Calendar
| Sept 3 - Oct 31 | Fall office hours, open Wednesday & Saturday mornings |
| Oct 31 | Fishing season closes and boats must be removed from all the lakes |
Headlines
- We stocked all the lakes except Nokomis, Erie and Shagwa in later September
- Please fill out the survey cards at Shagwa and Nokomis
- All boats must be removed from the lakes by Oct 31
Fishing - we've had a good first half of the season, with many reports of large fish caught at all the lakes. Fishing had its usual slowdown in late July and August due to warmer water, but as all our anglers know, fall fishing has been excellent along with the weather! We stocked (12-15" rainbows), >3 lb. trophies, and palominos from Crystal Springs Trout Farm. These were placed in all the lakes except Shagwa. The ratios stocked are 65% rainbows, 25% trophies, and 10% palominos. We also stocked some more Donaldson trout at Shagwa. As always, we tune the number of fish based on the fish kept at the lakes. This is why it's so important to help our patrol staff know how many fish you're catching and keeping. This spring we stocked a double load at Letitia and one and half loads at Apache. In June we stocked one and a half loads in Snake and Ramona. Similarly, we stocked only a half load at Nokomis as that fishery is reaching its optimum capacity. We post a stocking report in the office window so please check there for the latest stocking information. In April we stocked 750 (very expensive) browns into Erie and Apache and 250 (also very expensive) Tiger trout in Nokomis. We continue stocking Nokomis with aggressive trout as a way to manage the perch. It'll take a few years to bring the perch under control, but just like Apache, we know this approach works. You can help us by removing any perch you catch (they do not count towards your possession limit). Our fall stocking wrapped up in late September. We did not stock Nokomis because it's near capacity, nor did we stock Erie this fall due to concerns about wintering too many fish with lower water levels. Overall, the 2025 fishing season has been very good - we hope you have a successful fall fishing!
Water Status - The spring runoff started slow this year and unfortunately, we were called out for almost all of May which prevented us from storing our usual water volume during that time. Despite the rain/snow the first week of May, we didn't get much local runoff, as the very parched soils absorbed most of it. We ran our Elkhorn exchange water right in order to capture the May runoff in Hiawatha and Apache. Fortunately, the monsoon-like rains of later May/early June significantly increased the runoff such that we filled all the lakes except Papoose. In July we were able to top off Shagwa and since then have been running a very small amount of water into Hiawatha. In October we'll put water in Letitia, Snake and Ramona from Hiawatha in preparation for winter.
2025 Fall Projects - we'll focus on clearing any trees and shrubs off the dams and cleaning the toe drains below the dams. We'll button up our upper pipeline for winter (cleaning the sediment traps and closing the headgate). We'll also clean up the diversion structure on the Elkhorn - it's amazing how much ash sediment from the Cameron Peak fire is still coming down the creek. We'll also be cleaning out a part of the Erie lateral, so that we can run a larger volume of water next spring.
Weeds - some of the lakes have seen more weeds this year than past years. Erie has been particularly hard hit, likely due to the lower water levels early this summer. Our biologist has treated Erie three times this summer and hit the other lakes that had weed beds. Once cooler water temperatures return, weed growth will slow down in all the lakes. Speaking of weeds, we were a little behind on our annual thistle campaign, but caught up mid-August.
Boat Removal - We'll once again remove boats after October 31 from all five boating lakes - Apache, Erie, Hiawatha, Letitia, and Nokomis. We'll send a letter by early October, to any registered boat owner advising them to take action by Oct 31. If you don't register your boat, we don't have a way to warn you to take it home. Boat owners can do one of the following:
- The boat owner takes their boat home by Oct 31
- If an owner needs help removing their boat, we may have a couple sources you can pay to have your boat moved to your RF property
- A boat owner can pay $150 to store their boat at the lake for the winter
We appreciate your help in keeping our lake shores clean.