Western Colorado?

Hi there, I'm new to the site. I was wondering if there's any other Colorado westslopers around. Crappie fishing on this side of the state isn't real popular, if you know where to go and how to target them you can really get into some good fish. Was mainly wondering if everyone else is have as hard of a time finding suspending fish as me? I've picked a few up "trolling" over some open water structure. I'll mark fairly big schools of fish but I'm lucky to catch one out of it. Any suggestions from the veterans of the forum?

Welcome Aboard from Southwest Ms.

Spent a lot of time on the western slope but just chased the smallmouths and occasionally largemouths, got tired of trout after a bunch of years. Got into full time Crappie fishing after getting tired of constant casting for the "green carp". Getting older and just relaxing and enjoying Crappie fishing now and it is fun and the best eating by far. Hope you do well up there, post some pictures of your catch, everyone enjoys pictures. . Formally from Montrose. Ferdi

I always spend my time when in Colorado in the SW part. Silverton and Durango area. Don't see many crappie lakes in that area. But, my "GoTo" would be trolling. Probably long lining jigs. You can search the forums and learn more than I could say about it here. Start with the Mississippi state forum. Them Goobers know their stuff about trolling. Welcome. DP

Hey Westernsloper I spent a good part of my childhood living in a little town called Naturita, we made trips to Telluride, Ouray, Montrose and many more beautiful towns in the S.W. area and all we fished for was trout and that was with a worm or grasshopper. I know this doesn't help your crappie fishing but the name "western slope" brought back great memories from a wonderful childhood ....thanks for the trip :highfive

I too grew up in Colorado, Summit County- Frisco to be exact. No Crappie at 9,100'. We fished for trout, mostly by hand. Didn't have a rod back in those days. My first pair of downhill skis were made of wood.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

As for the Crappie, they act the same regardless of location. They are a predator and hunt for food. They ambush their food from cover, etc. The difference will be timing and you will have to figure out what stage they are in, in your area. I watch the southern states and southern Illinois for stage changes. In my neck of the woods, the southern states spawn first, and watch it move north. Southern Illinois spawns about 2 weeks before my area, and we spawn about two weeks before Chicago area, etc. Watch the patterns in your surrounding lakes, over time you will figure out what stage they are in; winter, pre-spawn, spawn, post-spawn, early summer, summer, late summer, fall, winter. Crappie will relate to structure and cover according to the season. There are old folk tales about when the Crappie will bite, when the cherry trees blossom the spawn is on, etc. That should get you started.