With little more than a month remaining for the Colorado high country snow season, a review of statewide water prospects reveals the sort of checkerboard pattern we’ve come to expect.
Some water courses boast solid snowpacks; others lag at levels approaching real concern. In the troubled years since the turn of the century, overall conditions only occasionally have been better. Certainly they have been worse.
With the exception of the southeast, where dangerously low reservoir levels gained barely a boost from the deadly blizzard that swept the region, Colorado impoundments generally will enter the runoff period in good shape.
For anxious anglers, the formula is simple enough. A solid snowpack and high reservoir levels translate to more water in rivers and far less likelihood fish will suffer during late summer and fall.
While much has been made over the near-filling of Antero Reservoir and the likely prospect for summer fishing there, it should be noted that the entire South Platte River Basin has ample snow.
As of Sunday, the Natural Resource Conservation Service reported a 103 percent snowpack for the South Platte, highest in the state. Most reservoirs in the system are either close to full or overflowing.
“Hopefully, we’ll provide healthy flows throughout the summer,” said Dave Bennett, water resource planner with Denver Water.
Bennett noted that system storage actually improved during the winter for the first time in history. Water currently is spilling over Elevenmile Dam and close to it at Cheesman Dam.
“When that happens, we’ll try to blend spillwater with releases from a bottom valve to achieve optimum temperature for the fishery,” Bennett said.
Antero Reservoir stands at 89 percent, poised to fill; both Strontia and Chatfield are brimming. At 69 percent, Aurora’s Spinney Mountain Reservoir should approach filling.
“The unusual thing is the early melt,” Bennett said. “We’re having such an early runoff, it’s amazing.”
The Arkansas ranked as the only other river above average at 101 percent. The Colorado followed at 89 percent, but most other water courses lagged badly.
Worst was the San Juan/Dolores with just a 62 percent pack. The Gunnison stood at 77 percent, the Yampa/White at 78 percent, and the Rio Grande at 79 percent – certainly not very encouraging.
Two countercurrents make the water situation even more intriguing. Most reservoirs across the state will enter runoff with considerably higher than normal levels. In the southwest, Lemon Reservoir stood 173 percent of normal, Vallecito 143 and McPhee 108. Similar conditions exist in other basins where runoff prospects are slim.
On the other hand, evaporation and a sudden lapse in snowfall bodes ill for ultimate water availability.
The Platte bounty extends to the warmwater reservoirs of the northeast. Division of Wildlife biologist Ben Swigle expects no storage problems and touts Jackson Lake for its outstanding fishing prospects.
Net surveys revealed a strong population of walleye, but few above the 15-inch legal limit. Swigle also expects a big wiper year, with an average size of 22 inches and some up to 13 pounds.
Eggs-ceptional haul
DOW crews are off to a good start collecting walleye eggs at three reservoirs in the annual effort to replenish stocks across the state.
The take at Pueblo Reservoir after six days approached 20 million eggs. The two-day take at Cherry Creek stood at almost 4 million; Chatfield crews gathered about 3 million Monday and Tuesday.
The agency hopes to collect 126 million eggs to produce both walleye and saugeye for Colorado waters, along with extras to be used for trade with other states.
