Fishing

You can fish for trout in the lakes and stream of Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Fishing Details

Sport fishing with hand-held rods or lines is permitted in a number of lakes, streams, and rivers in Rocky Mountain National Park. Only single hooks with artificial lures may be used. You must possess a Colorado fishing license to fish in the park if you are over age 16. Park waters contain brown, brook, rainbow, and cutthroat trout, with some suckers present in streams. Greenback cutthroat and the Colorado River cutthroat are the only native species of trout and thus the only fish that are restocked. Possession limits are generally eight fish, six of which must be brook trout (non-native fish which the Park Service is trying to eliminate). Lakes known to contain fish include: - Black Lake - Box Lake - Fourth Lake - Haynach Lake - Jewel lake - Lake Haiyaha - Lake Nanita - Lake of Glass - Lake Solitude - Lake Verna - Loch Vale - Lone Pine Lake - Mills Lake - Mirror Lake - Peacock Pool - Pettingell Lake - Poudre Lake - Sky Pond - Spirit Lake - Sprague Lake - Ten Lake Park Lakes - Thunder Lake Some fishing in the park is catch-and-release; in these waters, only unbarbed hooks may be used and caught fish must be immediately returned to the water: - Adams Lake and outlet stream down to Paradise Creek - Arrowhead Lake - Big Crystal Lake - Bench Lake and Ptarmigan Creek above War Dance Falls - Caddis Lake (Lower Fay Lake) - Cony Creek (above Calypso Cascades) - Dream Lake - Fern Lake and Creek - Fifth Lake - Big Thompson River above The Pool (Forest Canyon) - Gorge Lakes (Rock Lake, Little Rock Lake and Gorge Stream from Arrowhead Lake to confluence with Big Thompson River) - Hidden Valley Beaver Ponds and Hidden Valley Creek (open only as posted) - Hutcheson Lakes - Lake Husted - Lake Louise - Lawn Lake - Loomis Lake - Lost Lake - North Fork of the Big Thompson above Lost Falls - Odessa Lake - Ouzel Creek (above falls) - Ouzel Lake - Paradise Creek drainage - Pear Lake and Creek - Roaring River - Sandbeach Lake and Creek - Spruce Lake (partial shoreline closure due to Boreal Toad protection area) - Timber Lake and Creek - Upper Hague Creek - Upper Onahu Creek - West Creek - Ypsilon Lake and Creek (Note: a legal limit of brook trout may be kept at Hidden Valley Beaver Ponds and Hidden Valley Creek, Lost Lake, the North Fork of the Big Thompson, Ouzel Lake, and Ouzel Creek.) Fishing is banned in: - Bear Lake inlet and outlet streams extending 200 yards upstream and downstream - Hunters Creek above Wild Basin Ranger Station as posted - Kettle Tarn - Lake Nanita Outlet, downstream 100 yards - Shadow Mountain Reservoir below the spillway to the park boundary from October to December - The South Fork of the Cache la Poudre River above Pingree Park - Upper Columbine Creek above 9,000 feet Always check with park officials to get the latest information before you go fishing in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Difficulty

Open

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