Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) will once again offer $10,000 in prize money for the Blue Mesa Reservoir lake trout tournament winners. The tournament will run from Jan. 1 to April 30
The ice is thin but should continue to develop and likely extend to the lower two basins of Blue Mesa with more cold weather in the coming weeks, said Dan Brauch, CPW angler outreach manager.
“It is looking like 2025 will be a great ice fishing year at Blue Mesa Reservoir with a cold start to winter creating early ice on upper portions of the reservoir from the inlet to Elk Creek Marina,” Brauch said.
To participate in the tournament, anglers who harvest a lake trout 24 inches or smaller should cut the fish’s head off behind the gills and turn the heads in to a collection point. The collection points are located at the Elk Creek, Iola and Lake Fork marinas. Heads can also be turned in at CPW’s offices in Gunnison and Montrose.
Four top prizes will be given out in 2025. The angler who turns in the most fish heads will earn the first-place prize of $3,000. The second-place award is $1,500, third place will take home $1,000 and fourth place will earn $500. Anglers that missed out on the top prizes will be entered into a raffle for one of twenty $200 prizes with one entry for every head submitted
All winners from the tournament will be notified by May 31. Anglers participating in the tournament must possess a valid Colorado fishing license and follow all Colorado boating and fishing regulations.
This will be the fourth edition of the Blue Mesa tournament. This harvest-incentive tournament helps aquatic biologists maintain adequate kokanee salmon fry survival by limiting predation from lake trout.
Maintaining abundant kokanee provides restocking eggs at up to 25 water bodies in Colorado and supports quality-fishing opportunities. This was highlighted by a recent catch of a lake trout weighing in at more than 70 pounds at the reservoir.
“We encourage anglers to harvest small lake trout that are very abundant in Blue Mesa Reservoir to help maintain a balanced fishery,” Brauch said. “Small lake trout are great to eat, and we greatly appreciate anglers helping us manage the reservoir.
Previous tournaments in 2020 and 2021 greatly helped CPW keep lake trout populations in check. But a survey of the reservoir in 2024 documented that the abundance of lake trout is on the rise. Unchecked lake trout population growth caused significant declines in kokanee abundance in previous decades. CPW research shows that smaller lake trout, those 24 inches and smaller, consume the most kokanee. The tournament is focused on removing those fish
“Working together, we will continue to provide quality opportunities for both kokanee and trophy lake trout,” Brauch said.
(Source Colorado Parks and Wildlife.)
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