When does the Dillon Reservoir freeze over? Usually by Christmas, but not this year.
While the Dillon Reservoir is usually more frozen than it is this time of year, it didn't stop some people from enjoying early-season ice fishing

Ryan Spencer/Summit Daily News
Steam and fog rose off the surface of the Dillon Reservoir on Tuesday, Dec. 24, as the cold morning air met the relatively warmer, although still frigid, body of water.
On average, Dillon Reservoir freezes on Dec. 24, according to Denver Water, which manages the 257,000-acre-foot reservoir that supplies drinking water to the Front Range. But not this year.
On Christmas Eve, about a half dozen groups gathered on the Dillon Reservoir’s Snake River inlet — one of the few spots where a sheet of ice has formed — to ice fish. As waterfowl splashed in open water nearby, fishing guide Dylan Burch, with Big Ed’s Fishing, instructed a family on how to set up a hook and wait patiently for a bite from a fish underneath the ice.
“Usually we’ve got a little more ice, especially out there deeper in the marina,” Burch said, as the afternoon sun warmed things up. “This year with it being a little bit warmer, it’s been tougher to make some ice and keep it. Our nights have been cold, so it will make a little bit of ice, then as the day goes on it melts.”

While the reservoir has yet to freeze over completely, Burch said that ice fishing guides have been working at the Snake River inlet, where the ice is about a foot thick, for about three weeks already. He described ice fishing as a “really good family activity” and a great way to enjoy nature and the outdoors.
Burch noted that when the Dillon Reservoir eventually freezes over, the lake will also become a destination for other popular winter activities.
Each winter, the town of Dillon grooms a winter multi-use track known as the “Lake Loops” into the reservoir once it is frozen and safe for visitors. It also hosts several events, which in the past have included dog sled races, full moon parties and ice hockey tournaments.
“I’m looking forward to everything the Dillon Marina puts on,” Burch said. “That’s something to look forward to as we get more ice, more activities.”

Since the Dillon Dam was completed in 1963, there have only been a handful of winter seasons where the reservoir did not freeze over by the New Year. The latest the reservoir ever froze over was Jan. 31, 1981, though it came close in 2018 when it didn’t freeze over until Jan. 24, according to Denver Water.
As the reservoir freezes over this year, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that ice is a particularly dangerous wintertime hazard and, “without current knowledge specific to a particular ice surface, the safest option is to stay off unmaintained ice all together.”
For more information on ice fishing safety and to read a full guide, visit SummitDaily.com/news/a-beginners-guide-to-ice-fishing-in-summit-county/.

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