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Colorado's Terrific Twins

© Louis BIgnami

Big fish, save for the odd mackinaw, aren't the reason to fish this 1,700 acre reservoir that waits just below Independence Pass and Mt. Elbert, Colorado's tallest "fourteener." Quantity keys the action where some of the oddest icehouses in Colorado dot the ice in one of the most accessible lakes in the Front Range. Browns and rainbows average a foot or so with much larger fish taken from time to time, and "big macks" hug bottom in the deeps.

Rainbows and browns provide the most reliable action for bait fishers who use all sorts of wigglers - wax worms, meal worms, maggots, mousies and patriotically colored red, blue and white Euro-maggots - on small ice jigs. Other worthwhile baits include red worms, night crawlers, salmon eggs and/or marshmallows. The marshmallows function as floats to keep companion baits off bottom. A tiny float or a spring tip ice fishing rod helps detect light bites.

Lure fishers aren't left out: Swedish Pimples, most small crappie jigs, ice fishing jigs and small Vertical Rapalas that swim in circles when jigged all produce, as do a number of nymphs and bead heads. Shops in Leadville or Twin Lakes have the "flavor of the day."

Prime spots collect ice fishers. Both sides of the narrows between the lakes, the Lower Lake inlet, and the area off the Lower Lake Power House are the prime spots, but the key here either to use a sonar or to auger in, lie down - bring a roll of rug that's also keeps your feet warm and can be kicked over your hole with a "caught" fish comes off the hook and starts flopping on the ice - and take a peak. You should spot trout, and be able to spot the drop off edges to deeper water that seems most productive for trout.

Mackinaws require a different approach. Big chunks of sucker, or whole suckers up to six inches long, or so fished on bottom do the job where your depth finder shows big fish returns. Equally large spoons, usually with strips of sucker belly added, work well. Spots near the dam and across the lake from the powerhouse key mackinaw action on Lower Lake. South side drop offs are good on both lakes.

Fishing improves as the ice goes, and may peak right after ice out. So don't worry if the ice is unsafe later in the year when open water forms off the inlet and near shore.

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