Bass fishing in Colorado?

[th365thli]

Me and my gal are trying to move away from Cali, and Denver is one of the options. Any good bass fishing in the area? I hear trout fishing gets crazy because of all the crowds. "Combat fishing" is the term thrown around. Was hoping that meant bass fishing was easier to manage. 

[TotalNoob]

I live in Southern Colorado but I can tell you for Bass fishing the Denver area has a lot of ponds that guys chase LMBs. Most folks are after 5-6lb LMBs as their PBs, the vast majority fall well under this range. I'm sure there's the scarce 7 or 8lber somewhere. 

 

There are some Reservoirs up there with Bass (cherry creek, chatfield, Quincy). If you're coming to Colorado from California I can unfortunately just about guarantee you'll be disappointed in terms of Bass fishing. Smallmouths and some lakes with stocked Wipers are likely what you'll find yourself targeting.

 

I have heard of combat fishing in the Denver area, I know a lot of guys are up and fishing long before the sun due to the pressure. I've also heard combat fishing as referenced to fly fishing the "dream stream", a stretch of river running down from Spinney and Elevenmile Reservoirs (west of Colorado Springs). Trout (of course) are big here and not so commonly known, Walleyes are big here as well. 

[Dorado]

I’m from Denver. Check out Lowell Ponds and Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Bluegills are the main forage.  Think 4” senkos (GP w/ Blck Flk) wacky-rigged. You will catch LMB on that rig. Concentrate on the reed shores 

 

For smallies, fish the riprap at Chatfield. They like SK 2.5 in red chili craw. Slip bobber rig with Gulp AliVe Minnows will catch smallies and nice walleyes too!

[justin apfel]

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. 

[JackKlassen]

I too have been wondering about the bass fishing in CO. I've lived and bass fished in MN my whole life and am going to college in Boulder this year. I can't imagine the bass in CO get as pressured by as skilled of anglers as in MN and especially Cali.

[Dirtyeggroll]

Might be moving to Denver in July. What can I expect around the Denver area? Not gonna have a lot of time to travel much (maybe 1-2 hours at best) more than a couple times per year. Should I sell my boat and most of my gear and just keep the essentials for bank fishing and start thinking about trout?

[FryDog62]

I’ve considered moving there due to family in that area.  Have watched quite a few YouTube videos on the lakes near Denver.  Bass are more 1-2 lbs with the occasional bigger fish.  The Bassmasters league winning bag is typically 8-10 lbs.  So bass are overall not what you’d find elsewhere but they are there.  
 

Obviously there are trout in the streams and reservoirs.  But some of the best fishing is for walleye (and some very big ones) as well as some quality wipers.  

[Caliyak]

The Nature of Fishing YouTube channel is from Colorado. He has in-depth vids 

On 3/26/2019 at 1:14 AM, th365thli said:

Me and my gal are trying to move away from Cali, and Denver is one of the options. Any good bass fishing in the area? I hear trout fishing gets crazy because of all the crowds. "Combat fishing" is the term thrown around. Was hoping that meant bass fishing was easier to manage. 

 

[VolFan]

There's plenty of bass to fish for in CO, both largemouth and smallmouth. Its not Florida, but you can still get plenty of good fish, and dont overlook public city ponds. In my experience, theres not a ton of pressure on bass there outside of a few well-know "bass lakes" (Quincy or RMA for example).  There are both large and smallmouth bass over 8 lbs there.  The best thing about CO is the incredible diversity of species - you can fish lmb,smb, trout, catfish, perch, and pike sometimes all in the same lake or within a few minutes of each other.

[roadwarrior]

CO record smallmouth is 6 1/2 lbs.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=co+smallmouth+state+record&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS848US848&oq=co+smallmouth+state+record&aqs=chrome..69i57j33l5.16523j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[VolFan]

That is very true, but I have personally seen more than one fish out of Denver and Boulder reservoirs that were weighed on accurate but not certified scales that were over 8 lbs., of both species.  Most of the larger reservoirs get trout stockings and the large bass will actually school on the plants, in some lakes mixed in with 10 lb+ wipers and sometimes walleye. Truly some unique fisheries.

 

(But thanks for the verifiable fact-check ?)

[justin apfel]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:36 PM, Dirtyeggroll said:

Might be moving to Denver in July. What can I expect around the Denver area? Not gonna have a lot of time to travel much (maybe 1-2 hours at best) more than a couple times per year. Should I sell my boat and most of my gear and just keep the essentials for bank fishing and start thinking about trout?

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. 

On 12/21/2019 at 8:30 AM, FryDog62 said:

I’ve considered moving there due to family in that area.  Have watched quite a few YouTube videos on the lakes near Denver.  Bass are more 1-2 lbs with the occasional bigger fish.  The Bassmasters league winning bag is typically 8-10 lbs.  So bass are overall not what you’d find elsewhere but they are there.  
 

Obviously there are trout in the streams and reservoirs.  But some of the best fishing is for walleye (and some very big ones) as well as some quality wipers.  

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. 

1 hour ago, VolFan said:

That is very true, but I have personally seen more than one fish out of Denver and Boulder reservoirs that were weighed on accurate but not certified scales that were over 8 lbs., of both species.  Most of the larger reservoirs get trout stockings and the large bass will actually school on the plants, in some lakes mixed in with 10 lb+ wipers and sometimes walleye. Truly some unique fisheries.

 

(But thanks for the verifiable fact-check ?)

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?

[Bassfishingfred]

 

PUEBLO RES

[Bassfishingfred]