while singing Amazing Grace... And CPW just dumps them from the plane! :wft:
Most fish really aren’t that fragile. Some species you’d want to be a little more gentle but in general you don’t need to do that.
User avatar
CUaaron25
Posts: 243
Joined: 10/5/2007
14ers: 58  2  4 
13ers: 150 2 2
Trip Reports (3)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by CUaaron25 »

I'm sure you've already looked at a few of the books out there but Central Colorado Alpine Lakes Fishing/Hiking Guide has been a good go to for me for the past few years. Like many have already said, it's also super fun to just pack the fly rod on a 13er or 14er outing and hope to find good fishing along the way. Some of the best days of fishing up at alpine lakes have been when I wasn't really expecting much and on the other side of that coin, some of the slower days have come when I've expected to find a lot of fish up in a particular lake, so it goes! Happy fishing! :-D
User avatar
habaceeba
Posts: 166
Joined: 4/15/2010
14ers: 27 
13ers: 93 1 1
Trip Reports (3)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by habaceeba »

The Colorado Fishing Atlas is a great resource for stocking info: https://ndismaps.nrel.colostate.edu/ind ... shingAtlas
User avatar
nyker
Posts: 3227
Joined: 12/5/2007
14ers: 58 
13ers: 25
Trip Reports (69)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by nyker »

That's a cool atlas, thanks for the link habaceeba.

CUAaron - yes, that's what I'd like to do just pack a rod outfit in and instead of passing by all these nice lakes and rivers, try fishing next time. I am contemplating getting one of those 5 piece lightweight travel rods just to make the packing easier for it-it won't feel the same as my longer less packable ones but figure the compactness offsets some of the feel. My vintage Ross evolution reel misses its home in Montrose so will have to take it back eventually and test it out in its homeland, haha.
User avatar
nmjameswilson
Posts: 316
Joined: 9/7/2018
14ers: 58 
13ers: 15
Trip Reports (0)
 
Contact:

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by nmjameswilson »

My brother fishes the Blue River by Kremmling and has caught HUGE rainbows. I have wanted to join him for the last few years but water levels had been down.
I have fished Grandy and Grand lakes with good success for Salmon and Trout. I have enjoyed hikes down the Colorado river too while fishing but the fish are smaller.
I want to try fly fishing eventually in some of the more remote creeks and rivers as well.
CORed
Posts: 186
Joined: 8/24/2011
14ers: 10  1 
13ers: 10 2
Trip Reports (1)
 

Re: Fishing in Colorado <>< <>< <><

Post by CORed »

I'm going to nominate Little Gem Lake for best fishing on a 14er route (Snowmass West Slopes or S Ridge). It's been quite a few years since I fished there, so I don't know what current conditions are, but the last time I was there it was full of big cutthroats. I only managed to catch one, but it was over 20 inches, probably weighed at least three pounds, and most of the many fish I saw were of similar size.

Unless you are a very fast climber, or you backpack it, it would be hard to both climb Snowmass and fish the lake on the same trip. It's a rather small lake (not much more than a tarn), just above timberline.
Post Reply