14ers.com

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

That's pretty cool.

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

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

434stonemill wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 2:38 pm For the fish, that must be a surreal experience

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!

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

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!

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.

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!

The Colorado Fishing Atlas is a great resource for stocking info: https://ndismaps.nrel.colostate.edu/ind ... shingAtlas

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.

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.

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.