Chatfield Lake Dam, located southwest of Denver on the South Platte River, was the second of three dams built to protect the Denver region from floods. The 1,479-acre land and the 5,300 acres surrounding it provide a myriad of recreational opportunities including camping, fishing, and swimming. Chatfield Nature Preserve for environmental studies and the old Hildebrand Homestead, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are open to visitors. [Chatfield Lake. www.nwk.usace.army.mil, 02/05/2008]

No Reports are available for Chatfield Lake at this time.

Largemouth Bass
With Chatfield Lake at 52 degree water temperature this is a great time to get out on the water and try hitting some deeper primary and secondary points. Largemouth bass will be feeding at this water temperature but will be much harder to catch. On Sunny warm afternoons its a great time to throw a crank bait, jigs or slow roll a spinnerbait at 5-10 foot on sunny points and drops off of sunny flats. Largemouth Bass will move into warm water on warm sunny days.

Smallmouth Bass
With Chatfield Lake at 52 degree water temperature this is a great time to get out on the water and try hitting some deeper primary and secondary points. Smallmouth bass will be feeding at this water temperature but will be much harder to catch. On Sunny warm afternoons its a great time to throw a crank bait, jigs or slow roll a spinnerbait at 5-10 foot on sunny points and drops off of sunny flats. Smallmouth Bass will move into warm water on warm sunny days.

Spotted Bass
With Chatfield Lake at 52 degree water temperature this is a great time to get out on the water and try hitting some deeper primary and secondary points. Spotted bass will be feeding at this water temperature but will be much harder to catch. On Sunny warm afternoons its a great time to throw a crank bait, jigs or slow roll a spinnerbait at 5-10 foot on sunny points and drops off of sunny flats. Spottted Bass will move into warm water on warm sunny days.

Crappie
The crappie fishing should be getting good to great now. Crappie function excellent in 52 degree water. Crappie will be nicely bunched up still and moving more aggresively than when the water temperature is in the 35 to 50 degree range. With baitfish getting more active, the crappie fishing will be good. Good luck today!

Catfish
The catfish family comprises of blue catfish, flathead catfish and channel catfish. Since catfish are warm water fish, they aren’t going to be very active in this water temperature. They will still be feeding, but catfish will only be found very deep and feeding very slowly. Your best bet is give some of the more active fish species in your lake a shot until the cats are active again.

Fishingnotes.com has developed a highly accurate and sophisticated water temperature modeling algorithm to determine the mean daily water temperature based on climatic and geophysical data for this lake. Some of the variables used to determine the mean daily water temperature include past weather trends, solar radiation, evaporation, lake size, and lake geometry.

Currently the accuracy of the estimated mean water temperature is within 4 degrees Fahrenheit of measured temperature value in approximately 90% of our lakes. However Fishingnotes.com is continuously updating our water temperature algorithms to improve the accuracy. You can help make the estimated water temperature for this lake more accurate by providing the water temperature readings when you are out on the water. To do this add a fishing report below with the actual water temperature at this lake. This will provide helpful data to correlate the water temperature algorithms with.

Temperature: 52

Barometric Pressure: 30.05 (Falling)
With the barometric pressure falling on your lake it’s time to really crank up the trolling motor and cast as many times as you can while the pressure is active. Fish are typically at their most aggressive when the barometric pressure is falling. The fishing should really be getting good. Generally it’s time to fish a little faster and harder than most other scenarios. However look at the other weather variances and make the best decision for fishing today. As the pressure is falling it’s time to watch the sky’s to make sure you stay safe.

Wind Speed: South at 06 Knots (7 MPH)

State Department of Wildlife and Parks
http://wildlife.state.co.us  

State Fishing Licensee
https://www1.wildlifelicense.com/co  

State Parks
http://parks.state.co.us/  

State Fishing Records
http://wildlife.state.co.us/Fishing/Awar...