No more big boats

I'm kind of happy to see this happen.I can't afford a boat that I can only use at Standley(as they keep your boat in their yard) and the park has never been a friend to the fisherman. Anyone want to explore the south shore this yr.I seem to remember a public access off of 88th,west of Wadsworth.I live out that way . . .I'll go have a look see . . . .
Old Russ Moran (Bass Pro Shop on Sheridan) said the next state SMB and eye were in Standly.

Anybody know anything about the ditch that fills Standly,whats it called,when does it run,ect??

This is terrible news. I think they sold around 1000 permits per year. Which means 1000 more boats on the other lakes.

And this could be the first of many lakes to close. Anyone who has a boat should stand against this, wether you use Standley or not.

I don’t have a dog in this fight since I don’t boat this impoundment. What I do understand is that this lake provides drinking water for some 300,000 residents, so I can see where invasive species getting out of control could become a problem.

Aurora Res is drinking water for a large part of Aurora, 3rd largest population in the state. I hope it's not a trend for things to come. But I'm with HP on this, I have never fished the lake because it cost to much and too many hoops to jump through to float a boat on.

HP, I might be wrong but I think the ditch is Leyden Creek. Ive fished Standly from shore over the years and did ok for trout and carp. At one point I had some success on wipers in spring. Not sure if that trick would still work. Never boated it.

I will update the lake page with the new regs in the morning.

With all the restrictions the next record fish is growing in there for sure. There is public access down on the south shore, that's actually where i proposed to my wife. Told her we were going fishing before going to her Mom's house hahaha.

Bron . . .thank you . . .at the least,I have a name to start with. Is it an actual creek or is it some kind of deversion/ canal and where does it come from?
Who controls it? is there any way to go on line and find out the day to day use and or when and how long will it be running?

I don't think it is Leyden. Leyden is south of 80 th.

It might be Woman Creek or Big Dry Creek.

96 percent of the water Standley Lake receives comes from clear creek, and the rest is received from Woman’s creek and adjoining drainages.

There's more than 1 inlet. My experience has been with the one off of 86th where there's free walk in access. Looks like a v shaped bay on the map HP.

I saw that this morning and had the same thought as Ryan. Thoes people are going to go somewhere and most of them are water skiing pleasure boats.

Bron . . .that's the one I'm interested in.I've seen the canal(I think) both running and dry.I'd like to fish the lake when the canal is running.
Goose . . .all the more reason to come out to Atown.

Isn't the bigger problem here that anyone has the ability to bypass the inspection? I can't quite understand why roads and parking lots are set up where anyone would even have the chance to do so... That's dam near one person a week during the boating season that got in without an inspection.

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to lay out a parking lot with one way in, and one way out... All boats must enter through inspection station...

This is what the dumb people that feel the need to beat the system cause.. Sadly I think it's just the start. Look at the ramp changes from last year at Horsetooth and Carter.

After looking at the FAQ's on the Westminster web site, I doubt that the lake will ever be open to trailered boats again. It's a shame that the actions of a few wrecked it for so many others who followed the rules. I don't understand why they just didn't ban the offenders from the lake. It might have happened eventually anyways but I think they used it as an excuse to do it sooner rather than later. Westminster collected $480,000 in permit fees in 2018. For me personally, it was a close and convenient place to fish even though the hoops you had to jump through made me wonder at times if it was worth it. I had a lot of good times there fishing for walleye and smallmouth bass over the last nine years. And, the times I spent fishing with my grandkids for panfish which are vastly overlooked in the lake by most were the best of all. I will be at the public meeting on April 2nd. It should be very interesting.

Walter . . . .That $480,000 permit fee,is that just for boats or does it include the day use and other permits?
If that is just for boats,I really underestimated how many boats they were allowing at Standly.

$480,000 is actually lower than I thought it would be. It was over $1000/boat for a non-resident last year.

And I would say the split was maybe 60/40 between water sports people vs fisherman.

Either way, I think it is a HUGE mistake to pit one boater type against another on this. Could be a slippery slope to close more lakes, and boaters need to stick together to avoid that.

Little dry creek is the inlet by 86th and kipling. Depending on lake levels walleye fishing can be good during the spawn. I have seen many 10+ lbs come out of that small section but that was years ago. Not sure how it is now.

From City of Westminster Website
..a 2013 study found zebra and quagga mussels could potentially survive in ballast tanks for up to 27 days. Westminster extended its quarantine to 35 days in 2013

Unfortunately, a review of boat launch data during the 2018 season found as many as 24 boats circumvented the quarantine process. Boat owners launched the boat on other lakes, in some cases multiple times, and then launched on Standley Lake only days later. Trespassing notices are being issued to several owners.

I have a small 12 v hull that fits "poorly" in the bed of my truck. I wonder if they would have any issues with this? From everything I read, it sounds like they are just worried about the "trailer". It would be kinda sweet not having to worry about getting swamped by a pleasure boater. I may just have to break out the old aluminum again.

I've read most of what I could find on the daily or annual cost for a kayak, canoe or handlaunched craft with a trolling motor and found only info on "paddlecraft." Anyone know how much $$ to go daily or annually with a kayak and a trolling motor?

I think the 24 people who went in by cheating the system probably found a way to take off the standley lake boat tag and then reinstall it after they went to another lake

most of the fishing spots on the south shore are really shallow and you have to walk a long way to get there. and you cant fish from the dam (east side), if you want to fish the north shore you have to pay if you drive in, or can walk in for free if you park in the lot off of 100th ave. and all the west side of the lake is close due to private land and closed due the the bald eagle nesting area. when is was open to motor boats the entire 1/3 of the lake to the west was closed to motor boats for eagle nesting habitat. the current state record walleye was caught on the south shore main inlet and the old parking lot by the library is now closed off. if you want to fish the south shore inlet you have to park in the south lot off of 88th and simms street then walk over 1/4 mile to the inlet

Some of the comments make me wonder if you guys really don't know how it's done or if no one wants to give up there secret. It's quite easy to get on and off of lakes that requires an inspection with out actually having your boat inspected. Move to another body of water, no inspection and so on. That's why I think the ans program is such a joke. The idea is good and we obviously don't want zebras in our lakes but it's not fool proof. I'm assuming that I can't be the only person that knows what I'm talking about. I should say that I don't practice this but launching w/o inspection and not getting caught is pretty easy to do.

Goose your not the only one been saying it for years, its a joke.
What those people were doing is taking their boats to other lakes and not telling stanley they had been to other lakes. they did away with the quarantine a couple years ago. so what stanley went and did was check with CPW and found that some of the people who are members had been to places like Cherry creek or chatfield. Using the boat numbers. that's how they were caught. Anyway its been happening for years.

If you think as boaters you have any say at all what rights you have as a boaters against private waters. Think again you don't have any say so at all.

Aurora res could follow too because they are doing so well with the SUPs and rentals. Boats are more of a problem these days then the SUPs and Yaks. Think about it.

CPW the Cities and the the water suppliers for farmers in this state really could give a Rats Ass what we as boaters think.

Westminster Just sent 600 mores boats to other waters. Should be interesting in the future.

Goose, that’s the problem. It’s way too easy! Most of the lake parking areas and ramp access routes leave so many options for people to skirt the system. I think there is huge opportunity to tighten that up while also improving the flow of the ramps, mostly during peak season.

If stuff like this continues (which it will) more and more lakes will get shut down. I would guess that the smaller lakes without inspection will be some of the first.

I think it's safe to say that everyone here understands the importance of the state ANS program for this exact reason. I have seen many examples of attempted reattachment of seals during my years and I can tell you as long as the inspector takes 3 seconds to look at the seal it is incredibly obvious if someone has tried to fraudulently reattach one.

This is a hard situation for a lot of folks and hits close to home for me personally. I grew up boating on Standley Lake and have memories of catching many nice sized trout and walleye from that lake, learning to wakeboard and getting bounced to oblivion on tubes with friends. Heck I have a mount hanging at home of a big rainbow trout my great grandfather caught out of that lake.

The bottom line on this is people have to realize how their actions might affect others just like with everything. Unfortunately that is hard to rely on. Most water bodies in the state are only leased for surface recreation (i.e. boating) and the water/dam owners make the ultimate decision.

(P.S. shore fishing from the South side of Standley can be difficult in the summer due to the Eurasianmilfoil growths.)

Ranger Green

Stanley had a 30 day quarantine for any boat that didn't have a Standley seal.

So, short of removing the bow eye and taking the seal off, I think their system was pretty hard to scam.

All boats had to pass inspection, be it a kayak or a motorboat.