Ice fishin' in CO?

[toughguy]

How popular is the icefishing in CO? My wife would like to move there someday and I'm kind of curious how long the season is, how far out of Denver you have to go, and what do you target? I'm sure that you have plenty of trout, but how are the sunnies, crappies, and walleyes? I assume some of you guys that are living there now are oringinally from MN. Everything else asside, do you prefer the ice season in CO or do you miss old Minnie? I'm sure icefisherman are looked at as crazy people by most there?

[Mikinaak]

ToughGuy, I'm from Mn. and lived here 11 years. When I first got here ice fishing for the most part was just catching on. It is a very popular sport now.

Most of the ice fishing I know of takes place in the mountains, these waters are concidered and managed as "cold water" fisheries. That means fish like trout, kokanee's and northern's were stocked in these reservoir's. Walleye's, sunfish and bass on the other hand are found in "warm water" fisheries and mostly found in the reservoirs in the lower elevations that typically don't freeze over. One nice benefit about fishing in the mountains is that on a nice day it sometimes gets so warm you can tan out there on the ice.

Most places I fish are quite a ways by Minnesota's standards. (no there isn't a lake every 10 miles).

I miss fishing the lakes of Mn. in the summer time. But the walleye fishing is really turning on out here. And us Minnesotans are pretty good at that! Come on out, its great out here. Its hard to stare down the ice hole because of the scenery, it might take you a few years to get used to it like it did me....right....I'm still in ah.

need anything don't hesitate. Mikinaak

[cpuncher]

I've lived in the foothills west of Denver for about 6 yrs, and all my friends from back in the midwest that live out here ice fish, but none of the New Yorkers or Californians do, they all fly fish and that's it. One thing you will be frustrated by is, "NO LIVE BAIT!" You can catch big, big Lake Trout, though.... and a snowmobile is pretty much required. It seems most people fish for Lakers by tube jigging w/ sucker meat, some guys are fishing for rainbows and browns w/ wax worms, etc.... we make an annual trip to Minnesota to fish for Northerns on Upper Red Lake, that's a blast, and we always get a funny response when people find out that we came from Colorado to fish MN. I guess Northerns are too smart to bite on a piece of dead meat, because we have reservoirs out here with Northerns in em', but I've never even had a Northern bite in Colorado... Ever time I've gone down the mountain to fish for Walleye the Lake/Reservoir hasn't been frozen... so that's no good, either! I will say for sure, the weather in Colorado is a heck of a lot better than MN. Nothing like getting a tan while you ice fish!

[Mikinaak]

"Tanning" While on the job...

You have that right, cpuncher!

You can use live water dogs, they work great for me. When I'm testing new waters or even when I first get set up and am alone I put out one in shallow water rigged about 1/2 way down and my other line out deep near the bottom. Give it a try. I have even heard from friends smaller ones work on trout too!

[toughguy]

You can't use live bait anywhere in CO???? Or only in trout waters???

[Don In Denver]

You can't use live minnows or other baitfish in waters above 7,000 feet or anywhere west of the Continental Divide. Other kinds of live bait are legal such as worms, crickets, grasshoppers, crawdads, mealworms, waxworms, and leeches.

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Hey wait a minute,

I'm a NORTHERN NEW YORKER.

Dan

[lucky7]

Dan:

Whereabouts in Norhthern New York? My dad is a Northwestern New Yorker. Salamenca.

[Mikinaak]

You can't use live minnows in res. or lakes above 7000 feet. You can use live water dogs for trout or northern pike.

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

I'm originally from Massena, N.Y. which is about 90 miles south of Montreal,Quebec.