COLORADO FISHING

   Colorado Parks and Wildlife has determined that the fish kill at North Sterling in Brush, Colorado this past September was not as significant as previously believed. Samples confirm that enough fish were spared for continued angling throughout the coming year and through the fishery rebuilding process.

"It appears that we dodged a bullet" said David Piper, park manager for North Sterling State Park, "We have a good base of catchable sport fish at the reservoir and won't need to start from scratch in 2013."

    CPW aquatic biologists ran their annual fall survey at the Park on Nov. 14 and learned the September fish kill was not a complete summer kill as initially suspected.

"Black crappie, walleye, saugeye, yellow perch and wiper were found in our sampling," said Mandi Brandt, aquatic biologist for the northeastern plains, "So there are definitely some keeper-sized fish for anglers. We will be stocking more of these warm water sport fish as fry and fingerlings and using catchable rainbow and cutthroat trout to fill the gap."

    Total fish numbers sampled were down 77% from last year, pointing to a significant loss of fish overall. However, efforts will be made to boost the prey base of gizzard shad back to prior levels, as well as the sport fish. In addition, the reservoir should receive another 5 ft of water by the end of December, which will help the fishery through the winter.

    Colorado Parks and Wildlife has started work on a construction project to install a long-sought fish screen in Rifle Creek and officials say it will be complete and operational by spring of 2013. Fed by Rifle Gap Reservoir, the creek is a tributary to the Colorado River and is located northeast of the city of Rifle.

Once it is functioning under all expected operating conditions, the screen will prevent non-native fish that have escaped from Rifle Gap Reservoir and into Rifle Creek from progressing downstream to the Colorado River where they can be harmful to native fish populations.
   "This is a win-win project all the way around; we are protecting native fish populations downstream, while simultaneously having the opportunity to improve a combination, cool-warmwater fishery within Rifle Gap Reservoir," said Lori Martin, aquatic biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in the northwest region." We are answering the call of our anglers who are seeking more warmwater fishing opportunities but also keeping in mind the concerns of our partners within the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program."