Fishing in Colorado means opportunity & a chance to catch some 35 species of both warm- and cold-water fish. You can fish for the famed rainbow trout in a cool Rocky Mountain stream or troll for walleye on a sunny plains reservoir. And Colorado offers everything in between, too. There are 6,000 miles of streams and more than 2,000 lakes and reservoirs to choose from.
Plan your next fishing trip by using the Colorado Fishing Atlas. CPW's interactive map features several layers to pick and choose from on a variety of scales. Learn more about using this feature by watching the Colorado Fishing Atlas - Getting Started video.
Fishing Colorado's Hot Spots highlights just some of the variety Colorado has to offer anglers. We're sure you'll discover a few of your own favorite Colorado hot spots, too. When you purchase your Colorado fishing license, don't forget to pick up a free copy of the
Colorado Fishing Brochure.
Colorado's 315 miles of Gold Medal streams and 3 Gold Medal lakes provide outstanding angling opportunities for large trout. These waters are managed to ensure populations of big fish.
Good Fishing Made Better
Colorado's excellent fishing opportunities are made even better by the efforts of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's (CPW) 19 hatcheries. CPW stocks 3.5 million 10-inch fish every year. An additional 58 million warm-water species and 13 million subcatchable cold-water species are stocked.
It costs $1.05 to raise a catchable fish for stocking. So, please conserve our precious resource by returning the fish you do not plan to eat to the water promptly. You can even participate in the Colorado Master Angler Awards program and still release the fish you catch. Visit the Master Angler page for more information.
