Chambers Lake
FISH SURVEY AND MANAGEMENT DATA
Kyle Battige - Aquatic Biologist (Fort Collins)
[email protected] / 970-472-4396
General Information: Chamber s Lake (255 acr es) is a coldwater r eser voir on USFS pr oper ty with a
campground and boat ramp available. Fishing for rainbow trout, lake trout, and kokanee is available.
Location: Lar imer County. Fr om For t Collins, go Nor th 6.1 mi. on US Hwy 287 to CO Highway 14.
Turn left and proceed 51 miles up the Poudre canyon to Chambers Lake.
Recreational Management: US Forest Ser vice
Fishery Management: Coldwater angling
Purchase a Fishing License: http://cpw.state.co.us/buyapply/Pages/Fishing.aspx
Amenities Previous Stocking Sportfishing Notes
Boat Ramp 2018 Lake Trout
Rainbow Trout
Campground Kokanee Salmon Jig near steep dropoffs
Water 2017 Target cruising fish early
Rainbow Trout and late in the day
Restrooms
2016 Steep slopes make for good
Rainbow Trout shore fishing on the east
side of the lake
2015
Regulations Rainbow Trout
Rainbow Trout
Kokanee Salmon
Wakeless speed boating on- The inlet bay is particularly
ly good for catching trout
2014
Rainbow Trout
Day use fee at campground Typical bait presentations
Kokanee Salmon
for vehicles and medium sized spoons
2013 and spinners are usually ef-
Ice Fishing Allowed fective
Cutthroat/Rainbow Hybrid
CutthroatTrout
No Snagging for Kokanee Kokanee Salmon
Rainbow Trout
2012 Try small jigs through the
Rainbow Trout ice
Kokanee Salmon Trolling from a boat is the
most effective summertime
2011 method
Rainbow Trout
Kokanee Salmon
Chambers Lake
FISH SURVEY AND MANAGEMENT DATA
Kyle Battige - Aquatic Biologist (Fort Collins)
[email protected] / 970-472-4396
Management Notes
Chambers Lake is a high elevation water
storage reservoir with a large fluctuating water
level. Water is typically stored through the
winter and spring then released through the
summer and fall. Chambers is managed as a
Mackinaw (Lake Trout) and Kokanee Salmon
fishery. CPW also stocks catchable-sized Rain-
bow Trout to provide better recreation for
shore anglers.
Fishing opportunities exist year-round and
Chambers is a popular place to ice fish for
those who don’t mind a bit of a hike. Use cau-
tion when out on the ice. Because of winter
storage and snowpack, a wet, slush layer will
often form above the ice later in the season.
Chambers is also one of the last spots in
Colorado where glacial relic lake chubs can
still be found. They persist in the reservoir
through natural reproduction and grow to
around five inches in length.
Chambers Lake’s high altitude, low nutri-
ents, cold water, and short growing season results in slow growth rates, about 2 inches/year for
Lake Trout. Fortunately, Lake Trout are capable of living a long time with a slow metabolism.
The graph in the bottom right shows the relationship between Lake Trout length and weight.
As a fish gets longer, it starts to put on more weight/inch. The blue dots represent all the
Mackinaw that were caught and measured in the 2018 gill net survey. The fish in the bottom
left was a 33.3” and 14.1 pound Lake Trout caught in a gill net and released alive.
Chambers Lake
FISH SURVEY AND MANAGEMENT DATA
Kyle Battige - Aquatic Biologist (Fort Collins)
[email protected] / 970-472-4396
Management Notes
Lake Trout:
Lake Trout in Chambers are maintained through natural reproduction with occasional CPW
supplemental stocking. However, Lake Trout have not been readily available through our
hatchery system in recent past. Despite no supplemental stocking there are several year classes
represented from 2018 sampling results. The figure below shows several cohorts of naturally
reproduced Lake Trout coming up in the Chambers Lake.
Kokanee Salmon:
Kokanee have also been
in limited supply within
CPW hatcheries for several
years. However, Chambers
was stocked with Kokanee
in 2014, 2015, and 2018. No
Kokanee were caught in
2018 sampling, suggesting
limited success from the
2014 and 2015 cohorts.
CPW will continue sam-
pling to monitor the success
of those stocking events.
16” Naturally Reproduced Lake Trout
Lake Chub
