Summer can’t last forever, but the good news is with the approach of fall and then winter comes the promise of a different brand of alluring outdoor recreation. Sure, it may require bundling up, but there is so much fun, wonder, and excitement in ice fishing.
Let’s look at two of the Wet Mountain Valley’s best ice fishing spots for licensed anglers.
DeWeese Reservoir
DeWeese Reservoir, covering over 200 acres, is home to rainbow, brook, brown, and cutbow trout, tiger muskie, and smallmouth bass. Once frozen over, this popular fishing spot becomes an ice fisher’s paradise. Along the lake, you’ll see ice huts and no shortage of anglers pulling good fish out of the frozen-over water.
Stocked with trout during the spring and fall, come winter, there’s plenty left in DeWeese Reservoir for ice anglers.
Lake Isabel
About 35 miles from Westcliffe, Lake Isabel offers fishing year-round. Stocked by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, anglers can expect brown, brook, and rainbow trout. When the lake freezes over in winter, ice fishing is possible; however, on the north shore and toward the dam, the ice thins.
As always, with both Lake Isabel and DeWeese Reservoir, use caution and check current conditions and with the authorities to make sure it’s safe for ice fishing.
