Chatfield Lake Fishing Guide, Jefferson County, Colorado

• Overview

  Chatfield Lake stands in Jefferson County, Colorado. Farm and woodlot runs right down to the water. About 1,389 acres, so local knowledge or a boat saves a lot of walking. Some 8.2 miles of bank gives room to move when the wind turns. Nothing else we list in Jefferson County covers more water. Columbine is the closest town at 3 miles. Ken Caryl follows at 3.2 miles, then Columbine Valley at 4.3 miles. The boundary is near enough that local access rules are worth double-checking.

• Where to Fish on Chatfield Lake

  Our records carry no depth, so judge it from the bank. Held water runs deepest at the wall and shallows back to the inflow. Draw-down through summer strips the margins, so follow the water out. Fish documented in Jefferson County include rainbow trout, brown trout, common carp and green sunfish. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Chatfield Lake gives up more to patience than to distance.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Averages move between 30°F in January and 72°F in July. Fishing continues through most of the calendar, with quiet spells rather than closures. In a normal year the cover is thin and short-lived. The cooler months are the comfortable ones to fish here. On Chatfield Lake that shapes the whole year.

• Tackle & Baits

  Access is not recorded for this water. There is a mapped slipway roughly half a mile away. Chatfield Marina sits half a mile away and handles boats. There is somewhere to leave the car, half a mile off. A jetty or pier is mapped about half a mile from here. You can camp about half a mile away, going by the mapping. Facilities include toilets around half a mile from here. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. The nearest alternative is Fairview Reservoir, 1.7 miles out. None of that is settled for Chatfield Lake in what we hold.