Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic biologists salvaged more than 1,000 trout from Antero Reservoir in Park County on June 15, 2026, relocating the fish to nearby waterbodies after Denver Water drained the reservoir in response to drought conditions.

981 rainbow, brown, cutthroat and hybrid trout were captured by electrofishing and moved to Eleven Mile Reservoir, with remaining fish released into the South Fork South Platte River. Eleven Mile was selected to keep the fish within the South Platte River basin and because of its clean status regarding the aquatic nuisance species New Zealand mudsnails.

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The effort follows a public salvage approved in April after Denver Water announced the drawdown. During and after the public salvage, fish were still able to move freely from Antero into the South Fork and downstream to Spinney Mountain Reservoir.

"It felt great to be able to salvage fish from Antero Reservoir and relocate them to another location where they can be enjoyed by anglers," said CPW Northeast Senior Aquatic Biologist Kyle Battige. "Antero can grow some really nice trout and we were able to move 981 fish over to Eleven Mile State Park. We appreciate the close coordination and support from Denver Water along with the thousands of anglers that participated in the emergency public salvage effort, a key to ensure some of Antero's fish did not go to waste."

CPW says stocking operations at Antero will resume once the reservoir is refilled.