fishing

Early Ice Fishing
Blue ice. Photo credit to the North Dakota Game and Fish Dept.Up until the mid-1960s Colorado, like many other states, had a trout fishing season. The season was typically opened in April and closed in October. As a result, ice fishing was something of an unknown, practiced primary by those hearty souls of the upper Midwest states like Minnesota and North Dakota. Once the trout season was abolished, Colorado anglers began to get the hang of fishing the hard water.

Ice fishing has grown more popular in Colorado over the past decade. In fact, nearly one third of all Colorado anglers engage in the activity between December and late February. Portable fish locators and other equipment and gadgets have increased angler success and have made it easier to go ice fishing.

To make matters even better, the Division of Wildlife has stocked thousands of catchable rainbow trout in many ice fishing waters this fall. See the Stocking Report. The fish average is about 11 inches but some run bigger. Because of the popularity of ice fishing, the movement of fish from production units to lakes in the fall actually helps those units gear up for the following year’s production. Another plus of stocking these larger fish in the fall is that substantial numbers survive the winter and are available to anglers in the spring when the ice melts.

Of course trout aren’t the only species that are sought by knowledgeable ice fishermen. Other quarry include crappie, kokanee salmon, lake trout, walleye and yellow perch. Many of the state’s most popular waters contain a mix of these species, along with various trout species.

The one thing to be mindful of is thin ice. Even if the weather has been well below freezing for some time, ice can still be marginal. Under every safety decision lies water that can quickly and easily kill you. For more information, see Ice Fishing Safety.

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