Fishing Insights from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife

As the public information officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife I get to write and talk to people about Colorado's critters every day. I've been a resident of the state for 35 years and I feel honored to be in this position in which I can explain the ways of wildlife to the public. Wild lands and wildlife, in fact, are some of the major reasons I moved to Colorado back in the "Rocky Mountain High" days of the mid-1970s.

Last year, the owners of Fish Explorer kindly invited the agency to post on the website. We hope that contributing to FishExplorer will help us stay in better contact with anglers who ply Colorado's waters. But please, don’t expect to get much in the way of fishing tips from me. I do a lot of casting, but not much catching. Perhaps some of you will be able to teach me a bit more about catching.

Here's what I intend to provide to you in my posts: I'll update you on what's going on at the agency, provide the latest information about Colorado's aquatic issues, explain research and field work that's being done by our aquatic biologists and answer your questions.

We're very aware that there are a lot of anglers who don't always agree with some of the things we do or the regulations we set. Case in point: Blue Mesa Reservoir.

But I hope to explain some things that I can't always explain adequately in a news release. I don't expect to convince everyone to see the agency way all the time, but I will pass along information that I believe open-minded anglers will consider.

Here are some things I won't do: I won't engage in any drawn-out arguments; I'll state the facts and explain them as best I can. I won't let go unnoticed items that express false information about the agency, or rumors that are stated as facts. And I won't tolerate any personal attacks on the aquatic biologists or other members of the agency staff. They work their jobs because they care about the resource, about wildlife and about angling – just like the readers of FishExplorer.

I work in the Southwest Region, an area that extends from the San Luis Valley to the Four Corners, north to Delta, the North Fork country and the Gunnison Basin. Summer is field season for the biologists so they are sometimes difficult for me to track down.  So, some questions I'll be able to answer quickly, while others might take awhile. If you have questions or comments about other regions (Northwest, Northeast, Southeast) you can send them to me and I'll pass them along. 

You can also contact me personally at joe.lewandowski@state.co.us, or at 970-375-6708.

I look forward to offering some good fish stories, and to hear yours.