Crater Lakes (James Peak Wilderness)
CPW set nets here in 2023 and caught 100 fish, most of them brook trout. TroutTips researches Brook Trout and Cutthroat Trout at this water.
- Elevation
- 10,580–11,021 ftCPW survey table
- Approach
- Walk in on a trail
- Last netted
- 2023a single 150-foot gill net fished overnight from a belly boat
- Fish in the net
- 100100% sport fish
- Most caught
- Brook Trout90 fish
- Longest measured
- Not measured
- County
- GilpinColorado
- Coordinates
- 39.8976, -105.6754Access point TroutTips uses
CPW netted 3 basins here, between 10,580 and 11,021 feet, so no single elevation describes this record.
What was in the net
| Species | Caught | Share | Mean | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cutthroat Trout | 10 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Summed across 2 basins CPW netted separately; means and ranges are per basin and are not combined here. | ||||
| Brook Trout | 90 | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Summed across 3 basins CPW netted separately; means and ranges are per basin and are not combined here. | ||||
CPW survey summary (PDF) · survey data extracted 2026-10-18
A survey count is not a catch rate. These fish were handled by biologists, not caught by anglers. A species missing from the table was not caught in those nets, which is not the same as absent from the lake. Mesh selects for a size range, and CPW states that Kokanee Salmon in particular are “difficult to capture and monitor with gillnet surveys”.
What CPW has stocked
CPW's stocking record in this report covers the James Peak Wilderness as a whole, not this lake on its own.
| Year | What went in |
|---|---|
| 2024 |
|
| 2022 |
|
| 2020 |
|
How far it is
| From | Drive | By road |
|---|---|---|
| Denver | 1 hr 38 min | 52 miles |
| Fort Collins | 2 hr 13 min | 81 miles |
| Colorado Springs | 2 hr 48 min | 116 miles |
| Pueblo | 3 hr 31 min | 161 miles |
| Steamboat Springs | 3 hr 55 min | 153 miles |
| Grand Junction | 5 hr 11 min | 241 miles |
| Alamosa | 5 hr 28 min | 233 miles |
| Durango | 8 hr 8 min | 349 miles |
Driving times along the road network to the access point TroutTips uses, not straight-line distance.
Fishing it
This page is the survey record: what was in the net, and when. Access, regulations, seasonal timing and what the approach actually involves are in the planner, alongside the drive from your own town.
See Brook Trout outings in Gilpin CountyOther surveyed lakes nearby
By road from Nederland, the town closest to this water.
- Lost Lake (Indian Peaks Wilderness) 49 fish netted 2013
- Blue Lake (Indian Peaks Wilderness) 8 fish netted 2023
- Isabelle Lake (Indian Peaks Wilderness) 8 fish netted 2023
- Long Lake (Indian Peaks Wilderness) 71 fish netted 2024