Bass Pro Shops Denver, CO

We are well into the ice fishing season and I have not taken advantage of the many opportunities that Colorado has to offer this season. To be honest some of my youth club kids finally had to drag me out on the ice and away from the river. I had forgotten how much fun ice fishing was.

There was a time I had to be the first one out on the ice, Tarayall was first to freeze up and then Antero and finally 11 mile res. I have put hundreds of miles on my truck chasing those fish in South Park year after year.  There are huge trout in South Park and northern pike to make anyone an addict on the ice.

Last year I had to make a decision weather or not to finally have surgery on my shoulder that I have put off for years and it was a tough one to choose what seasons I would have to miss. Ice fishing and Hunting were the ones that I missed out on during recovery.

This year I told myself that I would make up for all the trips I missed last year and would do as much as I could whenever I could. That of course didn't happen as planned. This winter I spent a lot of time fishing the reservoirs till my line was at constant freeze and then I switched to the river and that is what I always wanted to do. Ice fishing wasn't my passion like it has been in the years past. I don't know why.

I finally committed to my youth club kids that I would go with them. We ventured to Monument Lake. I have been hearing that there were trout, perch,bluegills and an occasional bass being caught. That sounded like fun. A short trip from Colorado Springs North on I-25 to Monument and there we were. The Ice was a good ten inches and there were already people set up on the ice.

We walked around and figured out that there was probably some good structure around the West end by a beaver hut and drilled a bunch of holes. It wasn't long before we had several small trout on the ice and released them back into the lake. Then the yellow perch started showing up with some bluegills and every now and then someone caught a sucker. We caught a bunch of fish and it was a blast.

We started out using small teardrop jigs in chartreuse and white colors tipped with a wax worm or a meal worm. Those colors seemed to do the trick. You don't need to have a bunch of tackle to go ice fishing. a small box of mixed Lindy ice jigs will do along with a few kastmasters or swedish pimples for jigging up some fish.

You will accumulate many different ice fishing jigs and lures throughout the years there is always something new to try every year. Go with your confidence lure of choice. Better yet with all the fishing networks out there you can research where you are going and they will pretty much tell you where to go and what to throw. That is what the trend is. Wish I had it when I got started several years ago.

I really appreciate my youth club kids for reminding me what I have been missing, We have plans to make a few more trips on the ice this year and have more to share with all of you. If you haven't been going out as much as you would like try something closer to home. The fish may not be giants but the end result is still a smile.

Best of Luck,

                        Sam Heckman /   Pro Staff