Photo by Ron Sinfelt

"One of the beauties of fishing, or of spending time in the natural world, is being surprised when you least expect it," opined outdoor scribe and angler Craig Nova several years ago in the pages of Fly Fisherman magazine.

All things considered, then, Colorado trout anglers are being pleasantly surprised at virtually every turn these days.

Despite persistent drought concerns across the state over the past several years, the smiles seen on the faces of many trout anglers in the past 12 months appears to tell the tale that the trout fishing glass is surprisingly half-full in the Centennial State, not half-empty.

"I'd have to say status quo to improving is where I'd put (the current state of trout fishing in Colorado)," said Robin Knox, the sport fish program manager for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. He rated the state's trout fishing action in 2004 at a solid B+.

"We've been able to maintain our trout production," he said. "Quite a few of our fisheries depend on supplemental stockings and we had good production (in 2004). Our reservoir levels have improved and our stream fisheries have actually benefited somewhat by the lack of strong runoff in the spring.

"I'd say most of our streams are at capacity in terms of trout right now. After four years of minimal runoff, our trout populations are about as good as they can be, given the reduced flows," the biologist added. "Our stream fisheries have been as good in the past two years as they have been in the 25 years that I've been in Colorado."

Take the Arkansas River, for example. This tumbling trout stream running from near Leadville down through the heart of the Rockies toward Salida and on through the Royal Gorge toward Cañon City has actually improved in part because of the recent drought.

"The Arkansas is mainly a brown trout stream," Knox said. "As with (other) typical brown trout streams, they spawn in the fall and as the water cools, the eggs take three to four months to hatch. That means that their small fry are at their swim-up stages in the spring, so if we have a strong runoff, then we'll also have less survival of the young of the year. Plus, warmer water leads to improved insect hatches and increased growth rates for these browns. Add it all up and it's a pretty good recipe for brown trout."

Knox indicates that while the Arkansas River's biomass has improved over the past five years, such a scenario has also played itself out on some of Colorado's other rivers with improved brown trout populations on the Roaring Fork, Cache la Poudre and Colorado rivers.

Colorado DOW public information specialist Tyler Baskfield saw the benefits of reduced runoff first-hand on some of his own trout sojourns during the 2004 season.

"It was good," Baskfield reported. "I didn't get up there (to fish) as much as I'd like to, obviously, since I never do. But I had some good trips and was impressed with what I saw up there. The thing that stood out to me the most was the lengthened fly-fishing season since the runoff wasn't as strong. In May and June, the rivers weren't all blown out and guys were actually able to do some good fishing. Plus, there are better hatches when there is not as much water and we definitely had lots of fish, so that was a good combination."

But that was last year. Inquiring minds want to know the answer to this year's $64,000 dollar fishing question: What does the year 2005 have in store for Colorado trout anglers?