Lakes are starting to fill, ice is holding on and warmer weather is bringing dreams of open-water fishing.
Hit the ice a couple of times this week. Ice is holding around the 9” range up north. The top several inches are snow ice and the bottom is still good clear ice. We should have at least another 10 days of ice fishing. I was out chasing panfish and bass, they are starting to get a little finicky. Natural colors were producing more bites with a quick bouncing action. One thing that can help you get more bites when using a spinning reel, is to feather the line out when the jig is dropping. By this I mean have a finger slowing down the drop rate and stop a few times going down. This reduces the line twist and will give your jig a more natural look when it gets down to the fish. (An inline ice reel almost eliminates this problem.) With the warmer temps and snow melt there is some runoff hitting the lake edges, and they will start to get soft. Make sure to bring your safety gear and really be cautious when leaving the ice later in the day.
As for local ice bites. Lon Hagler continues to produce trout and wipers. Chatfield and Douglas are still the top walleye/sauger producers. With the snow on top of the ice starting to melt, really target the twilight hours to get more bites. St. Vrain is another good bet if you are wanting some trout and panfish, try getting away from the crowds. The less activity on the ice surface the more bites you’ll get.
Lake information. There is water running into both North Sterling and Prewitt. Prewitt is getting a pretty full ditch, this will cause the ice to come off quickly out there. Might be worth checking out the inlet area for some early fishing, hopefully, a good number survived the low water last fall.
Horsetooth, Carter, and Chatfield are all rising. Chatfield has come up about 1 foot in the last 2 weeks, Horsetooth is up 6 feet in the last month, and the winner in the lake-filling race is Carter that has come up 16 feet in the past month. Let’s hope they keep the water flowing in!
Snowpack as of Feb. 7th has dropped a little and is now sitting at 111% and 57% of the peak. This week’s forecast doesn’t look like we will be getting much fresh snow. Let’s hope next week brings back the mountain snows.
CPW News
Good news from CPW, during the low water this past summer at Jumbo CPW was able to repair the rails for the fish screens on the outlet. This will allow them to raise one screen to clean while the other is lowered, thus drastically reducing the number of fish escaping out of the ditch. While the repairs were being completed a salvage/seining operation was conducted for the area around the outlet. A large number of fish were returned to the main lake that included: walleye, white crappie, black crappie, perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, green sunfish, hybrid sunfish, gizzard shad, and even a few wiper. While a large number of carp were removed during the salvage. Let’s hope the fish salvaged is a sign that the lake was not a complete loss and will rebound quicker.
Heads up for anglers and hunters who want to be involved in decisions going on at CPW, there is a NE Sportsmen’s Caucus mtg on Feb. 15, 6 pm in the Hunter Ed Bldg at 6060 Broadway in Denver. Topics to be covered include the wolf plan, new parks passes, fishery updates, big game license allocation, and waterfowl season dates.
Cherry Creek and Chatfield - fishery survey trends
First a quick disclaimer. Fishery surveys are a 1-time snapshot that can be impacted by rising or falling water levels, water temperature, weather changes, and more. What I’ve done is take a look at the last 3 netting samples done on both these lakes (‘18, ‘21, & ‘22) to look at the trends. Looking at the Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) which figured out the number of fish caught in the nets per hour the nets were in the water. Then I also looked at the percentage of the catch in Relative Stock Density (RSD) which is assigned size groups of each species - for example, walleye are grouped in up to 10”, 10-15”, 15-20”, 20-25”, 25-30” and over 30” whereas largemouth bass is up to 8”, 8-12”, 12-15”, 15-20”, 20-25” and over 25”.
Hopefully, this information will help you make a more educated decision on where to fish this summer. I will do this for other lakes along the front range over the next couple of months.
Cherry Creek
Walleye are the #1 fish in the lake, there isn’t even a close second.
A large number of walleye with a trend to increased numbers of 20”+ fish.
The number of 15”+ largemouth bass has been increasing.
Chatfield
Has a lower CPUE for walleye than Cherry Creek. Hopefully the stocking of fingerlings last spring will help the CPUE raise back up.
It does have a better number of 25”+ walleye showing up in the sampling.
Smallmouth bass has increased the number of 17”+ fish.
There is a good number of 12-16” rainbow trout.
Remember the total number of fish does not always equate to better fishing. Other factors like the amount of baitfish and how hungry the fish are plays a big role. This can be seen in the difference in walleye bite between Cherry Creek (loooaded with shad) and Chatfield (very weak shad spawn this past year).
FLP Fishing Tip: Presentation - different types of fishing lines
Monofilament, fluorocarbon, and braided fishing lines are the three main types of fishing lines used by anglers.
Monofilament is made of a single strand of nylon and is known for its good knot strength and high stretch, which can absorb the shock of a hard-fighting fish. Monofilament is also relatively inexpensive and available in a wide range of colors.
I mainly use it for trolling and casting crankbaits, slip floats, spinners in streams and occasionally jigging live bait. Al Lindner is a firm believer in using mono for Jigging Raps.
Good for learning to use baitcasters and kids. Least expensive to replace when birds nests/tangles happen, and they will happen. That is one guarantee of fishing!
Mono will float, making it the top choice for topwater lures.
When choosing mono, go with limber lines for spinning reels and more abrasion resistant for baitcasters.
All knots will work with mono.
My personal favorite is Sufix Elite for spinning reels, Sufix Siege for baitcasters, and Sufix Advanced for high-end.
Fluorocarbon is made of a dense material that is nearly invisible underwater, making it a popular choice for fishing in clear water. Fluorocarbon is also known for its low stretch, sensitivity, and abrasion resistance.
I mainly use fluoro in my bass/pike fishing bait casters and as leader material for braided line on spinning reels.
Is a good choice when fishing areas with toothy critters aka pike and musky. This will reduce bite-off.
Fluoro sinks in water, giving you more direct contact with your lure. This is not a good choice for topwater lures. It is a good choice when trying to get a lighter lure down deep.
Fluoro is very slick and certain knots will slip out. 2 good knots to use are the Palomar and uni knots.
When splicing a leader to braid try using a uni-to-uni knot or FG knot.
My personal favorite is Sufix Advanced for my baitcasters (14-17 lb test), Sufix Castable Invisiline for leaders on spinning rods (8-10 lb test), and Sufix 100% Fluorocarbon Invisiline Leader for leaders when tooth critters are around (14 lb or larger).
Braided fishing line is made of multiple strands of braided fibers and is known for its high strength and low stretch. Braided line is also more visible underwater than fluorocarbon, but has the advantage of being able to handle heavy weights and heavy-duty fishing applications.
This is the main line I use on most of my spinning reels. I really like the added sensitivity.
Great in weedy situations. The thin diameter will slice through weeds when you hook a fish and does a great job pulling out when you hook a weed. Don’t be afraid to through in the middle of the nasty stuff with braid.
Braid may cost more initially but it will outlast mono and fluoro on a reel.
Braid will float, it you are doing to use it for topwater it is good to add a leader of mono to keep the hooks from tangling up with the braid.
Prefer high-visibility yellow, help me to see bites that are just twitches in the line.
10 lb test braid has been my favorite for spinning reels. On baitcasters I prefer to go to 20 lb plus, with 65 lb test on my musky rigs.
For crappie fishing try using the Sufix Nanobraid, this casts a country mile with tiny jigs. Also works good casting small spinners to trout in lakes.
My personal favorite braid is Sufix 832 in the Hi-Vis Yellow - 10 lb test.
Ultimately, the choice of fishing line will depend on the type of fishing being done and the personal preferences of the angler.
Fishing Funnies