East Lost Lake in Routt County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  East Lost Lake is one of the Routt County waters in Colorado. The ground round it is rolling bush. Surface area runs to about 9 acres — small enough to read in one session. Some 30 miles away sits Hayden, the nearest settlement. For a city, Boulder is 103 miles off. The county line is nowhere near, so one local authority covers the water.

• Where to Fish on East Lost Lake

  There is no published depth for this one, so start shallow and work out. Bays and points beat straight shoreline every time on water like this. A soft bed grows weed late into autumn, which keeps fish shallow. Open biodiversity records for Routt County list brook trout, cutthroat trout, rainbow trout and mountain whitefish. County records show the wider picture rather than this one place. Anyone new to East Lost Lake should walk it once before setting up.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The year swings from about 16°F in January to roughly 53°F in July. The middle months are generous; the ends are demanding. Break-up comes around late May, and the run that follows is short and strong. Ice clears near late May and comes back about early November in a typical year. The weeks after the thaw and the ones before the freeze are the strongest. The season on East Lost Lake follows the weather closely.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. A landowner's word beats anything printed elsewhere. Some stretches are reserved and marked as such on the ground. Dines Lake sits 0.3 miles off and takes the overflow. What applies at East Lost Lake may have changed since it was mapped.