Got to Estes at 7:30 am Sunday morning...5$ for vehicle access...found out that the boat needed a $5 daily pass too...available at the Marina...open at 8 am...
Went with my friend Dennis from Greeley...I was on a search mission for reputed walleyes and muskies...lots of fish on the fish finder...used leeches for walleyes near the bottom had about 6 hits...no teeth marks from needle sharp walleye teeth though...couldnt hook them...I think they were stocker Rainbows that werent sure what to do with the leech...Dennis used nightcrawlers and caught stocker Rainbows...I never did hook anything with a leech...
Casted big bucktails with a second rod...didnt see any muskys...wind was swirly and the lake whitecapped at times...saw trout with polarized glasses but like I said no muskies...there is a 36 inch minimum sign up there so they do stock them...
The lake temp was 64...the structure was interesting...water in front of the dam was about 35 feet deep and then came up abruptly on an angle as the rocks on the dam...there were a few fish at the base of the dam...the south side dropped off in a hurry into castable water from shore that reached 20 feet...same for the north shore by the hotel...I was surprised it dropped off as quickly as it did...the west side was only about 5 to 10 feet deep by the no boats line that stretches across the lake to keep boats from the power plant...I am sure it is as a result of the Lawn Lake dam going out back in 1982 and putting a ton of silt in the town of Estes and subsequently Lake Estes itself...it used to be premo brown trout fishery prior to this...there were several humps and trenches/drop offs out there too...all in all pretty interesting...we left around 1 pm...
Next stop Boyd Lake...started in the Marina channel around 4 pm due to lake lice traffic on the main lake...we had had good luck with white bass in there a few weeks ago...fish were scarce...the lake level seems to be down about 10 feet (Horseshoe is way down across the highway)...water temp in the marina channel was 74...we went to the main lake and caught a couple of walleyes around 17 inches and a good sized white bass...all went back...the walleyes were caught drifting leeches and the white bass on a rainbow flavored size 6 Panther Martin...fish were widely scattered...water temp on the main lake was 71...we gave up about 8pm...we were the last trailer in the parking lot...I did catch a miniture small mouth looking bass that looked like it was bleached...I dont think it was a smallie...was it a spotted bass or another variety of bass...
Sorry not much help on Boyd...I am trying to learn more but I have no idea where to go there...it is a fairly structureless bowl..but I do like it for all the varieties of fish in there...I will figure it out...just need more trips...October...no skiers...and still warm...
Also hit north Denver at 9:20 pm...on pace to get home by 10...NOT!...rotomilling of I-25...looks like it will continue for awile...put me home after 11pm...just thought you might want to know for evasive manuevers in the future should you go that way later in the evening...
Went with my friend Dennis from Greeley...I was on a search mission for reputed walleyes and muskies...lots of fish on the fish finder...used leeches for walleyes near the bottom had about 6 hits...no teeth marks from needle sharp walleye teeth though...couldnt hook them...I think they were stocker Rainbows that werent sure what to do with the leech...Dennis used nightcrawlers and caught stocker Rainbows...I never did hook anything with a leech...
Casted big bucktails with a second rod...didnt see any muskys...wind was swirly and the lake whitecapped at times...saw trout with polarized glasses but like I said no muskies...there is a 36 inch minimum sign up there so they do stock them...
The lake temp was 64...the structure was interesting...water in front of the dam was about 35 feet deep and then came up abruptly on an angle as the rocks on the dam...there were a few fish at the base of the dam...the south side dropped off in a hurry into castable water from shore that reached 20 feet...same for the north shore by the hotel...I was surprised it dropped off as quickly as it did...the west side was only about 5 to 10 feet deep by the no boats line that stretches across the lake to keep boats from the power plant...I am sure it is as a result of the Lawn Lake dam going out back in 1982 and putting a ton of silt in the town of Estes and subsequently Lake Estes itself...it used to be premo brown trout fishery prior to this...there were several humps and trenches/drop offs out there too...all in all pretty interesting...we left around 1 pm...
Next stop Boyd Lake...started in the Marina channel around 4 pm due to lake lice traffic on the main lake...we had had good luck with white bass in there a few weeks ago...fish were scarce...the lake level seems to be down about 10 feet (Horseshoe is way down across the highway)...water temp in the marina channel was 74...we went to the main lake and caught a couple of walleyes around 17 inches and a good sized white bass...all went back...the walleyes were caught drifting leeches and the white bass on a rainbow flavored size 6 Panther Martin...fish were widely scattered...water temp on the main lake was 71...we gave up about 8pm...we were the last trailer in the parking lot...I did catch a miniture small mouth looking bass that looked like it was bleached...I dont think it was a smallie...was it a spotted bass or another variety of bass...
Sorry not much help on Boyd...I am trying to learn more but I have no idea where to go there...it is a fairly structureless bowl..but I do like it for all the varieties of fish in there...I will figure it out...just need more trips...October...no skiers...and still warm...
Also hit north Denver at 9:20 pm...on pace to get home by 10...NOT!...rotomilling of I-25...looks like it will continue for awile...put me home after 11pm...just thought you might want to know for evasive manuevers in the future should you go that way later in the evening...