Colorado wildlife officials have removed the “Gold Medal” status for a 19-mile stretch of the Blue River north of Silverthorne, blaming degraded habitat, unnatural stream flow and sparse aquatic invertebrate populations.
The status is reserved for waters that have a minimum of 60 pounds of trout per acre and at least 12 trout measuring 14 inches or longer in that span.
The river, between Hamilton Creek Road Bridge and the northern edge of Silverthorne, has not met Gold Medal criteria in 15 years, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
“The overall goal is to maintain the integrity of the Gold Medal designation,” Jon Ewert, a CPW aquatic biologist, said in a statement. “As necessary, we will make recommendations to delist or upgrade waters, keeping in mind the intent of the designation — identifying waters where anglers can catch large, trophy-quality trout.”
CPW says it will work with the Town of Silverthorne, Denver Water and local anglers to get the stretch to the point where it can be relisted.
The Blue River still meets Gold Medal standards from the Dillon Dam to the Hamilton Creek Road bridge crossing and from Green Mountain Dam to the waterway’s confluence with the Colorado River.
Elsewhere, CPW was granted Gold Medal status to a 24-mile stretch of the Colorado River between its confluence with Canyon Creek and where it meets Rock Creek downstream near the town of McCoy.
“We studied this section of the Colorado River extensively over the past eight years,” Ewert said. “We found that it is an excellent fishery.”
Colorado has 329 stream miles considered Gold Medal waters out of the state’s 9,000 steam miles, CPW says.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
