CoBass

While I would much rather see habitat restoration and aggressive stocking used to save these fish instead of killing off as many smallies and pike as possible, the Colorado pikeminnow is the largest member of the minnow family in North America and can reach lengths of six feet, weighing more than 100 lbs. They can be caught by rod and reel too. I would love to catch a fish like that, but not at the expense of sport fish that were legally stocked in the first place. For all of the money they have spent in a futile attempt to remove the non-native species, they could have stocked millions of these fish back into the river as well as creating more areas that meet their habitat needs.

I live in Colorado and the article is a little misleading to say the least. The fish were not illegally stocked, they were stocked by the dnr in reservoirs upstream and they escaped into the river system. They have been electro-shocking the Yampa river for more than ten years and killing every smallie and pike they catch. They have also been stocking the native species during that time and the populations still are not increasing. The other thing the article doesn't mention is that smallies and pike are not the only non-native predators in the river, they are just the only species that are being targeted for extermination. Rainbow and brown trout are also non-native species, but they don't kill them because people come to Colorado to specifically fish for trout. Granted, the smallies and pike share more habitat with the native species than the trout do but if they truly wanted to restore the native populations, they would remove all non-native predators. The whole project is pretty much useless unless they plan on shocking the river until the end of time. There is no way they are going to remove every single smallie and pike from that river system, and as soon as they stop shocking, the populations will go back to their previous levels. In the mean time, all they have accomplished is to ruin what was the premier smallie and pike fishery in the state.

You're lucky to live in a state where the DNR actually manages lakes for bass. Where I live, trout rule. People come here to catch trout, so that is what is stocked in pretty much every lake and river. Walleye are also popular here so they get pretty heavily stocked too. Bass are pretty far down the list. Most of the best bass fishing is in small (less than 50 acres) locally managed ponds.

I wouldn't be surprised to see it come out of Aurora reservoir. That lake churns out big fish in general. The last 2 state record channel cats, and the last 2 state record smallies have come out of that lake. The LMB population is really starting to take off and there is a ton of forage in there. Gigantic schools of perch and tons of the biggest crawdads I've ever seen, not to mention, when they get a little bigger they can chow down on the regular stockings of 8 - 12 inch trout that are put in there by the thousands. Another thing it has going for it is that it doesn't get near the pressure other fisheries get. The marina and the dam are the only areas accessible by car so unless you're willing to hike or bike a long way, shore access is very limited. It's also a municipal water supply so it's electric motors only on the boats which a lot of guys aren't willing to deal with. Add all of those things up and you have a pretty good recipe for a state record fish.

There are some decent bass in South Platte Park but there ain't no 2 and a half foot bass in there let alone a 32 incher. Fish that size would be world record sized and a fish like that doesn't live anywhere in Colorado. Not trying to be a jerk about it but maybe next time you should turn your tape measure over and use the side that is in inches not centimeters.

Like others have said, the fishing will be a little slower than in warmer months but trout are a cold water fish so you should be able to get into some fish. Just stop by any local fly shop and they'll hook you up with the fly patterns that have been productive lately.

Well said. They will hit topwater baits but it is not the best way to target them.

Bluebasser makes a good point about walleye reproduction. Not all lakes are suited to walleye spawning. Where I live, there are only a few lakes in the entire state that have self sustaining walleye populations. Every other walleye fishery in the state gets a yearly stocking to maintain populations.

I'd have to say Earl Campbell. Playing football really took it's toll on him though. Poor guy can barely walk and he's only in his late 50's.

Very true about the carp. If you get a 10 plus pounder hooked up you are in for a heck of a fight. A lot of guys around here actually target them with fly rods.

Those things were awesome. They also came with a ramp that if you could actually line it up and hit the ramp it would go flying across the room and crash land. Poor Evel would go flipping over the handle bars

Tigers are stocked in Colorado and lake Estes has had them stocked but they aren't in there in large numbers. I can't think of a single lake that has a large population of tigers. Evergreen lake and Bear Creek reservoir both have had tigers stocked in them and are probably closer than Estes. Where ever you go to target them, do not use trout (live or dead) as bait, it is illegal and if you get caught you will be ticketed.

Nice fish, congrats. Got my first on a chrome rattle trap.

One of the ponds I fish is only about 20 acres and it has at least 50 grass carp in it over 10 lbs. They don't even come close to eating all of the vegetation. It grows back faster than they can chew it down.

Welcome to Colorado. Like the others have said, if you're looking for largemouth skip the bigger lakes/reservoirs and focus on small ponds. If you're target species is smallies, chatfield, bear creek, and horsetooth all have large populations of smaller fish that are pretty easy to catch. If you want a chance at a state record smallie, Aurora is the place to go. The last two state record smallies came from Aurora and I've seen pics of bigger ones caught that weren't turned in for the record. It's a tough place to figure out but there's some huge smallies in there. Aurora also has a very healthy walleye population and even though they aren't there in numbers, the last two state record channel cats were also caught there.

Nice little Estes Park brownie, did you catch it in the lake or the river? If you want to catch a lot more of them try a small gold inline spinner or a 1/8 - 1/4 oz kastmaster in rainbow or brown trout colors.

Ain't that the truth. Two of the lakes I fish are almost unfishable on weekends because of pwc"s. They have the entire lake to play on but for some reason they insist on cutting between me and the shoreline I'm fishing.

I agree with Tom. The state I live in will hit you with a heavy fine for transporting any live fish other than minnows. If they catch you transplanting species from lake to lake they can even confiscate the vehicle you were using to do it and sell it at auction. Check with your local fish and game dept to see if it's legal.

I was fishing one evening and as the sun started to set I took off my sunglasses and propped them on the brim of my hat. A few minutes later, a bee was buzzing around my face so I took a swipe at him with my hat and watched a $100 pair of shades go flying into the lake and sink to the bottom.

Whenever someone contacts you about something you have for sale and refers to it as "the item" instead of calling it by name it's probably a scam of some sort. They use a form letter(email) and send it to as many sellers as they can trying to get someone to bite. They send out hundreds of these emails per day so they use the generic "the item" or "your item" instead of changing it for every email they send. Also, anytime someone offers to send you more than the agreed upon price you can be pretty sure they are scamming you. It's all a numbers game for them. They need less than 1% of the people they contact to fall for their scam to make it worth their while.

I rig mine so that the end of the tail is pointing away from the hook but that's just a personal preference. Either way will work and no matter how you rig it you will occasionally wind up with the tail of the grub caught on the hook. When I rig grubs for crappie I use a small tube jig head (1/32 - 1/16 oz) instead of a ball head jig. It distributes the weight through the body of the grub giving it a more horizontal profile as if falls instead of nose diving.

If what you say is true then why is the California state record bass (21-7) more than four pounds heavier than the Florida state record (17-3)? Florida has better bass fishing overall compared to California but the shallow water that is warm year round just doesn't let the bass live long enough to reach record weights. Take a look at the link below, it is ten yrs old but it lists the top 25 documented big bass. twenty two of the top twenty five fish were caught in California. If you were to update that list I'd be willing to bet that the results wouldn't be much different. http://fishingnetwork.net/index.php?pageid=top-25-largemouth-bass-records

No special stamp here in Colorado. Trout are stocked in almost every lake in the state. They are so common that the only time I intentionally target them is when the bass or walleye bite is really slow. Trout can be expensive to stock because they can only reproduce in rivers. When they stock a lake with trout they don't reproduce on their own so they have to be restocked to maintain the population.

That's odd. When I coached my sons summer league inline hockey team there was no official score kept but every kid on both teams knew exactly what the score was at any given time. They knew who won and who lost at the end of the game. The only reason my son played in that league was to keep his skills up during the off season from the competitive league he played in where scores and stats were kept and they had playoffs at the end of the season. Only the top 3 teams in that league got trophies/medals (like it should be). Playing competitive sports is a good way to teach kids that not everyone is a winner and if you want to be rewarded, it takes real effort and team play. It's also a good lesson in being a gracious loser and an even more gracious winner.

Bouncers definitely aren't designed to be casted and you are right, just drop it over the side and let it drag (bounce) along the bottom. Walleye really aren't that difficult to catch. We regularly boat 40-50 per day running bouncers during the summer. If you're dragging bouncers and you catch a fish or two on a pass through a particular area, make several more runs across the same water and you will more than likely catch more fish. They tend to stack up on the bottom during the day, then disperse and go on the hunt after dark.