TASK 8: Types of fish in your area? - Colorado has everything

2016/7/18 11:53:23

Colorado is one of the luckiest states around for fishing. When people think about Colorado and fishing trout automatically pops into their head. The trout fishing in Colorado is world class and provides the state with millions of tourist dollars. While trout fishing may take up to 80% of my fishing time there are over 40 sport fish that the Colorado Department of Wildlife recognize for their Master Angler program, that is not even counting every species in Colorado. Some of our records for these species are on par with records from states that are go-to states for these species. I have caught Black Bullhead, Black Crappie, Blue Catfish, Bluegills, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Carp, Channel Catfish, Cutbow Trout, Cutthroat Trout, Drum, Grayling, Green Sunfish, Kokanee Salmon, Lake Trout, Largemouth Bass, Longnose Suckers, Northern Pike, Pumpkinseed, Rainbow Trout, Saugeye, Smallmouth Bass, Splake, Spotted Bass, Walleye, White Bass, White Crappie, Whitefish, White Sucker, Wiper, Yellow Perch. Since I live in Colorado Springs, I tend to drive an hour to two hours from my house and all these species can be caught within that radius. The Master Angler program which lists the species of fish that can be caught here in Colorado can be found here, with qualifying lengths for the MA program. Master Angler Program

One of the great things about Colorado is they do not have fishing seasons, all species can be caught year round if you can catch them. The regulations are pretty straight forward and try to generalize and meet the majority of angler?s needs to include catch and release fisherman and those who fish for food. While this doesn?t please everyone the regulations are fair. If I had my way I would create a slot limit for certain species like walleye, pike, mackinaw, and largemouth bass for most lakes in the state. But I can live with the current regs. An online version of our fishing regulations can be found here.

As a general rule the higher in elevation you go the less warm water species you will find, fishing the metro lakes and those on the plains provide great warm water fishing but almost every lake in Colorado gets stocked with rainbow trout. Almost, every water I have fished has held some kind of fish in it. Small creeks coming right into town have provided hours of entertainment catching small browns and brook trout. Beaver ponds, I have yet to fish one I didn?t like even the ones devoid of life were in spectacular settings. Farm ponds just like when I was a kid hold blue gills, bass, or at the least bullheads ready to be caught. My favorite type of fishing are those high elevation lakes in the remote back country stocked by horseback or airplane, the adventure to get to these lakes are worth it even if I wasn?t there to fish them.

Rick Schroeder Owner Colorado Mountain Fishing.com [email protected]

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