Layer up for some of the year’s finest fishing

If you’re willing to brave cooler weather, the next few weeks can provide some of the best fishing of the year on Front Range reservoirs with a real chance at catching trophy fish. My main target this time of the year is walleye, but you will tend to find several species bunched in the same spots.

Brad Petersen and Matt Endsley joined me Saturday on my radio show to share their recent successes and look forward at the next few weeks. As the water cools, the baitfish become stressed, and they tend to bunch up and become very vulnerable. Game fish like walleyes, smallmouth bass, white bass, crappies and even catfish take advantage of these easy meals to fatten up for the season. Endsley has been able to target walleyes very shallow during the low light periods in metro reservoirs by suspending jerk baits then following them deeper during the day.

Petersen has concentrated on deeper structure on Boyd reservoir and is catching a variety of species. I personally would not expect the shallow bite to last much longer but the fish don’t always follow my expectations. The deeper structure bite, however, should be very good right up to the closing of the boat landings and even continue as ice covers the lake. Among my favorite lakes to fish this time of the year are Chatfield,Boyd and Pueblo reservoirs on Colorado’s Front Range. The metro lakes typically close to boating at the end of November. Weather permitting, Pueblo remains open to boating year round. Once the fish get to deep water, they can be difficult to successfully release and I stop perusing them.

The key to fishing at this time of year is finding fish on your electronics before you fish. Once located this usually becomes a vertical jigging presentation. Some excellent lures for this type fishing are jigging spoons, blade baits and over the last few years, glide baits like the Johnny Darter and Jigging Rap.

You really need to trust your electronics and it can take some practice to master the nuances of this type of fishing, but it can be worth the rewards. Not only can you catch numbers of fish but very often some of the biggest fish of the year. Most front range lakes will close to boating at the end of the month so you have about two to three weeks to take advantage of some of the best fishing of the year in Colorado.

I would bring a couple of extra layers of clothes. Unlike in springtime, the colder weather will actually trigger the fish to bite.