The biggest lake in Colorado is Blue Mesa Reservoir which produced a state record lake trout in 2007 at over 50 pounds, which edged out a 46+ pound lake trout caught in 2003. However, the lake trout were beginning to be overpopulated and once there were too many lake trout for their food supply, their growth rates slowed and fatness plummeted. There simply was not enough food for them to reach trophy potential.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife moved to remedy the situation with a combination of completely removing the limit on lake trout under 38" long in the reservoir combined with an aggressive culling program (the state nets and kills thousands of lake trout in a certain size range). First, the lake trout's food sources began to rebound, and then their fatness and growth rates increase so that the reservoir is returning to the trophy potential of earlier years.
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