Yellow perch have two separate dorsal fins with large vertical dark stripes on their yellowish sides. Anglers have luck catching saugeye by trolling live bait or slowly retrieving jigs over bottom humps and points.Īnother long ago introduced species, the yellow perch may be Colorado’s most abundant game fish and one of the most table worthy. Saugeye don’t grow as big as walleye, but are just as tasty. Saugeye can be distinguished from walleyes by black mottling marks on their bodies, tails that do not have a white tip and black pigmentation in between dorsal spines. This hybrid of walleye and sauger has been stocked into reservoirs throughout the eastern plains of Colorado since the 1980s. Walleye are one of Colorado’s tastiest fish and they have been caught in excess of 18 pounds. Adults feed entirely on other fish and are most often caught by slowly cranking jigs and spinners over bottom structures. You can identify walleye by looking for their two separate dorsal fins and a white tipped tail. Since their introduction in 1949, walleye have been placed in most large warm- and cool-water reservoirs.
Casting shad imitations or various lures at the “busting” prey and holding on tight is a fun method for catching wiper. Wiper are a schooling fish that can be found “busting” prey fish on the surface during the summer. Wiper have become a very popular sportfish because of their hard fighting. Introduced into eastern Colorado lakes in the early 1980s, this fish is a hybrid between white bass and striped bass.
They are typically found in higher elevation lakes, beaver dams and streams. This prolific fish often becomes overpopulated and can out-compete other trout. Brook trout have white spots (worm-shaped on top) on a dark background with tri-colored outlined fins (orange, black and white). A large dark spotting pattern and reddish dots can help anglers distinguish these fish from rainbows and cutthroats.Īn entry to Colorado in the late 1800s, the brook trout feeds on aquatic and terrestrial insects and will rise to a large range of small lures, baits and flies. These fish can be difficult to catch, but many anglers have good success during their fall spawning runs. The brown trout was first brought into this state in the 1890s and is now abundant from high mountain streams to broad rivers flowing onto the plains. Cutthroat trout can be distinguished from rainbows by heavier spotting toward the tail and the presence of a red slash on their “throat.” Anglers may find these trout in high lakes and streams. The range of these fish has decreased due to a variety of habitat factors, and extensive recovery efforts are underway by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Several subspecies of cutthroat trout are found in Colorado, of which three are native – the greenback, the Rio Grande and the Colorado. Rainbow trout may be caught with a variety of flies, baits, and lures. Physical characteristics that can help distinguish rainbow trout include dark spots on a light body, continuous spotting throughout the body, and often a “rainbow” horizontal reddish stripe. Rainbows can be found in most mountain lakes and streams, as well as many plains reservoirs. These fish were introduced in the 1880s and have become both the angler’s favorite and the mainstay of Colorado’s hatchery system (millions of catchable and subcatchable sized fish are stocked annually).
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