Whiteley-Nelson Reservoir Fishing near Steamboat Springs, Colorado

• Overview

  The Routt County entry here is Whiteley-Nelson Reservoir, in Colorado. The surroundings are lake country bush. It covers about 8 acres, so this is small water you can walk round in under an hour. Start from Steamboat Springs, 20 miles down the road. For a city, Boulder is 87 miles off. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Whiteley-Nelson Reservoir

  We hold no depth figure for this one. Inflow corners move water, and moving water gathers fish. The arms fish better than the open middle whenever the water is up. Records held for Routt County cover brook trout, cutthroat trout and rainbow trout. Those are county-wide records, so not every one of them will be in this water. At Whiteley-Nelson Reservoir the first feature you find is worth twenty minutes.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 58°F, while January sits near 19°F. The year splits cleanly: hard water, then open water. Ice-out usually falls in early May, and the weeks after it fish hardest. Averages suggest open water from about early May through to roughly late November. Fish feed hardest at the start and the close of the open season. Whiteley-Nelson Reservoir fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. Formal access is not mapped, so the last stretch is likely on foot. Trout here take small spinners, spoons and, where fly water allows, a nymph or dry. Gates get locked out of season on water like this. Some water is controlled locally without a sign saying so. Should this one be busy, Lake Creek Reservoir is 3.7 miles off. Rules at Whiteley-Nelson Reservoir are worth checking on the day.