The 4 Best Fishing Spots in Colorado

Colorado is well known for being an outdoors person’s paradise. The state is overflowing with breathtakingly beautiful landscapes and equally awe-inspiring wildlife. The Centennial state, as it’s nicknamed, is famous for its vast forests, mountains, mesas, hot-springs, canyons, deserts and sand dunes. Thanks to its varying terrain, Colorado offers a variety of activities that draw in numerous tourists every year. People come to Colorado to enjoy hiking, mountain biking, horse-riding, skiing, canoeing, and even just relaxing in the thick of nature.

But did you know that this Rocky Mountain state is home to excellent fishing spots too? With thousands of miles of rivers teeming with fish along with more than 4,000 reservoirs and lakes full of prize-winning catches, Colorado has it all!

Colorado has so much to offer in terms of fishing, but we have narrowed our list down to four of the best fishing destinations in the state. Here they are:

1.   Gore Creek

Gore Creek is one of the most popular places to fish for trout in Colorado. Unfortunately for anglers searching for solitude, during busy periods, this perfect trout stream can draw in a lot of traffic. The prize-winning big fish caught here makes the possibility of putting up with a crowd well worth it though.

While visiting Gore Creek, anglers should be sure to follow a few simple rules set in place to help preserve the stock:

• Anglers are to only use artificial lures and flies
• If you want to keep a trout, it must be a minimum of 16 inches.
• The catch-and-keep limit is two, but anglers are encouraged to release every fish they catch in order to best preserve this Gold Medal stream’s impressive stock

The most common catches at Gore Creek are:

• Cutthroat trout
• Brook trout
• Brown trout
• Rainbow trout

2.   St.Vrain State Park, Longmont

St. Vrain State Park offers multiple fishing spots, making fishing the most popular activity the park has to offer. As such, a map of the park and its ponds may prove to be helpful.

The park offers a wide variety of fishing opportunities. Some of the most notable opportunities provided by the park are the chances to catch impressive specimens of trout and bass. Trout fishing in St. Vrain hits its peak in the fall. Ideal trophy bass fishing spots are The Great Blue Heron reservoir and Bald Eagle Pond. Ice fishing is also very popular in the park throughout the winter months.

There are rules and regulations set for each body of water within St. Vrain. For example, there is a catch-and-keep limit of four trout per angler, and Bald Eagle Pond is strictly catch-and-release when it comes to the bass caught there.

St. Vrain’s fishing ponds are filled with:

• Rainbow Trout
• Channel Catfish
• Largemouth Bass
• Smallmouth Bass
• Yellow Perch
• Bluegill
• Black Crappie
• Redear Sunfish
• Northern Pike
• Black Bullhead – most commonly found in Coot Pond
• Sauger – Pelican Pond
• Common Carp – Mallard, Sandpiper, Killdeer, Coot, & Pintail Ponds
• Grass Carp – Pelican & Bald Eagle Ponds
• White Sucker – Coot & Pintail Ponds
• Gizzard Shad – Pintail, Coot, & Bald Eagle Ponds

3.   Chambers Lake

Located approximately 3 hours northwest of Denver in the Roosevelt National Forest, Chambers Lake is perfect for anglers seeking adventure. Not only does this lake boast surprisingly large trout, it offers outdoorsy people great camping and wildlife viewing opportunities.

This 250-acre man-made lake may very well be the best ice fishing spot in Colorado, but offers wonderful fishing opportunities throughout the year. If you are planning to visit during the summer months, it’s highly recommended to take advantage of the boat ramp and trolling across the lake.

Chambers Lake is a great spot to catch:

• Rainbow Trout
• Cutthroat Trout
• Lake Trout
• Kokanee Salmon

4.   Eleven Mile Reservoir

Eleven Mile Reservoir’s currents, landscape and sheer size makes it an angler’s dream fishing destination. It is an expansive 3,400-acre body of water most known for its massive Rainbow Trout. But it also boasts other big fish too, like Kokanee Salmon, which are most commonly found towards the north side of the reservoir near the Dream Stream area.

Eleven Mile Reservoir is a popular destination all year round. This reservoir gives Chambers Lake a run for its money for Colorado’s best ice fishing spot.

Like most fishing spots, there are rules and regulations anglers need to follow when fishing Eleven Mile Reservoir. Bag limits are pretty straightforward:

• When trout fishing, you may catch up to four fish. Only two of the trout you choose to keep can be longer than 16 inches.
• There is no limit on the number of Northern Pike you can keep.
• You may catch 10 Kokanee salmon daily, all year around.

Common catches in Eleven Mile Reservoir include:

• Rainbow Trout
• Cutthroat Trout
• Brown Trout
• Northern Pike
• Kokanee Salmon
• Yellow Perch
• White Sucker