Should Rocky Mountain Arsenal limit the amount of anglers allowed to fish the lakes at once? Every year the arsenal closes for six months in the winter. Then when it opens to fishing in March-April depending on the year it is insanely crowded. There are probably 200-300 people around the lake fishing shoulder to shoulder. This makes the fishing really bad and is very hard on the fish. Every time I go I feel like I see a dead or mishandled fish which is very sad. When I was little I used to go there and be one of the only people. I used to be able to catch tons of fish. Now, however, a 1-2 fish day is a good day.

One time I went to the lake on opening day. I got there saw the amount of people and cars, and I just turned around. I knew the fishing would be terrible and that there would be almost no space between other anglers.

I believe that Colorado State Parks and Wildlife should limit fishing access to Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

According to Macro trendsMacro trends The Colorado population has grown 5% since 2016. People have been flocking to Colorado meaning more fisherman and more crowded spots. Leading to stressed and an unhealthy fishery. I have been to the lake recently and all of the fish are super skinny and lethargic. This is due to lack of forage and being caught so many times.

According to Modern-HuntersModern-Hunters you must get a tag to harvest certain animals. A biologist goes out each year and surveys the population then administers the proportion amount of rages to protect the population. If CPW made some sort of tag or permit system that limited the amount of people allowed to at fish Rocky Mountain Arsenal to protect the fish that reside there. This would make the fish more healthy, less stressed, and make the fishing better due to less pressure.

According to Modern-HuntersModern-Hunters there are very strict hunting seasons. You can only hunt and harvest an animal from certain areas at certain times of the year. I believe that this could be applied to the Arsenal. I have seen people fishing there when the season is closed and nothing happens. I think that the rules need to be better enforced. If there was a permit, season, and enforced rules the amount of fisherman there would go down, the population could make a rebound, and the fishing would become a lot better. I think that if there was a permit system that limited when you could fish and what lake the population would be healthier and the number of fish lost would decrease significantly.

Some people would say that there can’t be a limit because it is public and there is already a two dollar fishing fee per day. I would argue that most people don’t pay the two dollar fishing fee. I would also argue that because of the significant population decrease and how most of the fish are extremely unhealthy or mishandled that there should be a limit on the amount of people allowed to fish at a given time. I see people mistreat fish and keep them even though you are not supposed to. Some may also say that the population hasn’t decreased. But if you look at the number of catches per year you will see a significant decrease. I have been to the Arsenal some days and fish all day off of the dam. Neither me or other fisherman caught a single fish that day. This happens more and more often now.

A possible solution to the skinny, unhealthy fish problem could be to stock the lake with forage fish and crustaceans. I think that the pike and bass that reside in the lake are running low on food options. I think that CWP should stock the lake so that the fish can be healthier and stronger. This would also help with survival rate after stress from being caught because the fish won’t be so fragile.

The Colorado State Parks and Wildlife Service should add limitations to the fishing at Rocky Mountain Arsenal to make a healthier fish population with healthier fish. Fishing limitations need to be put in place at Rocky Mountain Arsenal to keep fish healthy. This is a big issue because it is leading to a population decrease and fish being killed by fisherman. We can make this issue more well known so that there will be change. I think that we need to make fisherman and other Colorado residents aware of this issue so that maybe the CWP will do something about it.

This could be implicated into other overfished areas. In many other areas around the Denver Metro area there are fishing spots where the fish population had been destroyed by overfishing. There are days when the lakes are stocked but then people flock to them and the fishing get terrible very fast. I think if there were more strict rules about keeping fish and where people can fish this wouldn’t be as big of an issue.