LOVELAND — State wildlife areas go hand in hand with hunting and fishing, but, because of potential conflicts, many wildlife areas close boating and fishing access during hunting season.
Where permitted, fishing is often restricted to specific areas, such as dam faces, during waterfowl season.
However, southwest of Loveland, sitting in the shadow of Carter Reservoir, is Lon Hagler State Wildlife Area. This fishing gem remains open to fishing year-round (ice fishing permitted) and boating, conditions permitting. One reason the reservoir remains open to boating is the lack of mandatory Aquatic Nuisance Inspections.
Boaters are expected to honor the clean, drain and dry mandate between fishing trips to minimize the risk of spreading invasive species, such as zebra mussels. Random inspections may occur.
While late season boating access is one draw, most of the shoreline is open to anglers also.
Few waters exist in Colorado that offer greater diversity in terms of species. Hag- ler sports more than a dozen game-fish species.
Consequently, anglers are never quite sure what the next tug on their line will be, even when targeting a specific fish.
For the “I just wanna catch something” fisherman, Lon Hagler is regularly stocked with rainbow trout. In fact it received 4,500 fish in September and 4,800 this week. And according to Ben Swigle, the lake’s biologist, it will receive another stocking just before ice-up to ensure good ice fishing this winter.
Based on creel surveys, the second- most caught fish are black bass, primarily largemouth, but smallmouth do show up on occasion, as was demonstrated Sunday with a fish just shy of 15 inches.
Fishermen can expect the bass fishery to get nothing but better the next few years, thanks to current management efforts.
Swigle revealed some of the fishery improvement efforts being put forth.
Last year, several spawning sites suitable for bass and crappie were installed when reservoir levels were down. This was a joint effort of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Loveland Fishing Club and trees donated by Rocky Mountain National Park.
To ensure there are adequate spawning fish, several hundred brood bass (12 to 18 inches) have been stocked over the past two years. Additionally, the wildlife commission unanimously passed a regulation limiting the harvest of bass to one fish over 18 inches, giving the brooders time to do their thing.
Now if bass fishing isn’t enough of a challenge, there are walleye (up to 30 inches), a few wiper and the ever-elusive, at least for this fisherman, tiger muskie. There is little doubt that muskie are the fish of 10,000 casts.
The combination of gorgeous weather, close proximity to home and potentially great fishing prompted the “kids” — yes, I still refer to my daughter and her husband as the “kids” — and me to venture out to Lon Hagler last Sunday afternoon.
Needless to say, it’s not a secret spot. The parking lot was far from empty.
We launched our float tubes and fished the shoreline for bass and crappie with streamer flies. For all the vehicles, we felt like we had the reservoir mostly to ourselves.
While we didn’t tear ’em up, we caught decent numbers of bass, a crappie and plenty of trout, especially as the sun was setting.
So if you are looking to stretch your boating and open-water fishing season out to the last second, give Lon Hagler a try.
