For thousands of anglers flush with equal parts anticipation and trepidation, the late February news from Antero Reservoir is as good as it gets.
“It looks tremendous. I don’t expect any problem at all,” Ken Kehmeier said of prospects for winter trout survival at Colorado’s most celebrated, and worrisome, trout lake.
Kehmeier, principal biologist for the Division of Wildlife’s Northeast Region, last week joined area biologist Jeff Spohn for a sampling of dissolved oxygen, the key element in keeping fish alive beneath the ice. What they found brought smiles all around for a lake that lost most of its big fish during the disastrous winter of 2007-08.
The worst of the test sites showed dissolved oxygen levels nearly three times higher than the lethal limit; the best were four times above the minimum. Better still, readings were taken on the bottom, where oxygen is lowest.
Continuing this run of good fortune, Antero has virtually no snow cover, allowing ample light penetration to sustain aquatic vegetation whose decay might rob essential oxygen. Kehmeier estimates ice depth at 18-22 inches, reflecting a generally mild winter.
Similar conditions exist on the trout-rich lakes of North Park, where both ice and snow measure less than normal. Using a gauge developed in Idaho that projects oxygen peril at progressive calendar dates, Kehmeier sees no trouble in sight.
For Antero enthusiasts, that should translate to many more and larger trout when ice peels off, typically around mid-April. Continued concern over invasive mussels will place this and numerous other lakes under a boat inspection policy that likely will cause a two-week delay between ice-out and the start of boating. Denver Water, which operates the reservoir, will provide funds for the inspection.
Meanwhile, DOW has established a working group made up of agency representatives and angler interests to address various issues that might arise at a place where some element of hullabaloo seems just around the corner.
Antero better.
These positive oxygen levels also translate to better Antero fishing. “Fishing is consistently better than normal for this time of year,” said DOW biologist Jeff Spohn. “Usually, the February catch rate stinks, but it’s holding up pretty well.” On the lake’s south side, the bite has been best throughout the winter. Spohn said anglers can expect lots of 7- to 9-inchers planted as fingerlings, bunches of 17- to 19-inchers that should grow past 20 inches by summer, and an occasional 10-plus-pounder that survived last winter.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609, cmeyers@denverpost.com
