Wildcat Reservoir, Colorado: Fishing Spots and Seasons

• Overview

  Within Pitkin County, Colorado, you have Wildcat Reservoir. It lies 8,199 feet above sea level. The water covers some 52 acres, so pick a bank rather than trying to cover it all. Bank access stretches around 1.9 miles in total. It is among the larger waters listed here for Pitkin County. 1.9 miles away sits Snowmass Village, the nearest town. After that come Aspen at 7.8 miles and Basalt at 10 miles. The nearest boundary is well away, so one set of rules covers the water.

• Where to Fish on Wildcat Reservoir

  Without a survey to go on, judge depth from how the bank falls away. A reservoir gives you a hard edge, a shelf, and not much else. The old creek line under the surface is the feature worth finding. Open biodiversity records for Pitkin County list cutthroat trout, brook trout, rainbow trout and black-spotted cutthroat trout. These are county-wide records, so not all of them will be in this water. Wildcat Reservoir repays a walk before the first cast.

• Seasonal Patterns

  The range across the year is 15°F to 57°F. Winter shuts things down for a spell, then spring reopens them fast. Winter locks it down, and early May brings it back. The open-water window runs from around early May to about mid November in an average year. From the thaw to midsummer the fishing improves week by week. Anyone fishing Wildcat Reservoir regularly works to that calendar.

• Tackle & Baits

  We hold no note on access for this one. There is no mapped parking or launch close by, which usually means walking in. For the trout, small spinners and a box of nymphs cover both approaches. Parking is often the real limit rather than the bank itself. A polite question at the farm gate opens more banks than anything else. For a change of water, Marolt Reservoir is 4.3 miles distant. Nothing on Wildcat Reservoir should be assumed from this page alone.