Exhibit No. 1 why last week’s decision by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources to keep water in Bonny Reservoir was a good one.
Two days after the compromise to retain 9,800 acre feet of water in the impoundment, Dixie Martinez of nearby Burlington landed a 17-pound, 31-inch wiper while trolling along the base of the dam with a blue-and-silver Rapala.
While the popular warmwater fishery will have just a fraction of its former water content, fishing should remain fairly good for walleye and catfish. The big wiper, a sight feeder that typically wouldn’t fare well in the increasingly murky water, comes as quite a surprise.
The water level currently is being lowered by approximately 2 vertical feet, leaving 30 inches of water on the boat ramp. Should evaporation take a further toll, boating activity might be limited to hand-launched craft as summer progresses.
