There are not many fisheries where the management agency hands you cash for a good day on the water, but Spinney Mountain Reservoir has become one of them. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is running a series of monthly northern pike tournaments at the reservoir near Lake George, and the prizes are real money: $500 for the top adult angler each month, $250 for second and $150 for third, plus Youth Angler and Mystery Prize categories.
The series runs monthly from 1 June to 30 September, and the motivation is conservation rather than competition. Spinney is celebrated as a trout destination, and the pike are putting that reputation under pressure.
"Spinney Mountain Reservoir is a destination trout fishery," said Kyle Battige, Senior Aquatic Biologist for CPW's Northeast Region. He noted that "our recent sampling efforts have shown more Northern Pike and fewer trout" — a worrying trend in a water where the non-native pike sit at the top of the food chain.
What makes the format clever is the way it counts fish. A pike of 32 inches or under is worth three points; anything over 32 inches earns a single point. That tilts the contest toward removing the smaller, faster-breeding fish doing the long-term damage, instead of simply crowning whoever lands the biggest pike.
Entry is simple, but the rules are tight: only pike taken from Spinney count. Anglers record catches by photographing them through the Fishing Chaos app with GPS switched on, or on a tablet at the reservoir's Aquatic Nuisance Species station. For those who do not want to keep a freezer full of pike, CPW has provided a donation freezer on site, so the fish leaves the lake either way.
The agency has teamed up with Tightline Outdoors and Colorado Trout Unlimited to run the events. Incentive derbies like this have become a go-to tactic across the western United States, where managers increasingly lean on everyday anglers to knock back illegally stocked predators threatening trout and native species.
For anyone who fishes Spinney, it adds up to a rare win-win: protect the trout you love, and pocket some prize money doing it.
