River’s Edge Natural Area Ponds FISH SURVEY AND MANAGEMENT DATA Benjamin Swigle - Aquatic Biologist (Fort Collins/Boulder) [email protected] / 970-472-4364 General Information: River’s Edge Natural Area offers anglers five ponds to fish for a variety of warmwater species including largemouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill, crappie, and yellow perch. Location: Larimer County. At I-25 and US 34 (exit 257B) go W to Madison Ave. Go N 1 mile on Madison . Recreational Management: City of Loveland Purchase a Fishing License: https://cpw.state.co.us/buyapply/Pages/Fishing.aspx Fishery Management: CPW - Warmwater angling, seasonal trout Annual Survey Information: Scroll Down Amenities Previous Stocking Sportfishing Notes Restrooms 2018/2019 Largemouth Bass Hiking Trails Blue Catfish Each of the 5 River’s Edge Picnic Areas Channel Catfish Ponds has largemouth bass. At Fishing Bluegill present these ponds offer some Redear Sunfish of the finest bass fishing in NE Black Crappie Colorado, anglers must use Regulations Rainbow Trout (10-20”) caution and follow regulations Largemouth and Smallmouth Tiger Muskie to maintain these exceptional Bass fishing is by catch and Yellow Perch fisheries. release only. All largemouth Largemouth Bass and smallmouth bass must be Walleye Channel Catfish returned to the water Best baits are cut shad or immediately. This regulation chicken liver. Jayhawker North applies to each of the 5 ponds and South and Bass Pond offer (Jayhawker North, Jayhawker the best chance to land the cats. South, Dragonfly Pond, Cormorant Pond, and Bass Rainbow Trout Pond) within River’s Edge Stocked into Jayhawker South Natural Area. and Dragonfly Ponds only. Some trout stocked at 16-20”. Bag and possession limit for yellow perch is 5. Fish Transfers Recent stocking also included Possession of more than 5 hundreds of large bass, crappie, yellow perch per individual at and some walleye salvaged any of the ponds is prohibited. from Lonetree Reservoir. 2012 Gillnetting Survey (5 nets), completed 10/16/2012 Jayhawker North Pond Efish/Gillnet 2013 M Total i Length (inches) Weight (lb) Google Earth™ SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum Mean Minimum Maximum BLACK BULLHEAD 2 n 8.76 8.07 9.45 0.39 0.35 0.42 BLACK CRAPPIE 1 5.91 5.91 5.91 0.05 0.05 0.05 BLUEGILL 3 3.61 2.56 4.72 0.03 0.00 0.07 CHANNEL CATFISH 25 15.57 10.83 24.09 1.31 0.37 5.12 COMMON CARP 2 24.11 20.67 27.56 7.22 4.69 9.76 GIZZARD SHAD 1 11.42 11.42 11.42 0.57 0.57 0.57 LARGEMOUTH BASS 20 10.37 2.44 14.57 0.76 0.00 1.66 SAUGEYE 1 21.85 21.85 21.85 2.52 2.52 2.52 GREEN SUNFISH 3 7.94 6.97 8.54 0.35 0.22 0.42 TIGER MUSKIE 2 17.93 17.76 18.11 0.98 0.97 1.00 WALLEYE 2 18.64 15.75 21.54 2.42 1.20 3.63 WHITE SUCKER 19 15.57 13.98 17.40 0.76 0.36 1.90 Jayhawker South Pond Trapnets (2) 2019 M Total i Length (inches) Jayhawker South Pond will offer anglers good SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum fishing for white and black crappie this season. BLACK CRAPPIE 178 n 6.96 5.91 8.46 Quality catfishing should also be in order with BLUEGILL 64 5.81 2.76 6.93 some cats exceeding 20 inches. Seasonal GIZZARD SHAD 40 7.45 6.69 9.53 stocking of 10 inch rainbow trout will continue.. LARGEMOUTH BASS 1 9.06 9.06 9.06 RAINBOW TROUT 1 9.92 9.92 9.92 GREEN SUNFISH 3 6.90 6.38 7.24 WALLEYE 1 16.73 16.73 16.73 WHITE CRAPPIE 28 6.41 4.84 11.02 Jayhawker South Pond Gillnets (2) 2019 M Total i Length (inches) SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum BLACK CRAPPIE 7 n 6.07 4.88 6.57 CHANNEL CATFISH 17 13.66 9.61 24.02 COMMON CARP 1 19.76 19.76 19.76 GIZZARD SHAD 41 7.41 6.38 8.19 LARGEMOUTH BASS 2 13.90 8.70 19.09 SAUGEYE 1 26.38 26.38 26.38 WALLEYE 1 25.16 25.16 25.16 WHITE CRAPPIE 5 6.22 5.31 6.61 WHITE SUCKER 1 14.17 14.17 14.17 Common carp @ 24”, Dragonfly Pond Redear sunfish 41% Dragonfly Pond Gillnets (2) 2017 Dragonfly Ponds (12 acres) offer good fishing M for largemouth bass and seasonal rainbow Total i Length (inches) trout. Along with Jayhawker South these are SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum the only ponds that are stocked with8% trout. Belly BLUEGILL 7 n 4.80 3.94 5.75 boat access on this water is great and often CHANNEL CATFISH 2 29.74 29.57 29.92 results in better catch rates. Redear sunfish are GIZZARD SHAD 1 18.23 18.23 18.23 also present. LARGEMOUTH BASS 12 7.93 5.94 11.81 RAINBOW TROUT 64 10.81 9.45 12.09 REDEAR SUNFISH 2 6.02 5.91 6.14 GREEN SUNFISH 6 4.48 4.33 4.72 Dragonfly Pond Boat Efishing (15 min.) 2019 M Total i Length (inches) SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum BLACK CRAPPIE 4 n 2.12 2.01 2.36 BLUEGILL 71 4.50 1.10 7.72 COMMON CARP 5 24.22 23.15 26.34 GIZZARD SHAD 9 10.91 10.67 11.22 LARGEMOUTH BASS 56 11.20 7.48 19.09 REDEAR SUNFISH 9 5.78 3.54 8.46 GREEN SUNFISH 1 4.92 4.92 4.92 YELLOW PERCH 1 7.28 7.28 7.28 Sandpiper Pond TrapnetsM (2) 2019 Total i Length (inches) SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum Sandpiper Pond, 14 acres, offer quality fishing BLUEGILL 69 n 6.51 5.35 8.35 for panfish and bass. Historically, angling for HYBRID SUNFISH 2 9.29 8.27 10.31 yellow perch was also top notch. REDEAR SUNFISH 8 7.81 7.09 9.65 Bass Pond Trapnets (2)M 2019 Total i Length (inches) SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum Bass Pond, 23 acres, is the largest pond within BLACK CRAPPIE 2 n 9.55 7.87 11.22 the River’s Edge complex. This pond offers BLUEGILL 365 5.99 3.23 8.66 exceptional fishing for largemouth bass and bluegill. Bluegill also serve as a major HYBRID SUNFISH 3 8.06 6.69 9.80 component to the bass’s diet. All largemouth LARGEMOUTH BASS 1 9.29 9.29 9.29 and smallmouth bass must be returned to the GREEN SUNFISH 1 7.68 7.68 7.68 waters immediately. Bass Pond can become WALLEYE 1 20.35 20.35 20.35 heavily vegetated during the summer. To limit some of the aquatic vegetation sterile grass carp have been stocked and will eventually reach giant sizes. If you see a 3 foot fish in Bass Pond Boat EfishingM (15 min) 2019 Bass Pond its most likely a grasser. Total i Length (inches) SPECIES Catch i Mean Minimum Maximum n Approximately $90,000 from Colorado Park’s BLUEGILL 61 5.23 2.56 6.69 and Wildlife Fishing is Fun Program was COMMON CARP 2 24.63 23.43 25.83 used to assist Loveland with the HYBRID GRASS CARP 2 28.62 28.54 28.70 implementation and opening of the River’s Edge Natural Area. The City of Loveland LARGEMOUTH BASS 9 13.74 8.90 16.30 provided the lion’s share of the funding GREEN SUNFISH 2 5.89 5.55 6.22 responsible for opening this recreational WHITE SUCKER 2 17.78 16.73 18.82 area. Please enjoy your visit!. YELLOW PERCH 2 6.34 6.30 6.38 Sterile Grass Carp 2018 Christmas Tree project – Bass Pond.