720.775.7770 [email protected]

GUIDED TRIPS

THE BASICS

Tightline Outdoors operates on special use permits on more than a dozen reservoirs and offers guide trips all year and at all different times of the day. Your guide will meet you at a specific location at the reservoir on the day of your trip. Tightline will provide all the fishing gear needed for your day of fishing.

Following is a list of items that we suggest you bring on the day of the trip:

  • A valid Colorado Fishing License (A second rod stamp can be helpful in some situations)
  • Appropriate clothing as Colorado has weather that is quick to change (Ask your guide for suggestions on clothing)
  • Snacks and drinks, no alcohol please. Your guide will have bottled water on the boat but bring any additional food or drink you would like.
  • Sunscreen
  • Sun Glasses
  • Camera
  • Baggies and cooler, if you wish to harvest fish.

A $150 deposit may be required to book trips with Tightline Outdoors. This is non-refundable but can be transferred to another date to accommodate your needs.

2022 Guided Fishing Trip Rates 
Our team is built of true angling professionals ready to provide you a very memorable experience! The total trip fee provides you with a highly experienced, educational guide, permitted access to some of the best waters in Colorado and the ability to utilize high end, efficient fishing equipment the day of your trip. Prices directly reflect the experience of your guide, current overhead costs and the fees that are required to use the water in the State of Colorado. Please keep in mind that all our guides are providing their own equipment for your trip and, should they do a good job, gratuity is always greatly appreciated.

Fuel Surcharge per trip (conditional charge): The fuel surcharge will only apply when average Colorado diesel fuel rates are above $4.50 per gallon.  The surcharge is calculated by taking the excess of the current average diesel rate/gallon over $4.50/gallon multiplied by the trip location as outlined below. Rates are checked daily and computed based on the publicised rates according to the AAA Colorado Fuel Prices. Please keep in mind that all of our guides cover the costs of commuting and boat fuel for your trip and the surcharge is only to help cover any excess costs they may incur during periods of high fuel costs.  

Destination Reservoirs –  Spinney, Eleven Mile, Antero, Williams Fork, Tarryall, Pueblo, Barr Lake, Jefferson Lake (Ice Only)- 85 miles
Denver Metro Reservoirs – Chatfield, Cherry Creek, Quincy, Aurora – 50 miles
Please click a button to go directly to the trip or guide you’d like to know more about.

TROUT

Open Water – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $550
3 to 4 anglers: $600

Ice – 6 hour trip
1 to 2 anglers: $500
3 to 4 anglers: $550

It is hard to beat an action packed day of catching Trout including Rainbows, Browns, Cutthroats, and Cutbows. We start open water trips in early May and continue through the entire season, wrapping up open water fishing around November 1st. We guide most of these trips in the South Park area and 50 to 100 fish days with 17″ to 20″ fish are not uncommon. Most of these trips are casting lures and jigs but trolling is available if an anglers prefers to troll. We also offer ice fishing trips for trout and most of the time you can visually fish through the ice for them!

Whether on open water or ice these trips remain one of our highest action trips offered.

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WALLEYE

Open Water – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $550
3 to 4 anglers: $600

Ice – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $500
3 to 4 anglers: $550

Ice – 4 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $375
3 to 4 anglers: $400

Colorado has some of the best Walleye fishing in the country due to clean fresh water, lots of bait fish, and a long growing season. We offer trips specialized towards trophy Walleye, numbers of Walleye, and education of how to catch Walleyes during all seasons of the year. The best opportunity for large or trophy Walleye comes in spring during the pre-spawn, spawn, and post spawn time period. We focus on night fishing during this time and fish from 7pm to 1am, March 1st through May 15th. After that we move to our summer patterns which are daytime trips taken from 6am to noon or 1pm to 7pm. June 1st through July 15th is the peak season for numbers of Walleye. 100 fish days are not uncommon. The bite continues until late Fall where the opportunity for large fish and high catch rate lasts until December 1st.

December typically kicks off our Ice Fishing season for Walleyes where we offer shortened 4 hour trips in the peak low light period of the day.

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LAKE TROUT

6 Hour Ice Trophy Lake Trout Trip at Jefferson Lake
(there is a $50 charge per person for alternate locations) 
1 angler: $500
2 anglers: $550
3 anglers: $600

8 Hour Open Water Trophy Lake Trout Trip
1–4 anglers: $775

As one of the largest and oldest fish residing in Colorado, Lake Trout are an often sought after species. When it comes to Lake Trout, we target trophy class fish. We have a strict catch and release policy for Lake Trout. Tightline Outdoors does not offer a lot of these trips due to access to trophy class waters. A special use permit is required to operate guided fishing and these special use days are very hard to come by. Therefore, we are limited on how many trips we can offer. Once we fill up we can recommend other guides in the state that offer similar trips.

We can honestly say you have as good of a chance at a “fish of a lifetime” here in Colorado as you do anywhere in the country! We can make you a believer.

Tightline Outdoors operates under the special use permit with the Pike National Forest. This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

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tightline outdoors bass trip

PIKE

Open Water – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $550
3 to 4 anglers: $600

Ice – 6 hour trip
1 to 2 anglers- $500
3 to 4 anglers- $550

With fish occasionally pushing the 30 pound mark, Colorado truly has some of the best pike fishing in the country. We offer trips for trophy pike as well as numbers of pike. Our open water bite starts May 1st and goes until late October. Our techniques change throughout the seasons and water temperature, but catching remains the same. Trolling is an option in May and October and the rest of the season is casting.

Our Ice Fishing bite starts in December and can run as late as late as mid April. When trophy fishing, are targeting 40″plus fish and expect only a handful of opportunities. When targeting numbers you can see numbers ranging from 15 to 30 fish in a day. All Pike over 25″ must be released to protect and preserve dwindling populations of Northern Pike in our Colorado lakes.

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BASS

Open Water – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $550
3 to 4 anglers: $600

Ice (Smallmouth Only) – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers- $500
3 to 4 anglers- $550

Both Largemouth and Smallmouth bass live on the front range and we have permits on the best waters! A few lakes offer opportunities at both species. These trips start in early April and run through late September. Numbers of Largemouth in the 4 and 5 pound range are not uncommon and we’ve seen largemouth that will go 9 pounds. Smallmouth bass range from 10″ to 1″ on average and offer a big punch in a small package. All these trips are high action with hard fighting fish! The Largemouth trip has been voted as one of the favorite trips of Tightline in 2013 by Tightline Outdoors guests!

We also offer Ice Fishing for Smallmouth Bass December to late February.

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PANFISH

Open Water – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $550
3 to 4 anglers: $600

Although Colorado isn’t known for its pan fish, if you know the waters we have some great pan fish opportunities in both spring and fall. We have great Crappie, Blue Gill, and Perch. April and early May are great as well as August to November. These trips can be taken to strictly target pan fish or accompany another species. These trips are high action and can provide some great meals.

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KOKANEE

Open Water – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $550
3 to 4 anglers: $600

Ice – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $500
3 to 4 anglers: $550

Kokanee Salmon are a land locked Salmon that inhabit a few reservoirs in Colorado and the populations go up and down with year classes, spawn and stocking. The peak period for fishing is mid June until late August and trolling is the best tactic for catching Kokanee. The other peak bite is through the ice in January and February. These fish gather in large schools during the winter and can be fast and furious fishing.

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CARP

Open Water – 6 Hour Trip
1 to 2 anglers: $550
3 to 4 anglers: $600

Carp are rapidly becoming known as the ultimate game fish in the USA and we won’t argue with that. They are about the largest, hardest fighting fish in the majority of local waters and once you start to target them, you soon realize they are also a very well-educated fish. A lot of anglers have accidentally snagged or caught carp here and there, and no one will ever say the fish didn’t give the fight of their life. But not many anglers have gone out and had 10, 20 or even 30 fish days on Carp. Once you experience this, you soon realize the sport fish quality of a Carp. Carp are not known for quality table fare, but the average angler now days releases 90% of their catch anyway so why not have the biggest bang for your buck?

Our Carp trips are Euro-style fishing which are techniques used and learned from the Europeans where Carp fishing is extremely popular. It is basically a very high tech way of bait fishing with hair rigs and beeper pods. This is becoming one of our most popular trips.

We also offer fly fishing trips for Carp which are extremely exciting and most trips are done by sight fishing and casting.

Lastly, we offer bow fishing for Carp. When bow fishing, we are limited to 3 shooters on the boat at a time.

Euro-style fishing is best from April to November with the highest numbers of fish caught in July, August, and September. Fly fishing and bow fishing are best June through August.

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Nate Zelinsky

Owner/Operator/Full-Time Guide

Nate Zelinsky founded Tightline Outdoors in 2001 but has been fishing since he was a little boy. Nate and Tightline Outdoors are involved in all aspects of the fishing community. Nate is a professional Walleye Angler and All Species Guide. Nate values the concept of ALWAYS keeping up with current bite whether that be open water or ice, conventional tackle, fly, bait, or ice fishing. Nate is senior educator and creator of Tightline’s two-day Ice School. Nate also developed and continues to run the Ice Addiction Tournament Series and the Catch Rate Tournament Series. Nate can be seen on many episodes of Jarrett Edwards Outdoors TV, many episodes of In-Fisherman television, and lastly on the Tightline Outdoors YouTube channel. Nate can be heard on Saturday Mornings on Denver’s Fan Radio on 104.3FM at 10am. Nate hosts dozens of seminars across the country with a primary focus on education. Nate’s goal is to make every angler a successful angler. Nate is a dedicated husband and dad to twins.

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Matt Endsley

Senior Bass Guide/All Species Guide

Born in Newport News, Virginia Matt was taught the skills for successful angling as young boy. Matt moved to Colorado in 1986 and fell in love with the many angling opportunities this state has to offer. Everything from Trout, Walleye, Bass and Panfish, Colorado is an awesome state to enjoy the big blue sky and angling. Matt have an expert knowledge of Colorado’s best lakes and will always put you on the best seasonal bites. Success in fishing is all about knowing the best locations with the best baits for the time of year.

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Dustin Sigler

Full-Time Senior Walleye Guide/All Species Guide/Senior Ice Fishing Guide

Colorado Native, Dustin Sigler, is a versatile still water expert on open water and ice fishing adventures.  He excels when targeting Walleye and was the Colorado Walleye State Champion in his rookie year appearance. His talent is not limited to Walleye however. Dustin successfully guides all species including Trout, Pike, Bass and Lake Trout. 

Guiding for Tightline Outdoors has brought Dustin multiple opportunities to share his knowledge through radio co-hosting with Nate Zelinsky on Terry Wickstrum Outdoors and guest speaking on Terry Wickstrum’s radio show.  He has also been an instructor for Tightline Outdoors’ Ice School and has presented seminars for local anglers at Bass Pro Shops Denver. 

Dustin has worked with writer David Harrison and has made appearances in In-Fisherman Magazine!

Dustin is extremely experienced with electronics. He works with and uses Humminbird, Lowrance, and Garmin products on a daily basis. Not only does this ensure that he puts his guests on fish, but it also makes for an educational opportunity for those who fish with him, whether on the ice or on open water, as Dustin generously shares his electronics skills and knowledge.

Dustin has a passion for the challenge of sport fishing that started for him when he was only 6 years old.  Here is Dustin’s perspective of what fishing means to him.
“I fish because fishing brings its own set of challenges. A tough day on the water that demands the mind to find the answer for success. Without tough days on the water, there would be no fulfillment on days that bring that success. Fishing to me is an endless puzzle with pieces that change daily.  Not one day is the same as the  last, but yet you still can see the puzzle coming together through experience. 

Understanding fishing is not only knowing how to operate the equipment necessary for success, but also understanding fish biology through experience, and trial and error. At the end of the day, nobody will understand fish to the point that they can consistently catch both quantity and quality of fish every day of every year.  For this is what keeps the sport alive and the angler driven to find that success.”

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Josh Sedivy

All Species Guide/Senior Staff Fly Fishing Guide

Josh Sedivy is a year round guide at Tightline Outdoors and is an expert in conventional tackle angling, fly fishing, and ice fishing! Josh also guides upland bird hunts. Josh grew up in northeast Nebraska on the Missouri River. He learned to fish, read and navigate the ever changing current conditions at a young age with his grandfather, dad and uncles.  He enlisted in the Army after high school and spent the next thirteen years in various leadership and instructor roles as an infantryman within the US and overseas. It was impressed upon him to never be complacent and never quit, there is always a way to get things done. That experience also gave him the ability to rapidly learn and adapt. He also learned how to teach others no matter their background or skill level. During that time he has fished for anything that swims from North Carolina to Alaska. Whether he’s swinging flies for Trout and Salmon, trolling and casting for warm water species or using electronics to break down fish behavior, he has a wide range of experience to draw from. Josh is a devoted husband and father who inspires a love of the outdoors to his family.

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