by John Shriver

Created on: August 25, 2008

While Colorado has hundreds, if not thousands, of fine fishing spots, there are many close to home. Cherry Creek State Park is home to Cherry Creek Reservoir, more known for boating, sailing and skiing but is overlooked for its fishing. It's located just a few miles from downtown Denver off I-225 and is often crowded, especially on the weekends and during holidays.

Late in the afternoon and once the sun goes down, the fishermen come out for the famous Walleye population, trout, wiper, largemouth bass, catfish and the always kid favorite, perch. The more popular spot is next to the dam where there are several handi-capped spots for the mobility impaired. Fishermen prefer to fish right up next to the dam where the Walleye feed, especially during a full moon. There will be competition from boaters, trolling along the face of the dam but they tend to stay farther out, where the deeper water is. I've found that bank fishermen have just as good a chance of hooking one of those toothy Walleyes as the boaters so don't despair.

While Cherry Creek fishermen do tend to go for the Walleye most often, don't forget that at any moment a 10-pound catfish can bend your rod. They like night crawlers, packaged bait, dead minnows and even Power Bait. I've even seen them take a piece of hot dog on occasion. Once hooked they'll try to head for deep water so hang on. The area immediately out from the dam is strewn with rocks so expect to lose some gear once in a while but it's a small price to pay for a tasty meal.

The trout are even harder to catch this year and those caught seem to be of the stocker variety, not many hold overs from 2007. At the marina you can see pictures of some humongous trout caught out of this reservoir and from the stories told, they were caught by trollers late at night and a few by bank fishermen who had almost fallen asleep and lost them. Now that school has started, there will be fewer boats, fewer skiers and fewer jet skies on the water. This will settle the water down and the fish will be coming back into the shallows to feed at any time of the day.

The dam area isn't the only good fishing spot, try the west side of the lake. There are plenty of parking places almost to the water to set up chairs and tables. I don't have the names right at hand but you can't miss them. Fishermen have been successful in filling their limits both of trout and catfish from here. The water tends to shallow out; it has a sandy bottom, to about five feet, ideal for shallow feeding.

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