Best splake lakes in Colorado
8 Colorado waters hold splake. Ranked below by size and depth-data quality — open any water to see exactly where to fish it: depth contours, scored spots with plain-English reasons, seasonal windows and bait picks. Stocked brook × lake trout hybrid — the Shield-lake specialty that splits the difference: shallower than lakers, deeper than brookies, and a superb ice bite.
- Horsetooth Reservoir — 188 ft max · Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, CrappieWhy #1: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · 6 public access sites
- Road Canyon Reservoir — 49 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Brook Trout, Cutthroat Trout, SplakeWhy #2: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · no verified access record attached
- Carter Lake — 180 ft max · Largemouth Bass, Walleye, Bluegill, Rainbow TroutWhy #3: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · 4 public access sites
- Gross Reservoir — 299 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Muskellunge, Lake Trout, Brown TroutWhy #4: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · 1 public access site
- Lemon Reservoir — 188 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Kokanee, SplakeWhy #5: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · 1 public access site
- Island Lake — 77 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, Cutthroat TroutWhy #6: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · 1 public access site
- Eggleston Lake Big — 52 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Brook Trout, SplakeWhy #7: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · 1 public access site
- Barker Reservoir — 118 ft max · Rainbow Trout, Muskellunge, Lake Trout, Brown TroutWhy #8: mapped size signal; contours are approximated · no verified access record attached
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How to use this ranking
The order is a map-planning ranking, not a claim about today's fish population. It favors larger mapped waters and gives survey-backed contours a three-times data-quality boost. Agency population surveys, current regulations, access and recent conditions should make the final decision.
Compare maximum depth across 37,233 lake records · See Colorado waters with public access data
When to fish splake in Colorado
- Spring 5–25 ft — Ice-out through spring, splake patrol shoreline rock, points and inflows like oversized brookies.
- Summer 25–60 ft — Warm water pushes splake below the thermocline — deep breaks and humps, shallower than lakers in the same lake.
- Fall 10–35 ft — Mostly sterile but still hormone-driven — fall splake stage on rock shoals and points and eat aggressively.
- Winter 10–45 ft — Why they're stocked: an active, roaming winter predator — work basin edges and mid-depth humps, and hole-hop.
Also in Colorado: best largemouth bass lakes · best smallmouth bass lakes · best walleye lakes · best saugeye lakes · best northern pike lakes · best crappie lakes · best bluegill lakes · best channel catfish lakes · best rainbow trout lakes · best white bass & hybrids lakes · best yellow perch lakes · best common carp lakes · best lake trout lakes · best brown trout lakes · best brook trout lakes · best kokanee lakes · best cutthroat trout lakes
Splake elsewhere: Ontario · Minnesota · Michigan · Maine · New York · Saskatchewan · Wyoming · Utah