Brush Hollow Reservoir, Penrose Colorado - Brush Hollow Reservoir SWA offers anglers an opportunities to pursue black bass, crappie, walleye, catfish, and sunfish in addition to regularly stocked rainbow trout.
Brush Hollow reservoir near Penrose offers a variety of both warm and coldwater species. Largemouth bass, crappies, bluegill, sunfish, channel catfish, yellow perch and walleye populations are all healthy and well fed by the primary forage base of gizzard shad. Rainbow trout are stocked as well. The water level at Brush Hollow drops rapidly beginning in early June so take advantage of this reservoir early in the spring.
Testing conducted by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment revealed mercury levels in certain sizes of walleye exceeded human health based standards. Please see the fish consumption advisory posted at the reservoir or refer to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment website - http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/wq/FishCon/index.html - for more details.
2009 CDOW Fishing Forecast
The water level is good right now, but this reservoir is drawn down for irrigation by early June so don’t hesitate to take advantage of fishing opportunities this spring. Early spring action is generally focused on catchable trout as well as crappie. Last spring saw some good crappie action especially during late April and early May. Fishing should be fair to good for most species, such as bluegill, sunfish, channel catfish and yellow perch. We would expect to see some fine walleye and largemouth bass fishing as these populations look very strong as supported by sampling efforts, especially, with regards to the walleye. Fishing for trout is good right now, and the warmwater fishing should improve as water temperatures increase in April. For anglers targeting catfish, success is generally better from late June to late September. Creel surveys conducted during 2006 showed catch rates in excess of 1 fish per hour and an average size of over 16 inches during the month of August. Overall, the fishing is expected to good to very good early, prior to the spawning of the primary forage, gizzard shad.
Species relative abudance table 2007 CDOW fish surveys
Species Gillnet Electroshock
Black Bullhead ------- 0.3% Black Crappie 6.67% 5.9% Bluegill 2.05% 20.1% Channel Catfish 6.67% 2.1% Common Carp 1.03% --------- Gizzard Shad 18.97% 12.1% Golden Shinner 3.59% 0.3% Green Sunfish ---------- 1.2% Largemouth Bass 9.23% 50.1% Rainbow Trout 0.51% --------- Walleye 28.72% 1.5% White Sucker 0.51% ---------- Yellow Perch 22.05% 6.5%
Getting there: From US 50 at Penrose, go 2 miles north on Highway 115 to County Road 123, then 1 3/4 miles west (left) to the access road on the right, and then go 2 miles north (right) to the property. Fees: Habitat Stamp Required Boating: Wakeless. Boating is prohibited in a manner that creates a white water wake.
