LAKE GEORGE:  With regular fishing pressure and the lack of reproduction by trout and kokanee in most Colorado reservoirs the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s (DOW) management and stocking plan for Eleven Mile, Spinney and Antero Reservoirs is an attempt to maximize the benefits with less available resources than in years past. Fishing license sales are DOW’s primary source of revenue to stock Colorado’s multitude of rivers, lakes and reservoirs and sales have been stagnant the last few years. Jeff Spohn is the DOW Aquatic Marine Biologist charged with the task of overseeing Colorado’s crown jewels of trout fishing. From the headwaters of the South Platte at Antero to the base of Waterton Canyon Spohn is always busy taking counts, surveys and analyzing data in an effort to devise the best possible approach to a job that anglers from Colorado and beyond depend on. With Mother Nature as the ultimate equalizer Spohn has tried a different approach at Spinney the last couple of years that has proved effective. He intends to take the lesson’s learned to Eleven Mile.

For many years the DOW has stocked South Park’s reservoirs with various sizes and strains of trout which include both with catchable (10” to 12”) and sub-catchable (less than 10”) fish. Emphasis was on Rainbows and stocking periods were haphazard through out the Spring and Summer. Since 2001 only 12” catchable trout have been stocked at Spinney. The timing was also adjusted to be primarily in the late Fall when bird predation would be significantly reduced as well as more lethargic Northern Pike taking less of a toll. With Pike mitigation efforts showing some signs of success with numbers being suppressed and the new trout stocking approach Spohn has been very pleased with the balance at Spinney. The 2010 plan for Eleven Mile calls for approximately 109,000 catchable trout of which 80,000 were planted through the ice in early February and the remaining in March. Spohn has concentrated his efforts with Snake River Cutthroats and Rainbow/Cutthroat hybrids (Cuttbow). He believes these fish are hardier than regular Rainbows and tend to grow more girth. “A bigger bang for the buck” Spohn said “is what we are hoping for”. He said these fish “tend to disappear for a while and then show back up within a year in the 15 – 16 inch class.”

On the Kokanee front anglers through the ice have seen promising results this season and are hoping for a continued come back over the next couple of years. Spohn indicated that they would soon be stocking approximately 980,000 Kokanee fry with all of them being introduced in the Dream Stream. They are hoping to increase the numbers that make it back up river to spawn in an effort to increase egg take. Eleven Mile was set up as a Kokanee brood source impound some years ago but suffered a set back with the 2006 die off caused by Gill Lice. Kokanee have presented some challenges to DOW the last few years. In addition to the problems at Eleven Mile its work horse reservoir for Kokanee at Blue Mesa has seen dwindling egg takes with numbers dropping from a high of 9.2 million in 1993 to a low this year of only 3,000,000. Reservoirs such as Antero that use to get some Kokanee will be off the list this year according to Spohn if the kokanee brood water’s schedules can’t be met (it seems as of current that they will be able to meet the statewide schedule this year so there will be no cuts). Based on the winter activity anglers should see a more productive trolling season in 2010. The DOW stocking of kokanee began this week. The 900,000 plus fry will all be put in the river.