A chill wind beneath dark, brooding skies blew most of the water toys off Chatfield Reservoir late one afternoon last week. The same breeze caused sailboats to sprout like water flowers along the west end of the lake, one of those rare exchanges in which beauty trumped noise.
This minor front that temporarily doused the metro heat seemed to have minimal effect on the lake’s considerable population of smallmouth bass – although that might have been a presumption by anglers who contented themselves with numbers rather than size.
Perhaps the larger bass, fish that are often measured in pounds rather than inches at Chatfield, had been put off by the barometric shift, leaving an opening for the perpetually hungry juveniles to grab the lure.
“There are a lot of first- and second-year smallies in this lake,” said Matt Massey, cranking in yet another young fish that had grabbed his tube jig. “There has been an exceptional spawn the last couple years.”
A tournament regular who lives within minutes of the southwest metro impoundment, Massey launches his factory-fresh bass boat at Chatfield two or three times a week – a testament both to his love for smallmouth and the reliability of the bite.
“They’re really aggressive. The crawdads have hatched, and they’re on those little crawdads,” Massey said of the favorite smallmouth food form.
To match it, he chooses a 2 1/2-inch tube jig on a 1/16th- ounce head. The color is pumpkin pepper, the universal favorite for crayfish imitation.
Although he has landed smallmouth larger than 5 pounds at Chatfield, Massey’s best this year is about 3 pounds. On Thursday, the catch topped out at about 2 pounds, and most of the several dozen fish that bit were half that size or less.
“It’s a great place to take a kid and get lots of action,” Massey said of the rocky areas along the dam face and the northwest shoreline.
Cloudy conditions coupled with the late hour no doubt contributed to the bite, lending emphasis to the assessment of Bob Todd, who operates Bennett’s Tackle shop in Berthoud, the gateway to several popular reservoirs on the upper Front Range.
“Not much is going on during the middle of the day this time of year,” Todd said. “It never ceases to amaze me. People show up about 11 a.m., fish a few hours, then get burned out and go home. They say fishing is no good.
“But if you have someplace close by to run out for a couple hours just before dark, it’s productive. Things definitely have divided up because of the heat and bright sun.”
Todd reports wiper action has increased at select reservoirs toward sundown on warm days. He also speaks of a good catfish bite at Boedecker, McIntosh and Lon Hagler reservoirs.
Here’s a rundown of a few warmwater reservoirs:
Aurora: Walleye being taken on bottom bouncers and jigs; smallmouth fair on tube jigs and crankbaits.
Boyd: Trollers taking a few walleye, but nothing exciting.
Carter: Bass action poor, but a good number of small walleye have been taken. Very few legal walleye appear in the catch.
Cherry Creek: Walleye biting along the dam; a 31-inch wiper was taken a week ago.
Horsetooth: Smallmouth action remains good.
Lone Tree: Occasional large bass, but fishing is tough in ultra-clear water. Go down in line and lure size. There is some bass action on topwater plugs early and late. A 10-pound wiper hyped the recent catch.
Pueblo: Although wiper, walleye and bass are still being caught, action is spotty and slowing. Again, a hot sun gets much of the blame.
Union: Wiper can be taken closer to shore very late in the day. Flow at the inlet canal attracts pulses of fish.
Staff writer Charlie Meyers can be reached at 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com.
