The end may be near, the end of ice fishing on the front range that is. Looking at the 10-day forecast it looks like spring weather is arriving Sunday - highs in the 50’s and lows in the upper 20’s. The northern front range lakes and pond had about 3-5” of ice early this week, the warmer weather has been putting lots of water on the ice in the afternoons and I’ve been hearing of some honeycombing starting. For those of you newer to ice fishing, honeycombing is when the ice melts/softens and starts getting water in it, it usually appears greyer and comes up in more “chucks” than fresh ice when drilling a hole. Honeycombed ice does not have the strength of early ice, meaning it does not support the same amount of weight per inch of ice, and it doesn’t stand up to warm temperatures. For this ice angler, once honeycombing becomes prevalent I usually stop my ice fishing and start getting my open water gear ready.
I have heard that some of the ice at Chatfield and Cherry Creek is in a little better condition than the northern front range. I saw that Cherry Creek had just under 10” this morning. For those of you interested in a local ice fishing contest, the Ice Addiction Derby scheduled for Feb. 3 at Chatfield has been moved to Cherry Creek. This is a fun event with a chance to win some great prizes. The Three Lakes Tournament up at Granby is going on this weekend. That is always a fun event with lots of good fishing and camaraderie. Be cautious this year as there is lots of slush, up to a foot, on top of the ice and under the snow. Make sure to pack some tall rubber boots to keep your feet dry and you might want to look at fishing places closer to shore.
HOT BITES
With the ever-changing ice conditions along the front range, I’m going to recommend heading up into the hills. The ice is holding up well in those areas. Fish are starting to act like late ice heavily pressured fish, my advice is to downsize your presentation to get more bites and reduce your noise on the ice. That includes drilling a bunch of new holes and walking around. Talking to a buddy in MN a few days ago, he and a buddy were out fishing crappies on Monday, they were using forward-facing sonar watching schools of fish. My buddy mentioned that schools of crappies in 30’ of water were moving 75-100’ away from his buddy just walking over to another hole.
For those not wanting to venture out on late-season ice or travel to the hills, it’s great weather to start getting your open-water fishing gear ready. The first thing I do is check the line on my reels and replace those that seem frayed or those that are coiled up. I’ll do a tip on this in next week’s newsletter.
CPW NEWS
I heard a report of some trout being stocked at St. Vrain State Park this past week.
There will be a Northeast Sportspersons Caucus meeting on Feb. 15th in Loveland starting at 6 pm. Click on the link for PRESS RELEASE for more details.
RADIO
I’ll be on Terry Wickstrom Outdoors on Saturday at 9:30 am talking about current ice conditions and some prepping for open water fishing. Terry’s show can be heard on 104.3 FM from 9-11 am on Saturdays.
HORSETOOTH RESERVOIR LAKE BREAKDOWN
For those of you new to the newsletter, I try to do lake breakdowns of the major fisheries in the northeast annually. This breakdown in my opinion on the condition of the fishery and some angling tips from the perspective of an avid angler, guide, and fishery biologist. The information I use to put these together using information from CPW sampling, personal experience, lake level impacts, information from fellow anglers, and more. My goal with these breakdowns is to give information that helps readers understand what to expect on these bodies of water and catch more fish this year.
2023 Fish Stockings:
Walleye - 3.6 million fry. (remember fry have a low survival rate. These are stocked to supplement the natural reproduction that takes place in Horsetooth)
Trout - 40,000 stocker trout. They typically range in size from 7-10” when stocked. These are spread out over 10 different stockings.
2024 Status of Fishery
Smallmouth Bass - the CPW sampling showed consistent numbers of smallmouth caught and 33% of the fish caught were from 11-17 inches. There will be good fishing for good-sized smallies. This lake is one of the best lakes for numbers of smallmouth bass, but not a trophy smallmouth lake. There are occasional fish over 18” but they are rare. One of my go-to’s is a 3/32-1/8 oz ned rig with a green pumpkin plastic.
Walleye - numbers have remained steady. The size structure shows this may be the best lake in NoCo for quality walleyes with a chance at a trophy, over 50% of the fish sampled in 2023 were over 20”, and 10% were over 25”. Remember this lake has a primary forage of smelt. This causes the walleye to act a little differently than most of the other lakes in NoCo. Spend time looking for schools of smelt and look for walleye associated close to these schools. The walleyes move to the main lake by early June and will stay out there the rest of the year. Trolling at night for suspended walleyes can be good from July to September.
Trout - CPW stocked a good number of trout this year and Horsetooth always has good numbers of larger holdover trout. There is a good opportunity early in the year to catch trout from shore in the marina cove. Try jigs and white curly tails fished slowly near the bottom in the middle of the day and mid-water column during the lower light periods.
Wiper and White Bass - both were sampled in similar numbers to the past samplings. The majority of white bass are over 12” and the wipers top end is above 20”. Look for both below the schools of bait fish. I had my best luck catching them trolling Down Deep Husky Jerks in the black wonderbread color.
Water levels stayed high last summer and are starting in a good situation over the winter. As the water levels start to rise in the spring look for the smallmouth bass and trout to move back into the coves.
There is a mercury warning for fish consumption from Horsetooth. Check the CPW website for more information.
FISHING FUNNIES