***REMINDER*** Fishing licenses expire end of the weekend. If you haven’t bought your 2024 license don’t forget to pick it up before the end of March.
This week has brought some warmer water temps, most lakes are in the mid-40s and the ponds are pushing 50 degrees. With these warmer temps, fish activity is increasing daily. Just the last few days I’ve noticed schools of bluegills in the ponds pushing into the shallow water in the afternoon. This usually means the shallows are warming and bug activity has started.
I was able to make it out a few times this week to local ponds and a lake. The common theme I’ve seen is the bite seems to start improving about noon. The walleye bite on many of the lakes is best from about 7 until midnight. While my best bass bite in the ponds has been about 3-6 pm.
Hot Bites
Lots of trout are being stocked and the action is fast for these. Boyd, Lon Hagler, and St. Vrain have all received trout recently. Whites and metallic colors have been best for getting the trout to bite.
Walleyes look at the low light periods. The spawn is still happening and from about 6:30 pm on the walleyes are moving to the shallows. Try swimbaits, twisters, and jerkbaits moving slowly.
Bass are turning on in the ponds. Vibrating jigs and swimbaits were the best lures for me. The best color has been white and a slow steady retrieve.
Panfish - look for the shallow mucky areas. Try fishing small jigs tipped with a piece of worm under a float.
CPW NEWS
CPW has wrapped up its walleye spawning operation at Cherry Creek. The state was able to collect almost 120 million eggs from Cherry Creek and Pueblo, which will be hatched at one of a couple of hatcheries in the state. Most of these fish will be stocked as fry (just several days old) and some will be raised to fingerling size to stock at an inch or two. Colorado has one of the largest walleye spawning operations in the nation. I want to give kudos to the CPW staff and volunteers who made this year’s spawning operation a success!
With the spawning operation at Cherry Creek wrapped up the dam closure has been lifted. This time of year large fish are more available for anglers to catch, if you do go out chasing walleyes the next month or so, practice selective harvest. Keep the smaller fish, of legal size, if you want a meal, and let the larger fish go for others to have a chance to enjoy.
ANS UPDATE
Starting April 1 some additional lakes are opening for boating and some changes to the ANS hours on those lakes already open. Here are the hours that change starting April 1.
Boyd - 7a to 7p
Barr - opening 8a April 1
Cherry Creek - West ramp 7 days a week 6a to 6p; East ramp F-Sun 6a to 6p
Chatfield - North and South ramps 6a to 8p
Horsetooth - South Bay 7a to 7p
Carter - North Pines 7a to 7p
KIDS FISHING OPPORTUNITY
There are still a few slots available for the kids fishing event in Fort Collins being hosted by Little Wilderness at the Colorado Youth Outdoors facility on April 14 from 9 am to 2 pm. This is a great event filled with education, fun, and fishing on some great ponds! Lunch is provided.
For all the details and get one of the remaining spots CLICK HERE
FLP FISHING TIP - Keep it slow
Even with the warming water temps, one mistake I often see happening is people fishing too fast in the spring. The mornings are still flirting with freezing. Slowing down your presentation will lead to additional bites from all species. This could mean fishing under a float, using a suspending jerk bait, or slowing down your retrieve.
I’m heading to the lake and will be reminding myself to keep it slow.
FISHING FUNNIES