[Bucksnort]

Ladies and Gents,

I lived in the Denver metro area for almost 40 years. Probably 98 percent of exploring and fishing lakes, streams and rivers was spent in the eastern half of the mountains. I now live in Arizona and I'm going through trout catching withdrawal symptoms so I have decided to return to Colorado, late this summer, for some trout catching.

In my explorations in Colorado, I found a number of small high mountain lakes with wonderful catching and which were accessible by 4X4 or by a short walk. I prefer small lakes above or below tree line. Because of my back, I cannot walk long distances so I must have lakes I can drive to without tearing up my 4X4 or ones requiring a short walk.

I will be concentrating on lakes in southwest Colorado where my experience is somewhat limited. In fact, on my two trips to this area, I fished only moving water so I have no knowledge, except what I find in my old Tim Kelly book and another book, and no actual experience.

I'm looking for suggestions meeting my criteria. I don't expect anyone to tell me about secret lakes.

 

[Gunnison_Country]

There are several cutthroat lakes and a couple of tremendous brook trout lakes in, and just outside, the Fossil Ridge Wilderness Area northeast of Gunnison. A couple of the better lakes require only a relatively short walk. There is also a great cutthroat/golden trout lake up near Crested Butte that only requires about a 10 minute hike. There is also a lake in the Gunnison area being managed as a catch-and-release tiger trout fishery...and it has BIG tiger trout in it. This particular lake is very easy to access as well. Being from Arizona, you may want/need to stay further south, but the Gunnison Basin has several lakes that are easily accessed and provide incredible fishing.