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Chatfield 4/22/06

2K views 21 replies 16 participants last post by  laker taker 
#1 ·
Me and couple of friends got on the lake at 7:45 am. The lake was already getting full of boats and folks were water sking if you can believe that.  We were draging leaches and worms.  We did manage to land a keeper Walleye 5 minutes after getting their.  We were off to a good start but that was it for our boat.  :'( ???  We were off the water by 11:00 am.

I think they should be going by next week.  I will be back on the water on Thursday to test my theory.
 
#2 ·
I really dont like the water skiers & boaters.... anyone besides fishermen i guess haha.... this is my first year fishing chatfield and i was enjoying the cold azz weather cause there was nobody out there. This is really starting to suck lol. So many people.... but thats to be expected i guess.... I saw some dude just running laps in his boat the other night... just around and around in circles for so long.... if thats entertainment lol.... he can have it.


GJ on the 'eye - i have never even caught one.
 
#3 ·
The guy doing laps may have just been trying to put some hours on his new, (or recently rebuilt) engine. It's not a lot of fun around here to try to do but it beats driving to Pueblo or Glendo to do it! Definately agree that sometimes the skier traffic gets too much out there, but it's going to get worse as the summer goes on!!! At least we have the "No Wake Zones" to fish in when we can't stand it any longer. ;D There are a lot of great fishing spots in those places. It's good to hear of a keeper getting caught. Good Luck and be safe out there. Looney.
 
#5 ·
We got on Chatfield a little later than we wanted to.....about 9:30 AM. Headed over to the No Wake area and then to one of our favorite trout areas in 45' of water. Problem......not one fish showing up on sonar. To say the least, we were stunned. We decided to cruise over to just south of the Swim Beach area. One of two fish showing on sonar, but that was it. Headed toward the outlet and still nothing showing on sonar. Turned am headed north into 30' of water and fish started showing on sonar. Dropped anchor and got the lines out with nightcrawlers on them. Nice schools of fish on sonar, but NOT ONE SINGLE BITE for 2+ hours :mad: ??? ??? :-\ Shoot, I even tried both silver and gold Kastmasters....NOTHING!! :mad: :( ???
By now the wife (and myself) were kind of upset, but it was a nice day to be on the lake. The wind came up, so we left.
While out cruising around the No Wake area, we did talk to a few boaters who told us that they had had no luck either fishing.
Well, the boat is still hooked to the Durango in front of the house and, wind permitting, we will go back out tomorrow 4/23. This time earlier.
Shoot, maybe we should start trying CC. At least the fish there might be biting.
Cody & Wife
 
#6 ·
fishinlooney said:
The guy doing laps may have just been trying to put some hours on his new, (or recently rebuilt) engine.  It's not a lot of fun around here to try to do but it beats driving to Pueblo or Glendo to do it!  Definately agree that sometimes the skier traffic gets too much out there, but it's going to get worse as the summer goes on!!!  At least we have the "No Wake Zones" to fish in when we can't stand it any longer. ;D  There are a lot of great fishing spots in those places.  It's good to hear of a keeper getting caught.  Good Luck and be safe out there.  Looney.
The 'No Wake' zones. Our place of relative calm on the weekends. Occasionally an idiot will ignore the
buoys and speed through them but it is usually quiet and calm. Also, they can hold some nice fish.
 
#7 ·
"I'm aaaaaaahhlllright, no need to worry bout' me, don't got to give me a thang', why dontcha' just let me be, bow, bow, bow.........."
 Okay, did anyone else yesterday feel as if they were in a really bad remake of Caddyshack???  Man, there were a lot of boats out there to say the least.  Like many of you, I took some refuge in the no wake zone and only managed one 17 1/2" walleye, doh!  I'll catch about five keeper per hundred walleyes caught, with a majority of them being 17", oh well.  
 Like you guys said, fishing was slow, so I braved it over to some of my favorite spots located within the Caddyshack zone.  I did manage 3 smallies on tube jigs and a really nice bow on a Luckycraft staysee, along the dam.  But the constant chop, along with the wind was making it tough to manage.
 I should know better than to fish Chatfield on a nice weekend day, never again!(I know, famous last words that I intend to, but never seem to live by).  I know that everyone has the right, hmmm, strike that, more accurately, the priviledge to use Chatfield.  However, I must say, common sense often times flies right out the window on that lake.  I am always stunned by how some *&%#@!'s feel the need to give fishermen, their version of a fly by and weave in and out of boats, often times very close to the dam.  I for one think that they should have a no wake zone extending out, say, 100 yards from the dam.  Also, I thought that the lake had a 40mph limit.  On busy weekends, that place is a serious accident just waiting to happen.  I think that I"ll avoid it, unless the weather is cool, cloudy and less attractive to the Rodney Dangerfield types.
 Okay, enough ranting, fishing was okay under the circumstances but slow for sure.  In the coming weeks and increased water temps soon to be in the 60's, the walleyes should come out of their funk and turn on nicely, maybe even some keepers, :).  Good luck to all.


   
   
 
#8 ·
That eye may only be 17.5 but unlike last year it has some girth to it! That bodes well for the quality of fish to be caught this year.

Chatfield does have a 40mph limit but some folks know they are not patrolling much early in the year and others are ignorant and some just don't care.

But undersized or not that is a great looking fish!

Dan
 
#9 ·
I am with you all on the boat traffic on the lake. I had to shake my head today when I saw a 36 foot cigarette boat heading towards Chatfield. Far too much boat for that lake. The watercraft traffic there is entirely out of hand, and a serious accident waiting to happen. It would be wise to limit the number of watercraft on the lake, to ENFORCE a speed and behavior program, and perhaps to close either Chatfield or Cherry creek to high speed boat traffic. Just a patrol boat or two on the water would keep people in line, and behaving better.

Just a rant, and I know it would be expensive, but I seem to spend alot on licensing and passes each year.
 
#10 ·
btw and just in case people didn't know, it's not just Chatfield that has a 40mph speed limit, this applies to all Colorado lakes:

http://www.parks.state.co.us/images/content/documents/BoatRegs20061870.pdf

page 16, 6. c. "No vessel shall, under any condition or in any manner, exceed forty (40) miles per hour, except during authorized race events and patrol vessels operating in emergencies."

But I agree that Chatfield can be one of the worst and is a real mess on the weekends...
 
#11 ·
I took my neighbors to Chatfield Saturday night, hoping for some walleyes in the livewell. We got out there about 9 pm and fished until 3:30 am. We only got one keeper 19" walleye. We also hooked up with a half dozen smallies and a few short eyes. We caught them all in the corner of the dam. Most were caught on leeches and crawlers below a slip bobber, but I got the keeper by swimming a 4" Power Minnow just above the rocks. The last two hours we trolled the dam with a spread of stickbaits, but not a bite. Water temp was 53 degrees.

With the upcoming weather, I'd guess Chatty is still about 2-3 weeks away before the action on the dam becomes consistent.
 
#12 ·
A couple freiends and I were also out there on 4/22. Got there at 6:30 and there were probably 20 boats there already. We started out by the swimbeach casting rainbow colored spinners and did'nt catch anything. I then switched to a green rooster tail and caught one 14' bow and then that was it. My buddy forgothis tacklebox in the truck so we went back to the north dock so hecould grab it and then threw out the rainbow colored spinners again but this time trolling them. We only got as far as the tower and my buddy had a real nice cutthroat hit his rod. It turned out to be quite a fighter as it took him about ten minutes to finally land him.He measurd out to be 23' and quite girthy. After that we did'nt even have another bite for three remaining hours that we were there. Oh well nice day out, but we just could'nt handle all the boats out there so we left. Might just have to go out there during the week when traffic is a little lighter. This is my first year having a boat and want to try and catch some differnt fish other then trout.Any helpful tips on what to use would be greatly appreciated. Thanks MQ
 
#13 ·
FishinBud said:
 I for one think that they should have a no wake zone extending out, say, 100 yards from the dam.

I think it should extend 200 yds from all sides of the dam and 200yds out from the marina. Give those water-sport bastards a small circle in the middle to do there thing. We need more lakes like they have in CA. 45mph speed and NO water sports.


[me=Jay_In_Parker] [/me]
 
#15 ·
Man,
  Any enforcement at Chatfield on the weekends would be nice to see.  Like I said, on a busy weekend, that lake is a cross between Caddy Shack and The Great Outdoors (you know, the latter, with Dan Akroyd and John Candy).  In fact, I've seen several boats that both look and sound just like the boat "Eat My Wake" from the movie.  Some of the skiing has been just as humorous, the only downside is, that I think that I've actually eaten some of those clowns' wakes, grrrrrrrr.
       
 
#16 ·
When I pulled into the park at 8:30 on Saturday, I saw some dude pulling a ski boat getting cuffed, probably for DUI. I suspect rangers were watching the lake with high powered binocs, looking for drunken tools ripping around the lake. If so, I hope this helps with the weekend madness.

Basically, if you head out to Chatfield or CC during the daylight hours on a weekend, you should know what you're in for.
 
#17 ·
Milehigh Eyes said:
When I pulled into the park at 8:30 on Saturday, I saw some dude pulling a ski boat getting cuffed, probably for DUI. 
I hope that was 8:30 at night. This time of year inforcment is a little lax however it gets out of control when the water warms up. I got pulled over trolling 4 times in one day last summer. They were doing random checks pulling over every 4th or 5th boat. I see the need for enforcment but that is out of control. They should only be pulling over boats they see breaking the law. I also don't like the idea of Rangers sitting with high powered Binocs spying on us. If I'm not hurting anyone they need to stay out of my business.
 
#18 ·
I’m with all of you on the Metro Reservoirs becoming sketchy to say the least on a warm weekend day. Unfortunately the State Parks Office faces a very limited budget to manage their parks and therefore can’t purchase boats, hire rangers and the sort. So..... It’s our money (taxes, passes permits) that support the State Parks and they are a public agency so let your voices be heard. The more input they get from the public the more justification they have when they go the state legislature for more money. You now how the saying goes: "the squeaky hub gets the oil".

Below is contact info for the state parks and a little blurb I copied off of their website about wanting to hear from us. So let’s get off our duffs (mine too...) and make a difference.


Public Safety and Training Unit:
(303) 791-1954


Web questions: parksinfo@state.co.us


We want to hear from you . . .
At Colorado State Parks, our mission is to provide a spectrum of safe quality outdoor recreation experiences for our visitors while effectively managing the natural resources under our authority.

If you had a memorable experience, good or bad, while at one of our parks, let us know about it. By sharing your stories and comments, you help us better fulfill our goals of serving you and Colorado.
 
#19 ·
Hey F-16, thanks for the link. I just finished sending them a message. Basically, I hit on how at least I believe, there should be a no wake zone along the dam (as that would reduce the amount of inconsiderate behavior of pleasure boaters, skiers and jet skiers), as well as better enforcement of the 40 mph speed limit. Like you indicated, the more they hear from us, the better the chance of some common sense actions being taken in the future. Take care.
 
G
#22 ·
A girl was killed there by a teenager on a jetski. The owners of the ski then tried to cover up the accident and leave the fataly injured girl. The owners of the ski were severely punished by Jeffco courts, rightfully so, but not as harshly as I would have liked to have seen (life in Canyon). When I take my daughter out to the lake in the summer, I really watch her and what's around her.
 
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