Buckhorn Lakes, Colorado: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Buckhorn Lakes is set in Ouray County, Colorado. It stands 9,751 feet above sea level. It is pond-in-a-field scale, with the far bank a short lob away. It is one of the smaller waters we list in Ouray County. For a base, Montrose sits 16 miles out. It is 157 miles to Colorado Springs, the nearest city. One jurisdiction covers this water end to end.

• Where to Fish on Buckhorn Lakes

  No chart reached our records; the first cast is your sounding. Read the surface for the wind lane, then fish the edge of it. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. Across Ouray County, recorded fish include rainbow trout, brown trout, black-spotted cutthroat trout, white sucker and bluehead sucker. County records show what lives in the area; the local agency holds the water-by-water list. Read Buckhorn Lakes before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Expect July to average close to 61°F, with January the cold end at about 17°F. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Count on hard cover from midwinter, and open water from late April. On average, late April opens the water and late November closes it again. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. On Buckhorn Lakes the same rules apply, with local timing.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. A camping area sits within half a mile of here. A toilet block sits half a mile away. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Where access is informal, keep it that way by behaving. Close seasons apply to some species and not others. Jutten Lakes, 1.7 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Nothing on Buckhorn Lakes should be assumed from this page alone.