Colorado · Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass
Largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass size limit in Colorado
You can keep one today — within these limits
east of the Continental Divide
Open year-round| Size limit | No size limit stated | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 5 | per person per day, all three species combined |
| Possession | 5 | total you may hold |
No minimum size, five a day across largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass combined.
west of the Continental Divide
Open year-round| Size limit | No size limit stated | total length |
|---|---|---|
| Daily bag | 5 | per person per day for largemouth and spotted bass combined; smallmouth bass has no daily limit west of the Divide |
| Possession | 5 | total you may hold |
Smallmouth bass is exempt from the 5-fish aggregate west of the Continental Divide and may be kept without a daily limit — a rule aimed at reducing smallmouth pressure on native fish in that drainage.
What we left out on purpose
- Walleye/saugeye/sauger and white bass/striped bass/wiper both carry a higher combined limit (10 and 20 respectively) specifically on the Arkansas River and the South Fork Republican River. Neither water is covered by this site, so the higher regional numbers are not modelled — the statewide figures apply everywhere this site actually reports on.
- Clear Creek carries a flies-and-lures-only, catch-and-release special regulation from its headwaters near Loveland Pass downstream to Duck Lake — a short alpine stretch far above Golden, where this site's Clear Creek report is anchored. The statewide trout rule is used here because the site's location sits well below that special-regulation stretch.
- This silo covers finfish only. Colorado's crayfish and bullfrog rules (both unlimited statewide) are not modelled, consistent with every other state in this silo.
- Aquatic tiger salamander larvae (a legal live-bait/food species in Colorado under 5 inches, gilled) is not a finfish and is not modelled here.
- Colorado's countless named Gold Medal and special-regulation stretches beyond the four waters this site actually reports on (Deckers, Dream Stream, Eagle River, Clear Creek) are not modelled — the same restraint applied to Louisiana's and Mississippi's dozens of named-water exceptions.
Other species limits in Colorado
Where to try today
- Blue Mesa Reservoir 6/10 · Biting
- Clear Creek 6/10 · Biting
- Deckers 7/10 · Biting
- Dream Stream 7/10 · Biting
- Eagle River 7/10 · Biting