justin apfel

Those are some nice LM out of Pueblo! Check out the ponds south of Chatfield, some nice LM in there. And if you like walleye and smallmouth fish the main lake.

Something that could help you pick apart the quarry would be to look up the mining permit and see if they have any as-builts for it. This will indicate depths of excavation with contour lines. A lot of times these are available to the public if the project is closed out, you just have to do a little digging in your state mining website. They may not be available if the quarry is old though. Good luck!

For me it depends if I'm fishing for fun or fishing in a tournament. When I'm fun fishing I try to stay within 30 minutes to an hour from my house. If I'm tournament fishing I drive as far as I have to.

I have a lake I love fishing that's only around two miles from my house, but that lake is only good for numbers. If I'm looking for size, my favorite lake (Aurora Reservoir, CO) is ~20 miles away (35 minute drive). Big bass are always worth the drive!

No need to sell the boat and gear, please don't! Within 30 minutes of downtown Denver there are plenty of great options for bass. If you're wanting to use a gas motor your options are: Chatfield Reservoir (great smallmouth and walleye fishing, largemouth are typically hard to find), Cherry Creek Reservoir (haven't fished this much but have heard of decent smallmouth fishing), and Pueblo Reservoir (around 2 hours from Denver, but you can easily catch 20-30 smallmouth and spots in a day, largemouth are harder to find but are usually around submerged timber). Although gas motors are prohibited on Aurora and Quincy Reservoir I strongly suggest visiting these with a trolling motor. Aurora Res is home of the state record smallmouth (~6.5 lbs) and I've caught several largemouth between 5-7 pounds out there. Cover is not easy to find so make sure you have decent electronics for Aurora Res. If you're interested in tournament fishing, look into Denver Bassmasters...great group of guys and tremendous amounts of knowledge. You're not far off, but selling the bass game out here a little short without experience. I've had a 16 pound 7 ounce bag in Colorado with 4 fish (bass) out of Aurora Reservoir. Don't knock it til you try it...but yes walleye are fun too if you have good electronics. I believe you about largemouth being over 8 lbs, but smallmouth...I don't know about that. No need to argue, but if someone did catch an 8+ lb smallmouth they made a mistake for not getting it certified as the state record through CPW. Even an 8 lb even smallmouth would be 1.5 lbs heavier than the current record...what lake was that on?

Always fun fishing with friends, but nothing beats being alone out on the water in my opinion. It's my chance to take a deep breath and relax all while getting frustrated and cussing at fish

I'm surprised no one has asked this yet, but how big is the pond you're fishing? How deep does it get? Is there structure around the shoreline? Etc. As the days get hotter and the water temp gets high, it's likely these fish are holding tight to deep cover as Sam mentioned. Instead of looking for fish hitting the surface explore the bottom with jigs, carolina rigs, crankbaits, etc. to get an idea of where they might be laying low. If the pond is only a few acres, I would guess they could learn your schedule if you're literally fishing everyday around the same time, especially if you're using the same presentations every time. Change up your speeds, lures, retrieve style, etc. Also, try waking up at first light and see if they're hitting then. Tight lines.

I moved to Denver in June 2018 from Virginia. I've fished bass for 10+ years and fished competitively in college. When I came to Colorado I had no expectations to keep bass fishing and thought I might as well start going for trout. For the first summer I was here I had a blast fly fishing for trout all over the state, but once spring came around my bass fishing itch just wouldn't go away (and the water in the rivers has been insanely high because of all the snow melt). So this spring and summer I decided to focus on bass until the rivers calmed down a little. To my surprise I've caught some beautiful bass out of some of the reservoirs and smaller ponds. I've had 10+ bass days and have been having a ton of fun figuring these fish out (much different coming from the murky waters of VA). A couple weeks ago I caught my personal best CO bass weighing in at an even 5 lbs. Don't listen to anyone who tells you the only thing to catch in CO is trout...simply not true.

I grew up in southeastern Virginia fishing in a lot of stained water in Cyprus and Tupelo swamps and I moved to Denver this past summer. I’ve been bass fishing for 10+ years but mostly in stained or murky water. The reservoirs and rivers here are crystal clear in some cases and it’s been a little intimidating, I feel like the fish are staring right at me. Anyone have general recommendations here? I know some basics like downsize line (I’ve gone down to 6lb fluoro on my finesse rod, 10 lb on my crankbait/jerkbait rod, etc.), more finesse presentations, and more realistic baits, but could learn much more. I could usually depend on bass being in shallow water when it was stained or murky, but I’m noticing bass are holding deeper out here. Majority of the lakes and rivers I fished back east are pretty shallow compared to the lakes I fish now so I think I need to change up tactics a little. Recommendations on going from shallow systems to deeper ones would be much appreciated Last but not least, the lakes in southeastern va didn’t have smallmouth so I’m trying to figure them out as well. I fished in the James River a few times every summer and did well with tubes and small senkos, but haven’t targeted smallmouth out here just yet. I’ve got a lot to learn... Anyways, I fish from a kayak mostly with a small Garmin fish finder so recommendations on depth and temp are applicable. I appreciate any help!!

Anyone fished NW River this year?

Already caved in and bought some others.... Rapala DT04 firetiger (I took your advice ataris41) bleeding olive shiner Rapala DT06 Firetiger bleeding olive shiner Hot mustard bluegill Had to do it. They were on sale for $5 on bass pro's website

Don't use spinners too much, but for jigs I only use All Terrain, they're cheap (2.99 each) and super durable, catch a lot of fish and look really good

yeah, again this is just what I'm starting out with. I have a DT16 already, a few bomber fat free's, some xcaliber cranks, and some strike kings already. Just want a uniform box pretty much. I can already tell this box is going to fill up fast over a few months...