Location: Larimer County / Gateway Natural Area / 40.700484, -105.243975
Size: ~2 miles of shoreline and wading access
Management: City of Fort Collins / Natural Areas Department / 970-416-2815
Area CPW Office and Phone #: Fort Collins, Colo. / 970-472-4300
Facilities: Restrooms / Picnic Shelters and Grills / Playground / Launch Area for Kayaks and Canoes
Fishing: Cold Water
Recreation: Fishing / Kayaking / Canoeing / Hiking / Nature Viewing
General Information: Just off of Highway 14 and only 20 minutes from downtown Fort Collins, this walk-in–access stretch of the North Fork Poudre River is reached through Gateway Natural Area. Managed as a fly- and lure-only, catch-and-release fishery for brown and rainbow trout the reach extends from Seaman Reservoir downstream to its confluence with the mainstem Poudre River. Other common species in the area include bluegill, black crappie, white crappie, channel catfish and perch.
Fishing pressure is high and trout are highly educated, but the stretch supports strong trout densities, including quality fish measuring 14 inches and greater. In addition to great fishing opportunities, Gateway Natural Area offers hiking trails, picnic areas, paddling access, and other family-friendly amenities. Visitors should note that cell phone service in Gateway Natural Area and the Poudre Canyon can be extremely limited. For more information, please visit the official Gateway Natural Area website.
If you’re a beginner angler looking for pointers to reel in some lake trout, check out this Colorado Outdoors article.
To access this area for fishing, individuals aged 16 or older must possess a valid license. These can be obtained through CPW authorized sales agents, via phone (1-800-244-5613), or online at CPWShop.
Angling Regulations and Information
- Fishing is by artificial flies and lures only.
- All trout must be returned to the water immediately upon catch.
Biologist Spotlight: Mark Sandersen
Drawing on more than a decade of fisheries experience across the state, Mark Sandersen’s journey to becoming an aquatic biologist with Colorado Parks and Wildlife was shaped as much by curiosity as it was intention. After starting with CPW as a seasonal fisheries technician in 2015, Sandersen spent seven consecutive seasons working under multiple biologists across the state, building a foundation in both fish and conservation-focused management.
“Basically, my goal was to work for a different biologist each year,” Sandersen said. “By the time I was done with seven years of tech-ing, I worked for nine of the 22 biologists in the state.”
This approach provided exposure to a wide range of waters and management styles, from the San Luis Valley to the Front Range. In that time, Sandersen came to understand the scale of responsibility carried by the agency’s aquatic biologists — something that isn’t always obvious from the outside.
“I never realized how large of an area one person had to manage and what went into it — the amount of labor, the sheer labor that goes into being able to assess all those waters is unbelievable,” he said.
After transitioning into a full-time position in late 2021 and spending two years at the Bellevue–Watson Fish Hatchery, Sandersen stepped into his current role in February 2024 as the aquatic biologist for Areas 4 and 10. He oversees dozens of lakes, reservoirs and stream segments across northern Colorado, balancing standard monitoring efforts, long-term planning and angler opportunity.
An important part of Sandersen’s work involves population sampling, including electrofishing surveys used to evaluate things like fish abundance, species composition and overall fishery health. These surveys help inform management decisions and identify waters that (continue to) meet Colorado’s Quality Waters criteria.
Sandersen notes that quality waters seem to be often misunderstood.
“I wouldn’t want people to confuse the idea of a quality water, meaning that you show up and you only catch really big fish,” he said.
Instead, quality waters reflect a combination of biological health, species diversity, accessibility and overall experience. Inside Gateway Natural Area, one sampled stretch of river illustrates that balance — offering a mix of brown trout, rainbow trout, perch and other native species in a setting that’s close to Front Range communities and easy to access.
“What really makes this particular site quality is, for people in the Front Range or Fort Collins, it’s not that far away to get to, but also has a lot of really nice fish,” Sandersen said. “And it’s just a really pretty area.”
Managing such a large portfolio of waters requires constant prioritization. With more lakes and rivers than any one person could sample in a single season, Sandersen weighs biological data alongside how anglers actually experience a fishery.
“It’s one side of the coin to look at a river or a pond and say, ‘I shocked this and here’s what I saw,’” he said. “But I could come back there on the weekend and fish it for six straight hours and not catch a single fish, and the data still looks really good.”
In addition to monitoring and assessment, Sandersen is closely involved in spawning operations that support fisheries across Colorado, including grayling spawning at Joe Wright Creek and brown trout spawning at Delaney Buttes.
“All of these spawning efforts we do — to me, that’s some of the most fulfilling work,” he said.
For Sandersen, who grew up in Wellington, working with waters he grew up fishing isn’t just a profession, but something profoundly personal.
“It’s so cool being able to put my two cents into working in and improving these areas now,” he said. “It’s the absolute dream job.”
Written by Ryan Jones. Ryan is a visual coordinator for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
