Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic biologists, working alongside Denver Water staff, salvaged more than 1,000 trout from Antero Reservoir last Friday and relocated them to nearby waterbodies in Park County.
The effort follows a public salvage event approved in April after Denver Water announced plans to draw down Antero Reservoir in response to drought conditions. During and after that public salvage concluded, fish were still able to move freely from Antero into the South Fork and downstream to Spinney Mountain Reservoir.
A total of 981 rainbow, brown, cutthroat and hybrid trout were captured through electrofishing and transported to Eleven Mile Reservoir. The remaining fish were released into the South Fork of the South Platte River. Eleven Mile was selected as the primary destination to keep the fish within the South Platte River basin and because of its clean status regarding New Zealand mudsnails, an aquatic nuisance species.
“It felt great to be able to salvage fish from Antero Reservoir and relocate them to another location where they can be enjoyed by anglers. Antero can grow some really nice trout and we were able to move 981 fish over to Eleven Mile State Park. We appreciate the close coordination and support from Denver Water along with the thousands of anglers that participated in the emergency public salvage effort, a key to ensure some of Antero’s fish did not go to waste.” – CPW Northeast Senior Aquatic Biologist Kyle Battige.
Antero Reservoir, a high-elevation fishery in Park County, is managed by Denver Water and has long been a popular destination for Front Range anglers targeting trophy trout.
