[Grabes]

Most people don't know of a medium sized lake south of Pueblo called Lake Beckwith. The lake is located in Colorado City CO in the southern foothills. At one time, Lake Beckwith was almost entirely a warmwater fishery-and an excellent one at that. The only exception was the few trout that made their way into the lake through Greenhorn Creek which feeds the lake . The lake used to be full of aquatic vegetation which amply provided for the higher oxygen demands of warmwater fish. At some point, it was determined by the Colorado City Metropolitan District that the aquatic vegetation had grown out of control and threatened the lake's ability to efficiently provide water for the residents of Colorado City. Therefor, White Amur, a grass-eating carp native to the Amur River in Asia were introduced to progressively reduce the volume of vegetation in a controlled manner and over a five-year period. The fish were supposed to have been certified sterile because they carried an extra chromosome. These sterile fish are commonly referred to as "triploids." Well, mother nature pulled a fast one and the fish reproduced in what seemed to be a nearly exponential fashion. Within one year of their intoduction, the fish completely wiped out evey last plant from the lake. Such a drastic and rapid shift in the lake's ecology caused the vast majority of the fish to die. I still remember walking around the lake as a boy with my father and seeing thousands of dead bluegills intersparsed with medium to hog-sized large mouth bass along the shoreline. After this unfortunate event occurred, the state took over the management of the lake about 10 years ago. The lake was never re-cultivated with vegetation--The only type of growth you'll find today is rockslime which is the same stuff you'll find in home aquariums. The state has essentially converted the lake from an arguably gold medal warmwater fishery to just another tourist lake chaulk full of annoying stocker rainbows and an army of juvenile channel cats. I know all you die-hard trout fishermen are going to disagree with me on this but let's be honest; in Colorado, you can just about stand anywhere in the state and throw a rock in any direction with a very high probability that you will hit a stream, river, pond, or lake where trout can be caught. Conversely, Colorado has very few places that are exclusively populated with warmwater species. Lake Beckwith is in an ideal location, maintains an ideal PH level, and is of an ideal size to support the growth and development of some monster bass, crappie, perch, bluegill, and catfish. It would be fantastic to see the state take steps to ressurect this lake to its former glory--but I am not holding my breath.

 

[woolybuggerman]

Interesting post. As a guy who frequently travels hundreds of miles within Colorado to pursue trout, I don't find them quite so pervasive as you. But your point about mismanagement of our natural resources is well taken. And I'd agree that a return to its natural state would be the most desireable outcome for Beckwith. Good luck getting the bureaucrats to agree with you.

 

[tangledleader]

By posting here you are on the right track to make something happen. Maybe by pasting a link to the DOW in a post, you could convince several people to write them on the subject. One person makes little difference, but a site like this that's dedicated to the enjoying and preserving Colorado's fishing can make big things happen.

 

[earplug]

You havent' been there lately have you?
Our family fished it several time last year and caught LMB, SAUGEYE, CATS and the lowly stocker trout.

 

[TroutFishingBear]

might be good for walleyes too??? And of course, if the panfish get overpopulated, northern pike are superb at keeping a balance in fisheries. Hope this all works out for you.

 

[Grabes]

Earplug: Do you have any pics of the fish you caught at Lake Beckwith? I live about 200 yards from the water's edge. Never in my 22 years of fishing the lake have I ever caught, seen anyone catch, or heard of anyone catching saugeye. I'm not saying that it is imossible, just highly improbable. Even catching a single LMB is a stretch although I will say that I have caught a few small ones out of the lake over the last five years. Are you sure you are not confusing Lake Beckwith with another?

 

[earplug]

I sentt you the picture. You can post it if you want.
I don't have the patience to post here.
Beckwith outside Colorado City.

 

[Grabes]

Its not a bad bass--I've a caught a handful like them, but they are few are far between. I was really hoping you had pics of the saugeye- now that would be impressive. I'll post the pic when I get home from work.

 

[jwtrapper]

I know this is kindof an old post but I thought that I would bring it back from the dead for a little while.

I grew up in Colorado City and could almost hit the lake with a rock from my back yard. I lived just up the hill from the first inlet.

I too remember when the metro "killed" the lake. There where some real hogs just dead along the shore. It was sad to see. The bluegill where thick and had some beef to them. Most people never caught a trout in that lake, and if you did get one it was a nice one. I am very lucky to have lived there as a kid learing to fish. It seems as if even the crawfish numbes have dropped since then.

Since the state has taken it over they have restocked it with some largemouths, saugeyes, and a large number of fingerling cats. I talked with a DOW officer last year while out there fishing and he was telling me about a fish survey that they did on the lake and the numbers seem promissing for the future. Its just too bad that it has taken over 15 years for the lake to start heading back in the right direction. If they could drop the numbers of the carp and stop stocking the trout it will once again become a great warm water lake.

 

[lynmack]

I lived in Colorado City/Rye in 82/83.It was my freshman and sophmore year in highschool and I spent many hours fishing that lake.I had only fished trout until moving down there but it didn't take me long to get largemouth fever.You couldn't keep the gills of your lures,and I caught largies to 4lb,and saw larger.I even caught a nice crappie out of there.I was really bummed to hear what it had turned into.I have some great memories of that lake.


lyn

 

[jwtrapper]

Well I had to go check it out again. ;D

Took my boys down there and fished for a few hours.

4 cats from 12" to 16"
4 crappies approx. 8"
1 largemouth approx. 10"

Lots of smaller cats a few small bass and 1 sunfish.
No crawfish in the trap but I did get a perch in the crawfish trap.
Had a good time and now I have some supper too. ;D

 

[J. Schooley]

I have to agree with him....ive lived in Colorado City for 15 years now and when i first started fishing the lake it was great fishing......Plenty of Crappie , bass. bluegill and perch, and nice brown and rainbow trout.....now it just full of stocker trout which get fished out in no time......not to mention when the DOW took over the lake they opened it to the public which brought more people to the lake and more trash....the only good thing the DOW did was throw Saugeye in but i havent caught one of those in years.....im afraid the same thing is gonna happen to the [email protected] lakes in Pueblo......i live 5 minutes from Lake Beckwith and i dont even bother to fish it.........