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What hardware/bait to use on DSP?

5K views 31 replies 11 participants last post by  muninoel 
#1 · (Edited)
I have a few spots of the Denver South Platte ("DSP") I'd like to try with my spinning gear.

I've tried fishing it before without any luck.

I am not targeting any specific species.

The stretch I am looking to fish is known to have trout, walleyes, cats, carp and I believe some bass.

The water is generally 1-3 feet deep with a few deeper pools.

After searching the archives I've found a few suggestion on what to use:
  • Spinners (Panther Martin or Blue Fox)
  • Rapalas (not sure what type/size)
  • Small split shot and a nightcrawler (let the current slowly drag it on the bottom)
  • Buoyant

I didn't see any mention but what about a kasty?

Can you or should you try to jig a kasty or buoyant in a river or just retrieve matching the speed of the current?

Any tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated and DM's are welcomed if you don't want to post for all to see.

Thanks guys!
 
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#6 ·
Thanks for the replies goldie and lv.

Last week the kids and I went out on the ice and saw success. My 9yo caught 6 bobos and my 7yo and two 4yo's caught two each.

I was thinking DSP because it's 5 minutes from the house and we could swing over there for an hour or so; a real quick trip.

I'll probably have the kids float a jig under a bobber and I'll try some spinners.
 
#7 ·
I have a few spots of the DSP I'd like to try with my spinning gear.

I've tried fishing it before without any luck.

I am not targeting any specific species.

The stretch I am looking to fish is known to have trout, walleyes, cats, carp and I believe some bass.

The water is generally 1-3 feet deep with a few deeper pools.


After searching the archives I've found a few suggestion on what to use:
  • Spinners (Panther Martin or Blue Fox)
  • Rapalas (not sure what type/size)
  • Small split shot and a nightcrawler (let the current slowly drag it on the bottom)
  • Buoyant
I didn't see any mention but what about a kasty?

Can you or should you try to jig a kasty or buoyant in a river or just retrieve matching the speed of the current?

Any tips/suggestions are greatly appreciated and DM's are welcomed if you don't want to post for all to see.

Thanks guys!

Try a Joe's Flies March Brown with a gold blade from Walmart
 
#16 ·
Seriously, the DSP is really heavily pressured and the river just does not have a very large population of game fish. It is pretty tough to crack.
I’m not saying don't fish it, just be mindful of the resource. It seems that the river is not actively managed as a recreational fishery.
I would encourage you to not use bait on the river, and to practice catch and release with barbless hooks. I’m not against keeping fish, I just think this is not the right river to do so. I would also be worried about potential for pollution due to urban run-off. Think about all the oil, rubber and other auto pollution that runs off of the streets. Plus the many other pollution sources founding within the watershed (junk yards, pesticides/herbicides from lawns, parks and golf courses, chemicals from dry cleaners, industry, etc).
As anglers,lets make sure to do our part and not over stress the few fish that are swimming there, and help maintain the interesting fishery we have locally.
 
#29 ·
Seriously, the DSP is really heavily pressured and the river just does not have a very large population of game fish. It is pretty tough to crack.
I’m not saying don't fish it, just be mindful of the resource. It seems that the river is not actively managed as a recreational fishery.
I would encourage you to not use bait on the river, and to practice catch and release with barbless hooks. I’m not against keeping fish, I just think this is not the right river to do so. I would also be worried about potential for pollution due to urban run-off. Think about all the oil, rubber and other auto pollution that runs off of the streets. Plus the many other pollution sources founding within the watershed (junk yards, pesticides/herbicides from lawns, parks and golf courses, chemicals from dry cleaners, industry, etc).
As anglers,lets make sure to do our part and not over stress the few fish that are swimming there, and help maintain the interesting fishery we have locally.
let's not forget the Centeinial and Englwood waste treatment plants.
 
#17 ·
I didn't realize the DSP is heavily pressured, at least the stretch that I frequent. I've only seen a few anglers along the couple miles by my house.

In the summer I would see the same guy fishing it almost every night I went by and he was raving about the trout, bass and walleye in that stretch.

I practice C&R 95% of the time but haven't even had the opportunity to release any DSP fish because I've been skunked the couple times I've gone!

Maybe targeting carp and suckers will have better results.
 
#18 ·
That's the thing, DallasB, those few game fish that make it down stream from Chatty are few and bait fishing comes with a higher mortality rate than lure or fly fishing. Carp and suckers are plenty in there, but fishing is fishing and you can't control what bites your hook,hooking into a nice game fish that ends up croaking is a bummer in a ignored( by the DOW) fishery.
 
#19 ·
Also, Freestone303 warning about the filth of that river is true. I know you said you are CPR but never , EVER eat a DSP fish unless you are interested in dying,lol. I know a guy who was eating seeds while fishing it and cleaning his fly ........ he the DSP guts. Mofo tried to blame it on his breakfast at El Taco de Mexico, I almost had to disown him.
 
#26 ·
Mofo tried to blame it on his breakfast at El Taco de Mexico, I almost had to disown him.
You should disown him. No one should be allowed to speak ill of TdM. Thats been my favorite taco & burrito spot for the last decade.

DSP is getting increasingly popular with the fly fishing crowd. That said, my best luck has come on a fly rod for both bass and trout, though I have never caught anything respectable out of there.
The fish that I caught in there on a spinning rod came when using an unconventional approach for trout. Thats all I’m going to say about that.
 
#21 ·
There's 10+ miles of the DSP within 5-15 minutes from my house. Basically Chatfield to the 25... I mean "i-25." :)

It would be fun to find a little productive section I can fish when I have an hour or two to kill on a busy weekend.

So besides fishing a spinner, what else might be productive?

Kasty or buoyant and cast and retrieve or try to jig it across or down the stream?

Other threads mentioned Rapalas but what kind of lure?

There are so many I wouldn't really know where to start and since I'm not targeting a specific species what would be the best lure in targeting a variety of species (walleye, trout, bass, carp)?

Thanks gents.
 
#23 ·
There's 10+ miles of the DSP within 5-15 minutes from my house. Basically Chatfield to the 25... I mean "i-25." :)

It would be fun to find a little productive section I can fish when I have an hour or two to kill on a busy weekend.

So besides fishing a spinner, what else might be productive?

Kasty or buoyant and cast and retrieve or try to jig it across or down the stream?

Other threads mentioned Rapalas but what kind of lure?

There are so many I wouldn't really know where to start and since I'm not targeting a specific species what would be the best lure in targeting a variety of species (walleye, trout, bass, carp)?

Thanks gents.
I've caught couple of bass, few walleye, few trout, all on that March Brown one fine day in Pueblo. Lure works really well, because even on a slow retrieve it tends to keep spinning. I would recommend a medium speed retrieve with that lure to keep it in the water longer, but experiment if you are going after multiple species.
 
#22 ·
Low water gin clear rivers are tuff to fish honestly I doubt you will get much or anything. I get its close to home so focus on the fishest areas you can find depth with some current and work some small jgs or craw looking jigs. I have seen some big schools of eyes and smallies near downtown. Well at least I thougt they where eyes and smallies I was pretty boozed up.
 
#28 ·
Fished about a .7 mile stretch of the DSP for 1.5 hours on Saturday. I used a spinner I already had that looked very much like the March Brown that Muni suggested. Kids played and explored the shoreline while I fished upstream with my hip waders.

I was pretty surprised, the flow was higher than usual and the water was a lot dirtier than usual. I realized it was from the melting snow flowing in from other side waterways.

No luck with the fishies but to be honest, I have no idea what areas in a river hold fish or where to look. I tried to find deep holes but couldn't really tell.

The deep hole that I knew of isn't deep anymore. I think the high flow from this summer drastically changed the riverbed.

Anyone have an article/pictorial that would be good to learn how to read a river?

Thanks gents.
 
#30 ·
Fished about a .7 mile stretch of the DSP for 1.5 hours on Saturday. I used a spinner I already had that looked very much like the March Brown that Muni suggested. Kids played and explored the shoreline while I fished upstream with my hip waders.

I was pretty surprised, the flow was higher than usual and the water was a lot dirtier than usual. I realized it was from the melting snow flowing in from other side waterways.

No luck with the fishies but to be honest, I have no idea what areas in a river hold fish or where to look. I tried to find deep holes but couldn't really tell.

The deep hole that I knew of isn't deep anymore. I think the high flow from this summer drastically changed the riverbed.

Anyone have an article/pictorial that would be good to learn how to read a river?

Thanks gents.
https://www.fix.com/blog/locating-trout-in-a-stream/
 
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