Summit County Fishing Report: Cold weather heralds the start of ice fishing in Summit
As a result of the cold weather, still waters are icing — and expect the rivers to be close behind. The end result is that open-water fishing will soon be limited to tail water fisheries, such as the Blue River below Dillon. Look for increased traffic on weekends on the Blue as metro-area anglers head up to fish open water. As of late, though, action has been on the slow side with the cold water and low flows. Light tippets and small flies, primarily midges size 18 and smaller, are the order of the day.
Fishing for kokanee in the Blue River above Dillon has been good, but it seems the run is about over. Brightly colored egg patterns, San Juan worms and large gaudy nymphs often work for the kokanee.
Nothing has been noted in the Snake River arm at this time as far as kokanee go. Look for the inlets to ice up quickly, but use extreme caution before venturing onto the ice. This is a popular area to fish for kokanee through the ice in the next month or so.
Downstream, a few brave souls have been icing the inlet to Green Mountain where reports say up to 6 inches of ice has formed. However, the main lake is still unfrozen, so use extreme caution going out on the ice.
South Park’s Tarryall and Antero reservoirs are attracting a lot of ice fishers. Of the two, Tarryall has the better ice, but be aware there is still some open water. Fishing has been good for trout using a variety of jigs tipped with either a meal or wax worm. A couple of pike have been reported. Antero is also seeing a number of ice fishing folks, but conditions are still marginal at best with at least one angler falling through last week. Consider giving Antero another week. Note that Spinney is now closed to fishing for the season.
Editor’s note: Dave Coulson is the olorado state editor for FishExplorer.com. He contributes a weekly fishing report to the Summit Daily News. For more local and regional fishing info, visit www.fishexplorer.com.
By Dave Coulson
Summit Daily News
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
