Cleveland Lake Fishing Guide, Eagle County, Colorado

• Overview

  Out in Eagle County, Colorado, sits Cleveland Lake. It sits in rolling bush. The water measures roughly 12 acres, so nothing here is far from anything else. It is high ground by Colorado standards. The closest town, Minturn, is 12 miles away. Avon lies 15 miles off, Leadville North another 15 miles. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Cleveland Lake

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. The shallow end warms first and pulls fish in ahead of the rest. Across Eagle County, recorded fish include brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout, cutthroat trout and black-spotted cutthroat trout. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. Cleveland Lake responds to conditions more than to tactics.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Climate normals give 51°F for July and 15°F for January. Winter puts a hard lid on this one. Ice fishing carries the winter, and the water opens about late May. On the long-run averages the water opens up around late May and starts locking again about early November. Just after the ice goes and just before it returns, the fishing lifts. Anyone fishing Cleveland Lake regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. Mapping records no facilities at all near this water. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Where the way in crosses private ground, ask first. Should this one be busy, Hunky Dory Lake is 0.4 miles off. Ask locally about Cleveland Lake if anything is unclear.