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The urban fishing pond tour '09
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18 inch largemouth bass. You can see the intersection of Ward and I-70 in background.
There so many lakes in Colorado and many of them are very large - at least by Colorado standards. If you have a powerful fishing boat, these lakes are great. However, if you are one of the many shore fishermen, or hand-launched craft anglers - sometimes smaller bodies of water can be more rewarding. Of course, another nice advantage is that most of the smaller fishing holes are free.
With this in mind, your Denver Fishing Examiner set out in September to find a few close to home, hot fishing spots.
First on our list were the Prospect Park lakes. To sum it up, fishing action was not all that great, but there are some nice surprises if you stick it out. For instance, the 14 inch rainbow trout in Tabor lake there really made our day. At West lake, we hooked up more than one nice largemout bass and even one crappie.
Then we checked out Main reservoir off Florida and Kipling, in Wheat Ridge. Lots of small walleye and a few medium bass. Other than that, not too much action but that will depend on the time of year too. Spring would be best there probably. The trail around the lake and the nice shade trees are very inviting though, and as far as comfortable places to fish from shore- this place has them all beat. There are also another 3 lakes across Kipling also managed by Wheatridge, but as we walked them all, we found them shallow and little or no fishing action.
Next, we tried Lowell Ponds off 56th Avenue. We had heard great things for a long time about this place, but also had heard many comments from fishermen interviewed about it being a 'bit trashed'. Hitting all four little ponds in there, we soon discovered that while needing some litter picked up, it wasn't at all as bad as what we heard. It was however, the most littered of all the ponds in Denver we had been to. The fishing though....much better than expected. The pond farthest in the back from 56th (Sheets Lake) was endlessly entertaining as we caught 15 bass (small averaging 6 inches) as fast as we could cast it out there. The best surprise was still waiting though, as we fished the front (largest) lake and wound up with a 19 inch largemouth and a Master Angler Award! There were other large ones too from there including one other largemouth at about 16 inches and 3 pounds. That was just in 2 trips out there too...
Last but not least, yesterday we took the kayaks out into Ward Road Pond. I have to admit, we have been avoiding this one because of it's location. Since it is exactly at the intersection of I-70 and Ward Road, I knew it would be very noisy - and it is. It was actually hard to hold a conversation on that lake at times when near the south shoreline. What a surprise waiting for us fishing though! Not even 30 minutes after arriving, my fishing buddy Dave caught an 18 inch, 3.5 pound largemouth that was hiding under his kayak. He must have had only about 8 feet of line still out while reeling in and that fish just attacked it! He was using a silver/black shallow diving Rappala. Bait fish were running in the shallows and the lake turned out to have a 30 foot maximum depth that was also unexpected. What was really nice were the shelves there though...only 3-4 feet from shore, the water drops off dramatically at almost half-way around the lake. Sometimes maxing out at 30 feet only 6 feet off shore. The fish finder showed them hiding way down, but obviously not immune to our tactics.
All in all, there were a few other ponds we tried with mixed results, but these were the best. Keep in mind these are all on the WEST side of town. Next- the north side, starting with Broomfield. I will keep you posted!
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