Spinney Mountain Reservoir

Spinney Mountain Reservoir sits at about 8,700 feet in South Park, on the South Platte above Eleven Mile, inside Spinney Mountain State Park. It covers about 2,500 acres of open, treeless water, owned by the City of Aurora. The rules keep it a trophy lake: flies and lures only, and one trout a day at 20 inches or more. The water is rich, and rainbows, cutthroat and browns grow thick on chironomids, scuds, damsels and callibaetis. Northern pike live here too.

The park opens at ice-off, usually in April, and the first weeks are the best of the year, with fish in shallow water near the inlet and along the shore. A chironomid or a scud under an indicator in 6 to 15 feet is the standard. Damsels and callibaetis carry June and July, and a leech on a slow-sinking line works all season. Wind in South Park is constant and strong in the afternoon, so mornings are the time for a float tube. The park is day use only, with no night fishing and no ice fishing. The stretch of river below the dam, the Dream Stream, is its own famous water.