Fishing Bench Lake in Saguache County, Colorado

• Overview

  Bench Lake sits within Saguache County in Colorado. The surface lies 12,520 feet up. The water measures roughly 3 acres, so nothing here is far from anything else. It is high ground by Colorado standards. The nearest town is Center, 33 miles away. The nearest city of size is Pueblo, 56 miles away. Rules here are straightforward: one county, one set of rules.

• Where to Fish on Bench Lake

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Still water like this holds fish on the edges rather than out in the open. Across Saguache County, recorded fish include brown trout, white sucker, brook trout, black-spotted cutthroat trout and cutthroat trout. It is the county picture; the agency list is water-specific. The shape of Bench Lake decides where the fish sit.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Temperature averages peak at 50°F in July and bottom out at 15°F in January. The season turns properly here, and fish follow it closely. The lid usually goes in late May, which opens the strongest weeks of the year. Averages place the thaw at late May and the freeze at early November. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. The season on Bench Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  Public sources are silent on who controls the bank. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. Light line and small metal for the trout; a fly rod earns its place on calm evenings. Rules differ from one water to the next round here. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. For a change of water, South Colony Lakes is 0.7 miles distant. The position on Bench Lake is worth confirming on the day.