Denver club adds habitat to Aurora

Aurora Reservoir is the latest bass fishery in the Denver area to benefit from the habitat work of the Denver Bassmasters.

AURORA, Colo. — Aurora Reservoir is the latest bass fishery in the Denver area to benefit from the habitat work of the Denver Bassmasters.

The Colorado B.A.S.S. Nation club has planted fish habitat structures in Quincy and Harriman lakes near Aurora in recent years. On April 5, the club sank 10 plastic structures in Aurora Reservoir.

With funding provided by the Colorado B.A.S.S. Nation, the club spent $3,500 on MossBack Rack structure kits made from recycled plastic bottles.

“We were looking for something to do for Aurora because a lot of us live there,” Denver Bassmasters club member Tom Grace said of the project. “Aurora Reservoir has some tremendous fish in it, but it is very difficult to catch them at times because it is a grass lake and not many of our guys are adept at fishing grass.”

So the club decided to add some hard cover to the lake in the form of the plastic trees.

It took club members six hours to assemble the structures on-site and then transport and sink the plastic trees at strategic locations such as points and breaklines throughout the 800-acre reservoir.

“We sank most of them in 15 to 20 feet of water, and some of them stand as high as 10 feet tall,” Grace said.

Club members who participated in the project were George Mauries, club conservation director; Brandon Genova, club president; Audrey McKenney, Colorado B.A.S.S. Nation president; Jeff Vermillion; Troy Wiesenberger; Curtis Welch; Larry Triplett; Jeremiah Hofstetter and Grace.

See photos of the project here.