Fishing Colorado: Chatfield Westlands

A chip off the Old Block. Chatfield State Park 2007
My Dad and Brother hit the trail near the Westland Ponds at Chatfield Reservoir today, a fish’s worst nightmare. The occasional opportunity to fish warm water in Colorado is a welcome one. A stark contrast from the alpine streams and glacier lake fishing I’m used to. It is a whole other ball game here, instead of trout and salmon; we are fishing for pan fish like small and large mouth bass, crappie, and Blue Gil. The gear and rigs are different. Although I’m not very good here, I usually have to borrow a setup, it is some of my favorite type of fishing.
Today we chucked crank bait, jigs, spoons and even a few dry flies at the pond fish and came up empty. I think our late start had something to do with it. Jeep(my) mechanical difficulties caused about a 60 minute delay on our launch time. We caught the hottest part of the day but no fish.

Noteworthy: My Bro saves a “sunk on the day” by pulling a couple trout out of the South Platte River. Our second stop today.

Fishing Colorado: East Inlet

Sometimes the only thing between you and a great day fly fishing on the river is a few miles of pine forest. 18+ fish caught and released.

Note worthy: JP caught a fish on his first cast today. It was also the biggest of the day.