Nestled in the rugged mountains of southwest Colorado lies a remote, privately-owned ranch that shelters the pristine waters of Haypress Lake. Each June, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s fishery biologists and hatchery personnel set up a spawn-take operation at Haypress to collect roe and milt from Rio Grande cutthroat trout. Haypress Lake is the primary collection site in Colorado and the offspring of the Haypress fish are then restocked into nearly 80 lakes and streams throughout the Rio Grande Basin.
Video: PANNING FOR GOLD
This short video provides an intimate look at this unique, annual event. Special thanks to John Alves, Ben Felt, Doug Sebring, Kirt Achenbach, Landes Randall, Kevin Terry and Ruthie Brown for their contributions to the Haypress spawn-take and cutthroat trout conservation efforts.
8 Responses
Awesome story! Great job as usual you guys, Thanks!
Another excellent report. Now a sequel by showing the stocking, some by air.
Beautiful fish. So glad to see this effort to protect Colorado’s cutthroat trout.
I wish you folks would keep stocking cutts and quit putting rainbows everywhere. But it’s good to see that your hard at work on keeping the Rios going.
Am I wrong, or is Haypress lake outside of the Rio Grande watershed?
Thanks for your comment. Haypress is part of the Rio Grande drainage. The streams that flow out of Haypress end up in the Rio Grande.
To clarify, this Haypress Lake is a privately owned lake in the San Juan mtns. This is not the lake located near Glenwood Springs.