Golden Gate State Park.

Since our first nice fishing trip up to these ponds our boys friend has been dying to go up here to experience some of the great pond fishing as Golden Gate State park.   We finally managed to get up here last weekend with him having a sleepover.  The fishing was a little slower as it has not been stocked in a while but we still managed to pull out a couple nice stocked trout the boys really enjoyed the smaller ponds you could see the fish prowling the water looking for something to eat.  This is the only picture I managed to get as I forgot to grab my camera before leaving and my phone died quickly as there is not much cell service up there.   Golden Gate has got to be one of my favorite spots to go that we have found in our short time here in Colorado.  This park has some great day hikes, nice fishing, and spots for the wife to take pictures.  A day spent fishing is a day worth living!

Gross Reservoir

With the fall colors in full bloom we decided to make a run into a new area thinking we would hit a nice fall colors and maybe some fishing in the South Boulder Creek.  Quickly we realized that the canyon from Boulder held not aspens, but instead were all evergreen trees.  So making our way to what I thought was going to be some creek fishing we came upon Gross Reservoir.  Following a dirt road it winds back down the mountain a bit before coming back to the dam.  There is a pull off for the South Boulder Creek but the wife showed no interest in climbing down the mountain to watch me and the boy fish.  We decided to head to the lake to try our luck there.  I have spent a lot of time shore fishing not being a bait fisherman my luck has never been that good.  I grabbed the poles and headed to the lake.  Surprised to find no one on the bank fishing I thought well this isn't going to go well.  Forever a sucker for fishing I jogged down to the shore to try my luck anyways.  Using a Mepps XD silver/gold http://www.mepps.com/information/xd/145#description found at the link.  On my first cast I thought I had a hit.  Throwing quickly back out I hooked into a nice little rainbow.

Within minutes both me and the boy were pulling in trout on every other cast. 

Most of them were in the smaller 6-8 inch range but we did manage to hook into a few 12+ inch in size.

After about 30 mins the area started to slow we were fishing on a small inlet close to shore they were biting on just about any lure we threw out leading me to believe they were recently stocked.

The area is one I would definitely recommend especially to bring the younger ones to. 

We moved to the very end of the area we were at and managed to get a few nicer size fish to follow the lure but it always seemed like the little ones came out of nowhere and snatched up the lure. 

When we got home I did a little more research on the lake.  I can't wait to go back and get a boat on the water as there are Lakers, Kokanee, Cutts, and Musky in this water.  This is a place I will add to the go back soon category.  Rules for the lake.  Only hand propelled watercraft no wading or swimming.  Remember to catch and release, and bring a kid fishing. http://www.denverwater.org/Recreation/GrossReservoir/

Another Trip to Chatfield Ponds.

Had a chance on Thursday to take the boy down to Chatfield again.  Throwing on some new lures we got from www.fishhound.com.  Most of the lures on this site are bass or salt water wish they would get in some trout stuff, but it gives me a reason to go out and try my luck on the ponds. 

Yes that is a blue gill man are there some monsters in these ponds.  I caught this one on a white curly tail grub I already had tied on. 

Boy caught this one fishing a bass popper.  These are some aggressive fish.

Nice little bass I picked up on the same popper. 

Caught many a fish with the lures we got from Fishhound and Mister Twister.  We were using these:
http://www.mistertwister.com/products/bargain-bin/index.php?fid=69&familyname=Split+Double+Tail+Grub
http://www.mistertwister.com/products/bargain-bin/index.php?fid=61&familyname=G-Grub
http://www.fishhound.com/gearproduct/slick-spin-green-glow-12oz.
With the ability to get lures to test keeps me fishing alot more then if I had to go buy every one.  Remember to catch and release!!

 

Guanella pass road

Took a nice trip up Guanella Pass today mostly to get pictures, but did manage to toss the line in a bit.  Had some nice chasers no real catches to talk about.  The view was absolutely awesome with the fall colors in full effect.  Worth the trip during fall is best watch out for the traffic and random people stopping to look as the leaves changing.

No pictures of fish sorry just some nice landscapes by Take the Backroads!

West Fork Clear Creek/Empire Winter Park Road

Every now and then you do have to take a break from the fishing.  A nice drive trip to the west fork of Clear Creek.  The water was running very clear making it tough to coax the native trout to chase down our lures.  While we didn't hook into any we had alot of chasers. 

Finding alot of rapids running into deep pools the late start in the day may have had something to do with the lack of fish caught.  May have been more action if we had brought the fly rods.

Hmm maybe this is why the fish are so jumpy.  Big bear paws tend to make fish a little spooked when you are wading in the river.  We did find a few nice spots that I am looking forward to trying when we have a little more time in the day to really fish them.  Hopefully we can get back up there before the snow hits.

Fox Hollow Golf Course

Had a few spare minutes after work tonight so took the boy over to Fox Hollow Golf Course.  Sitting just below Bear Creek Lake he told me with friends he was catching alot of Smallies Just below the Dam.  After About 5 Casts with a white curly tail grub this guy hit my line.

While we didn't catch anything of any size to talk about other then the crayfish The little had a ball catching alot of small Smallies.  Defintely a great place to take the young ones to get them into fishing just watch out for golf balls flying by.  Try hooking on a white curly tail grub and swimming it we also did well with a Red/Gold  MEPPS XD.

Did he really try to eat that the Rapala is almost as big as he is!

Best one of the night.

Have fun fishing and remember even if you only have a few minutes you can find a place to fish in Denver!

Chatfield Res.

With a few hours to burn me and the boy decided to give Chatfield a go.   Our first time at the park we had heard there are some small ponds to the south of the lake that were decent fishing.  We loaded up the poles and took off in search of some evening fishing.  This is a state park so if you do not have an annual pass you will have to pay to get in.  We found the a parking lot by the first pond and started fishing.  It looks like it was used mostly for boating so after a few minutes we decided to move on.  With a couple casts into the Dog Training pond we caught this.

Hoping for some bigger fish we decided to move on.  I saw some other people fishing, but looks like they were after catfish.  After a bit of a walk and alot of Poison Ivy( it was everywhere so consider yourself warned),  we came upon another pond with alot of weeds.  With the first cast I managed to catch a nice sized Bluegill. 

This pond turned out to be very productive.

Nice Bass the boy caught on a popper!

Did that bluegill really manage to get that gigantic popper in his mouth?

 All in all I would rate this area very good for fishing. All fish were released.