[DO80401]

I have a buddy, who doesn't fish, and his boys (8&10) spent a week at their grandparents in Kansas catching bluegill one after the other back in July. Since then, all they talk about is fishing. I took the boys up to Georgetown two weeks ago and they caught a couple stockers rainbows on powerbait. We also stopped on Clear Creek and I hooked a couple trout, while the boys pulled 'em in. Stockers were dinner, C&R everything else. Anyway... now all they talk about is fly fishing.

For this upcoming weekend, I'm being recruited to join (take) their family fishing, which I'm cool with, but just am thinking a pond or small lake with a decent population of bluegills or small lmb might be an ideal place to go fishing. I have the Fishing Close to Home book and have checked out a few places over the years, but mostly targeted carp. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd be rather thankful. PM if you don't feel like sharing with everyone. I'll keep my trap shut on any spots shared. I don't mind cleaner a stocker trout or two for dinner, but I have no interest in cleaning any gills or bass. I have a few lakes in mind (besides Georgetown) higher up, but would be open to any recommendations as well within an hour or so drive of Golden.

Thanks in advance!

 

[DO80401]

Anybody????

 

[TthePikester]

There are a series of little lakes that run between Ward Rd. and Wadworth around 41st. They start with West Lake behind Camping World on Ward, then Tabor Lake and ends with Prospect Park and go along Clear Creek. Some are fly/lure only so check regs. Here is a small link about them and another with a map of the area.
http://www.coloradofisherman.com/forum/index.php?topic=42763.0

http://findlakes.com/northeast_colorado_lakes_n39w105.htm

Good luck and tight lines!!!

 

[DO80401]

Thanks Pikester! I know about the ponds you described, but have never fished them. I'll let you know if we fish these and any success! Thanks again!

 

[trout4steak]

Lol. I forgot about posting that. Prospect is tough man. Really tough. You can only fish the west lake at Ward Rd. Even if you see people fishing the East pond. They're poaching.
Ive had luck at Crown Hill on black spinner baits.

 

[DO80401]

Thanks for your input!

 

[TthePikester]

Lol. I forgot about posting that. Prospect is tough man. Really tough. You can only fish the west lake at Ward Rd. Even if you see people fishing the East pond. They're poaching.
Ive had luck at Crown Hill on black spinner baits.

The ponds on Ward you are talking about are called Ward Rd Ponds, and yes you can only fish the west pond. These are different then the lakes I spoke of. I'm talking about the Prospect Valley lakes system. They run along Clear Creek starting at Ward Rd south side of I-70.

 

[Dave M]

They should fence off the east pond if they dont want people fishing there. I always see heads there when I drive by. Its stupid to say its illegal if nobody is enforcing the rules.

 

[COLOH2OFWLR]

How'd the guiding go fo ryou GtownD?

 

[DO80401]

It was a success!

The thread was started to help complete my plan, which was to have a couple different fishing options for the day. I let my buddy and his boys pick what option they were most interested in - trout stream & mountain lake targeting trout or metro ponds targeting bluegill & bass. They picked the trout option.

We fished Boulder Creek and a small pond up near Nederland. The oldest boy (10) is really interested in fly fishing, while the youngest boy (7) is interested to fish, but is only good for a couple hours and then begins to loose interest. So having a mix of tactics (fly fishing and powerbait) along with a couple types of water to fish, proved valuable to keep them both interested. The boys were excited to find stonefly shucks along the BC... we even found an adult stonefly, but they did not want to touch it. A couple brown trout were caught on BC and then some rainbow stockers out of the pond. 10 mins down the road driving back, both boys were lights out sleeping. Good times were had by all!

Having no kids (besides the fishing dog) and being single myself, I'm amazed with the endless questions from a young mind... what fish fight the best? do all fish jump out of the water? Have i caught a brook trout before? Do I know what the CO state fish is? And on and on and on. I took a nap when I got home.

 

[creekguyonce]

I live across Kipling from Crown Hill lake. It has some nice bass right now, and in the past was stocked with channel cats. The problem is the weeds, which now extend way out from shore. And the fact that waders are banned, so you can't walk and cast along the cattails for bass. I saw a guy catch a 3 lb bass last week (in mid-day, on a P. worm), but it got into the weeds and took him about 5 mins to lug it and 10 lbs of weed in. With float tubes you could kill I think on the weed line out deep, but, yeah, they are banned also. Very small b-gills etc are easy to catch if you can avoid the weeds. Haven't seen as many big carp as in the past. With all the weed, and being very shallow, it will probably winterkill if we ever again get a nasty cold winter. It's going to stink. Further north, consider Arbor lake.

 

[DO80401]

I've caught some of the micro-gills at Crown Hill before, but haven't returned back because the weeds were so thick.

Thanks for the lake suggestion!

 

[tepponogu]

I live across Kipling from Crown Hill lake. It has some nice bass right now, and in the past was stocked with channel cats. The problem is the weeds, which now extend way out from shore. And the fact that waders are banned, so you can't walk and cast along the cattails for bass. I saw a guy catch a 3 lb bass last week (in mid-day, on a P. worm), but it got into the weeds and took him about 5 mins to lug it and 10 lbs of weed in. With float tubes you could kill I think on the weed line out deep, but, yeah, they are banned also. Very small b-gills etc are easy to catch if you can avoid the weeds. Haven't seen as many big carp as in the past. With all the weed, and being very shallow, it will probably winterkill if we ever again get a nasty cold winter. It's going to stink. Further north, consider Arbor lake.

Do you mean Lake Arbor on 80th between wads and Sheridan?

 

[Scyry]

I live a few blocks north of Crown Hill. Weeds are very nasty at Crown hill right now. Walked the lake and only had a few places I could throw a lure, and still spent half the time clean weeds off of the lures.

All the blue gill or crappie I have pulled out of there are tiny, 3" at the most. There are bass, but with the weeds are making it hard for them right now. Tons of bass fry along the shore right now.

 

[DenverYankee]

I also live close to Crown Hill and can attest to the weeds being out of control right now. It seems to be that way every year. It's great in the spring, I was pulling multiple 3 lb largemouth for most of June, but come summer it seems like they head out beyond the weeds. It's a shame they don't allow wading or belly boats. I've mostly been hitting Lowell Ponds lately. I never get skunked there, but I also never seem to get anything over 1 lb. Ward Rd. is the opposite; plenty of skunked days, but when I do get one it's usually a good one.