The long siege of ice and snow along Colorado’s Front Range left another bitter legacy – many thousands of dead fish at numerous warmwater ponds in the region.
Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist Ken Kehmeier reported that more than 15 ponds suffered some degree of winter kill in the area from Longmont north to Fort Collins. Most of the dead fish were carp, but losses included large numbers of bass, bluegill, crappie and catfish, mostly in shallow metro ponds.
The list includes Arapaho Bend Ponds, Dixon Reservoir, McMurray Ponds, one pond at Frank State Wildlife Area and multiple small park ponds in the Fort Collins area. The list includes the larger Seeley Lake near Greeley and a Fishing Is Fun pond near Milliken.
“I’ve been here 20 years and I don’t ever remember this extensive a winter kill,” Kehmeier said.
Biologist Harry Crockett found a similar situation at the Barbour Ponds, now part of St. Vrain State Park. Crockett found an almost total kill in Pelican Pond, only a partial kill in Mallard.
The Denver area appears to have escaped any major die-off.
Biologist Paul Winkle reported many dead gizzard shad at Smith Lake in Washington Park and dead carp at Waneka Lake in Lafayette. Winkle said that since ice has melted from most ponds, he doesn’t anticipate any more bad news.
Kehmeier suggested a silver lining in the demise of so many carp.
“We’ll be able to obtain game fish from other locations and start fresh without the competition from carp,” he said of an initiative that will begin once the biologists complete their annual walleye spawn project that begins Monday at Chatfield and Cherry Creek reservoirs.
“The bad part is that we’ve lost a lot of good fish in places that provide recreation for kids on a bicycle.”
