Crawford Reservoir, Hotchkiss Colorado - This west slope fishery holds a variety of species and is a popular pike fishery among west slope fly fishermen. Species in Crawford Reservoir: Brown Trout, Carp, Channel Catfish, Black Crappie, Largemouth Bass, Yellow Perch, Northern Pike, Rainbow Trout
Crawford, a 400 acre western Colorado reservoir, is slightly off the beaten track. Perch are a big attraction at Crawford, especially in the winter once the reservoir is iced over. Every year despite no limits on perch, Crawford produces not only large numbers of perch, but it continually produces large perch twelve inches plus. Frequently stocked with rainbows Crawford offers excellent trout fishing and produces an occasional large brown. Additionally, anglers can reasonably expect to encounter crappie, largemouth bass, catfish and northern pike.
Due to its small size, Crawford’s boating capacity is limited to sixty boats, but other than an occasional weekend the reservoir is rarely at capacity. Nestled in scenic ranching country, campers will find sixty spaces from which they can enjoy this scenic section of Colorado and its abundant wildlife.
Shore fishers tend to concentrate their efforts from the dam on the North end south along the east shore, in large part due to ready access. The inlet and the southeast cove are known producers of perch. Both sides of the boat ramp peninsula are popular fishing spots, particularly in the winter for perch and trout. Boaters find the steeper slopes of the west side an attractive area to probe for bass, trout and northern pike. During the summer months late night fishing is a popular pastime for catfish that occasionally exceed ten pounds.
2010 CDOW Fishing Forecast
This reservoir is managed as a category 602 warmwater mixed species lake. Fishing this year at Crawford should be good for pike and fair for rainbows and smaller black crappie. Fishing is expected to be slow for largemouth bass and poor for yellow perch with very few quality sized fish being present. Fishing for larger than average catfish is expected to remain good. Fishing should be good for northern pike in the spring with some trophy sized fish in the 15 to 25 lbs. range possible. The DOW has tagged many pike at Crawford as part of a population monitoring effort, if any pike are caught with a yellow plastic tag near the dorsal fin, please report it with the phone number on the tag or leave the information at the State Park office if the fish is harvested.
Getting there: From Delta, take Colorado Highway 92 east to Hotchkiss. Stay right on 92 where it intersects Colorado Highway 133 and drive 10 miles to Crawford. The park is one mile south of town. Fees: Colorado State Parks Pass $5 daily Boating: All Boats Allowed. Limited to 60 boats when activity is high, based on number of sailing, fishing, and water skiing boats. Ice Fishing: Ice fishing is allowed
9/1/2010 - Crawford Reservoir - The boat ramp at the Iron Creek launch area is open and ready for anglers. You must have your boat inspected prior to launching at any time of the day. This past week, anglers have been regularly catching crappie, and catfish. We have had reports of some VERY large catfish. Chicken livers and hot dogs seem to be the bait of choice. Rainbow trout were just stocked on Friday. Fishing has been good both from shore and from boats.
Conditions History
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