Colorado is literally begging you to go fishing at these lakes and reservoirs

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Give a man unlimited fishing access…

Colorado Parks and Wildlife issued an emergency public salvage order for Banner Lakes State Wildlife Area in Weld County on Tuesday, Aug. 18. The order lifts all bag and possession limits for fishing in ponds in the area, as the fast-drying bodies of water threaten to kill the fish, anyway.

This is the second fish salvage order in a week and the eighth this summer, loosening or pausing fishing restrictions across the state, according to CPW’s database. They come as half of the state is suffering from extreme or exceptional drought conditions amid continuing record-high summer temperatures, following the winter’s record-low snowpack.

“The fish belong to the public,” Carrie Tucker, CPW aquatic biologist, said in a press release earlier this summer. “We want to provide anglers the opportunity to harvest as many fish as possible before declining water levels potentially cause us to lose the fishery.”

Some reservoirs under salvage orders are set to be drawn down to redirect water to other areas, largely to serve local communities or support irrigation that typically relies on mountain snowpack. Other bodies of water are already running low and facing “imminent” fish loss, according to CPW. Daigre Reservoir, for example, currently has only one-sixth of the water storage it had this time last year, according to data from the Division of Water Resources.

In addition to Banner Lakes State Wildlife Area, fish salvage orders are currently in effect at the following locations as of Aug. 20:

• Daigre Reservoir in Huerfano County
• Douglas Reservoir State Wildlife Area in Larimer County
• McKay Lake in Westminster
• Mountain Home Reservoir State Wildlife Area in Costilla County
• Nee Noshe Reservoir in Kiowa County
• Timnath Reservoir in Larimer County
• Wahatoya State Wildlife Area in Huerfano County

The unlimited fishing won’t last forever. Low water levels and high water temperatures have already resulted in fishing closures in dozens of areas across the state, according to the CPW database.

Time to grab those rods for a good cause.