Ned Rig Fishing on Cherry Creek Reservoir
Cherry Creek Reservoir · Colorado · West
Cherry Creek Reservoir sits within Cherry Creek State Park at roughly 5,550 feet elevation, covering about 880 surface acres in the Denver metro. The lake is a flood-control impoundment with a relatively featureless main basin, but its shoreline offers riprap dam faces, shallow cove flats, submerged brush piles, and scattered dock structure that concentrate fish. Water clarity tends toward stained-to-clear depending on runoff cycles, and the largemouth population carries more size than most urban anglers expect.
Ned Rig pairs a 3–4" ElaZtech-style floating plastic (TRD, Finesse TRD, or similar) on a 1/15–1/6 oz mushroom head jig. The bait's buoyancy causes it to stand upright on the bottom, creating a subtle action that triggers bites when nothing else will. Exceptional on hard bottom, gravel, and rock.
Ned Rig Setup for Cherry Creek Reservoir
| Rod | 6'10"–7'2" medium-light spinning rod, moderate-fast action |
| Reel | 2500 size spinning reel |
| Line | 10 lb braid + 8 lb fluorocarbon leader |
| Weight | 1/15–1/6 oz mushroom jig head (Z-Man Finesse ShroomZ or similar) |
| Hook | Size 1 or 1/0 wide gap, built into jig head |
Seasonal Tactics on Cherry Creek Reservoir
Lake: Largemouth push into the shallow cove flats and riprap margins as water temperatures climb through the 55–65°F range, typically April into early May. Spawning activity concentrates fish in the 2–5 ft zone along protected northwest-facing banks where sun exposure warms water fastest.
Ned Rig: Deadly on pre-spawn fish holding on gravel and pea-gravel flats in 4–12 feet.
Lake: Post-spawn fish scatter to deeper riprap edges and submerged structure along the dam face in 10–18 ft of water once surface temps exceed 75°F. Early-morning topwater on cove mouths and evening crankbait runs along rocky transitions are the most reliable warm-weather windows.
Ned Rig: Work deeper rock piles and main lake points. Drag slowly, let it stand. Green pumpkin and watermelon dominate.
Lake: Shad-chasing largemouth school aggressively in open cove mouths and along the eastern shoreline flats through September and October as baitfish compact before the cold. Reaction baits — lipless crankbaits and swimbaits — outperform finesse during the peak feeding windows of the shad migration.
Ned Rig: One of the best techniques as fish get finicky before winter. Match shad colors on sandy/gravel bottom.
Lake: Cold temperatures slow activity significantly at this elevation, but fish don't go entirely dormant. Suspending jerkbaits and drop shots in 12–20 ft over the deeper riprap and channel edges account for the most consistent cold-weather bites, with the warmest midday hours offering the best window.
Ned Rig: Best cold-water finesse technique after drop shot. Extremely slow drag on hard bottom near deep structure.
Best Conditions
Clear water, hard and rocky bottoms, post-cold-front, heavily pressured fish, any season except peak summer spawn
Use Z-Man ElaZtech plastics exclusively — they float and are nearly indestructible. Regular soft plastics sink and kill the technique.
More Techniques for Cherry Creek Reservoir
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