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...

Alright, just placed my order on bass pro, this is what I went with. For 0'-4': Strike king silent cranks: black back chart. Sexy shad natural bream For 4'-6': SK rattle CB: same colors as silent cranks And for 8'-10': Rapala DT10: bleeding olive shiner blue gill shad I don't really fish much in deeper water (deeper than 10') besides my annual Smith Mountain Lake trip at the end of august (which I'll stock up on deep divers before that) so I don't need anything too deep right now. But as for the silent/rattle decision...I figure I can for the most part fish the silent and rattle around the same depths, just want to try some new things out

Yeah I already do that method with my jigs (weight/color/style) and I plan to do the same with my CBs. But thank you for the suggestions everyone. I'm going to spend some time online tonight writing down different combinations for my CB box. It just sucks having a money limit haha

So over the winter I've been thinking a lot about what techniques I need to use more and what I need to do better and I realized I don't use cranks nearly enough. I probably have around 10 of them because I rarely use them, but I want to start using them a lot more and get good at cranking at various depths. I want to make a crankbait box starting out with about 3 different depths (0'-3',4'-6',10'-14') with 3 different colors for each depth (around 9 cranks to start out). I was thinking about making a box just with Norman cranks as I've read plenty of reviews and people love them. I have all different kinds right now (strike king, bomber, koppers) but I want to key in on one brand to make my cranking box a little more uniform I guess. I live in Virginia and fish a lot of muddy and murky water with low visibility. What are some brand and color suggestions you guys have?

Also I meant to ask...where are the points you are talking about located in relation to the boat rental? I'm looking at a map and I'm not sure which points you are referring to. And the "tunnel," is it when airport road crosses over the reservoir? Thanks again!

Thanks so much for the advice! I'll have a rod set up with a jig, senko, crank, fluke or magic shad, and my new favorite...a nice 12" juicy worm haha. I'll be planning out my locations soon, hopefully my partner and I do well

If you're looking for a place out east, I would say pick the chick if you're not including the family...not much to do there with the whole fam. But a great place to fish (from a boat)

So I guess cranks and senkos are key. And yes I am fishing the CNU tourny...just trying to do some homework before heading over there. But what do guys think about flukes or magic shads right now at waller mills? Also have you guys fished there recently? I was wondering where the baitfish are right now...in the canal...back in the coves? Thanks for the help!

I have a tournament this weekend at a place called Waller Mills Reservoir in Williamsburg, VA. I won't have a chance to prefish it so I was wondering if anyone has fished it recently or even ever. What kind of structure is there? Good population of large bass? Good bait fish population? Thanks!

Went out on saturday before the cold front hit on sunday and they were really aggressive. Caught 8+ fish within a few hours. Found a few schools of bait fish and caught 3 bass off one school with a lake fork magic shad (perfect for fall fishing). And then moved off of the schools to find some bigger bass on some docks with 12" worms and got a 5-6 pounder, and a few others in the 3 pound range.