The time has come, Jeff Spohn suggested, for the fun to begin again.
Precisely one year after its glowing recovery, six months after its dark winter demise, Antero Reservoir again is ready to rock. Or, at the very least, roll.
The boat ramp has reopened, the trout have reached agreeable size and things should get only better from here.
But lest we get completely carried away, something should be well understood. This is not the same lake deliriously happy anglers found when the gates flung open last July 17. The monster trout — those between 4 and 6 pounds and beyond — largely are gone, victims of a brutal winter kill that removed half the fish from the lake.
“It’s not like it was, and we still need to give it some time before the fish recover,” said Spohn, the Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist who alternately rejoiced and grieved over the rise and fall. “But it’s time to go out and start having fun.”
The cause for this celebration in miniature is that good numbers of trout have sprouted into the 12- to 15-inch range — a product of last year’s surviving fingerling plant and Spohn’s all-out effort to restock the lake when thick ice finally melted in late April.
While radical downsizing might be a good idea in automobiles, it takes an even greater mental and emotional adjustment for anglers who grew accustomed to Antero’s 2007 bonanza.
But all is not lost. Although rarely large, these remaining fish are healthy and robust, footballs with fins. They will do their level best to separate a fisherman from a float tube.
Earlier in the season, Spohn tried to sell the public on the greater merits of neighboring reservoirs, Spinney and Elevenmile, an effort aided in part by an extended ban on motorized boating that was lifted only last Thursday. With a DOW inspection crew finally in place to guard against the spread of zebra mussels, boaters have been slow to return.
Whether traffic accelerates depends in large part on fishing success and trout growth.
“The average fish in Spinney is 19 inches, 18 at Elevenmile,” Spohn allowed. “The average at Antero is 14, but give them a few months and they’ll be breaking past the others. By ice fishing season, that’s going to happen.”
While that 50-percent winter mortality claimed most of the largest fish, Spohn assures us that a certain number of lunkers remain. That was affirmed by dock inspector Tom Wells, who reported that boaters landed a 9-pounder on Friday, an 8-pounder on Saturday.
A quartet of Denver-area anglers using kickboats Saturday had marginal success in the wake of a dry cold front that typically delivered a case of lockjaw to the trout. But the catch included a 21-inch female rainbow that looked a whole lot like the standard fare of a year ago.
On good days, skilled anglers fishing a hundred yards or so offshore catch impressive numbers of those hyperactive 14-inchers. If the bite is hot, spin fishermen seem to catch the most; when things slow a bit, the edge goes to flies, particularly damselflies and large bomber midges.
Bank fishermen generally fare poorly, in part because trout have moved away from the warmer water column nearest shore. Heavy weed growth further inhibits bait fishing on bottom.
Spohn this season will plant massive numbers of mostly fingerling-sized fish. The list includes almost 500,000 rainbow, 103 Snake River cutthroat, 100,000 brown, 50,000 brook, 50,000 kokanee salmon and 37,000 splake.
