When outdoorsmen think of Colorado, images of big-game hunting and fly-fishing for trout in pristine mountain streams come to mind. But Colorado has its own version of “big game” when it comes to trout.
Lake trout were planted in many of the state’s biggest reservoirs either on purpose by biologists or by anglers who used bucket biology to create opportunities to catch a new species in their home waters. The biggest mackinaws, as locals call them, are found in reservoirs that have kokanee salmon and rainbow trout. The monster lake trout gorge on the diminutive salmon and stocker trout to the despair of many anglers who prefer catching and eating the smaller fish.
More than two-dozen Colorado reservoirs are home to lakers, but anglers in search of
