Possible brown trout fishing restrictions going in next year after declining population in Colorado
Jon Ewert, an aquatic biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said he's been watching the number of brown trout in Lake Dillon drop over the last decade, and now it's time to do something about it.
"That is one of the things about Dillon -- it can produce remarkably large brown trout. Historically, it has been known as a place that can grow brown trout up to 10 pounds, 28 to 30 inches, in excess of 10 pounds, so we want to keep that resource available to people," Ewert said.
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Using specialized nets in surveys, Ewert has been keeping tabs on the situation and now says changes need to be made or we won't have the fish in the water to catch. He said two things need to happen to get us back on track.
"In the lake we are suggesting all brown trout over 14 inches need to be returned to the water right away -- you can't harvest any brown trout of that size," Ewert said. "Spawning closures on the major spawning inlets, which is the Blue River and the 10-Mile Creek, those would be seasonal closures to allow them to swim upstream and spawn without being bothered by anglers."
The seasonal closure would run from September to December, when the fish are at their most vulnerable. While this plan is still just a suggestion, it has a lot of support both from local anglers and even folks just dropping a line during vacation.
"I am all for whatever conserves our wildlife," Anthony Carnahan said while visiting from Minnesota. He took time Tuesday to get some casts in. "That is what we do for recreation and ya know, if they make the rules, they are the experts. I don't fight my doctor when he tells me something, I'm not going to fight the fishery people when they tell me something."
The "new" rules (that actually bring us back to restrictions already in place back in 2006) would theoretically go into place at the start of 2024, if they pass with Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
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