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Chatfield Reservoir Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Denver's backyard big water: walleye eggs for the whole state, smallmouth on the dam rocks and paddleboard armadas dodged at dawn.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Water temp
~55 F est.
Air / High
76 / 77 F
Wind
SSW 18 mph

Sources: Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Chatfield Reservoir rewards those who follow the bait as the water cools. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 18 mph, rising pressure near 1003 hPa and a high of 77. Water sits around 55 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:07 PM-12:07 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

WalleyeGood

Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bassGood

Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pikeGood

The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perchGood

Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

Tomorrow: Cooler at 57 F with a rain chance. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Colorado requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $57.63 for residents. What a Colorado licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing walleye here? Check the size and bag limits with CPW before you keep anything. The season dates for Colorado, read off the agency, are on the Colorado seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings.

No live gauge on this water

Conditions here are modeled from weather, season and the nearest stations. Water readings appear when a USGS gauge is available.

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp76 F
High / Low77 / 57 F
WindSSW 18-27 mph
Pressure1003.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 32%
Sunrise / Sunset07:18 / 18:09
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~55 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Chatfield Reservoir this week

The best day on Chatfield Reservoir this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 3 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 β€” fair at 3/5, rising pressure behind a front, typically the slowest.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:38 AM-11:38 AM and 10:07 PM-12:07 AM
Minor period
4:01 AM-5:01 AM
Sun
07:18 to 18:09
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 20 mph
Rain chance
32%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Chatfield Reservoir: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Walleye illustration

Walleye

Best: spring and late fall, around dawn, dusk and night

A cool-water perch of large lakes, reservoirs and rivers whose reflective eyes are built for low light, so it feeds most at night and in murky water. The Missouri Department of Conservation ranks it among the continent's most important freshwater game fish. Spring: post-spawn fish scatter and can be slow for a couple of weeks. Fall: one of the best windows, with minnows on jigs and three-way rigs as the water cools toward ice-up.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Spring pre-spawn and fall: Iowa DNR notes the larger bass come up to shallow structure, where a shallow-running minnow bait or a spinnerbait just under the surface works.

Northern pike illustration

Northern pike

Best: cool water, from ice-out through spring, in fall and under the ice

A long, duck-billed predator of weedy lakes, slow rivers and backwaters that ambushes fish from vegetation. Wisconsin DNR points out that, unlike most of the state's common game fish, pike do their best feeding in cool water. The best band for pike: right after ice-out they move into flooded vegetated shallows to spawn, and they feed actively again as the water cools in fall.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Spring and fall: perch hold shallower and, by Michigan DNR's account, feed through the day, so shoreline weed edges, flats and the shallows near spawning areas are worth searching.

When to come: the Chatfield Reservoir calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Walleye
Smallmouth bass
Northern pike
Yellow perch
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 55 F (estimated, not a reading).

304050607080JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~55 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Chatfield Reservoir today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 72 F, wind to 16 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 77 F, wind to 14 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Walleye led the card at good. High of 71 F, wind to 6 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Colorado requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Colorado license. Walleye: spring closure windows for egg operations: check CPW dates. ANS inspection required.

Access

Chatfield SP ramps (north/south), marina; shore access throughout the park.

About this water

1,500 acres on the South Platte, Douglas/Jefferson counties, CO. Denver's walleye brood water.

Fishing Chatfield Reservoir: the full guide

The metro workhorse

Chatfield anchors Denver's southwest corner: 1,500 surface acres doing double duty as the metro's playground and one of Colorado's key walleye brood lakes (spring spawn operations here stock the state). The fishery balances traffic with output: walleye, smallmouth, quality largemouth in the coves and trout through the cold months.

Walleye at the source

Spring staging on the dam's riprap and the points (jigs at dusk: the pre-spawn window before closures protect the operation: check dates), summer schools on the 15-25-ft flats (bottom bouncers between the wake boats' hours), and fall's jigging bite back on the rock. The state's egg-take makes this walleye water by mandate: the population stays stocked.

The rest of the rotation

Smallmouth work the dam face and gravel (Ned rigs: metro Colorado's most reliable bronze), largemouth hold the Plum Creek coves' wood, trout stock heavily October-April (the shore soakers' season), and the gizzard shad base keeps everything fat. Crappie and wipers cameo: the reservoir surprises annually.

Front Range practicalities

The state park runs ramps, inspections (ANS mandatory) and the summer crowd machine: fish 5-9 AM or October-April to own the water: and the paddle fleet owns midday June-August: schedule accordingly. The South Platte inflow and the reuse projects shift levels: the park posts elevation: structure follows it.

Common questions

When is walleye fishing best at Chatfield?

The dusk jig bite around the spring staging (mind the closure dates: the egg-take matters) and October's return to the rocks. Summer runs early-morning flats between traffic.

Is Chatfield too crowded to fish?

Midday summer, yes: dawn and the cold months, no. October-April the reservoir belongs to anglers and the trout plants: the metro's quiet season secret.

Is fishing good at Chatfield Reservoir right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Bear Creek13 miEvergreen Lake15 miClear Creek (Golden)20 miSouth Platte River (Deckers)21 miAurora Reservoir22 miTarryall Reservoir37 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 39.5400, -105.0700 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.