If you aren't a fisherman, the phrase “The Toilet Bowl” probably means something very different to you.
But if you are, you've probably heard about this legendary spot about 45 minutes from Aspen. The “Toilet Bowl” sits at the base of the Ruedi Dam, directly upstream from a gold medal fishery that draws people from all over the world.
Thanks to a diet of mysis relicta, a small freshwater shrimp that was released in the area, the trout in this section of the Fryingpan River get big – really big. The Toilet Bowl is the deep basin that forms at the base of the dam, and it's a bucket list site for fisherman – and also, if you're standing in certain spots, a place that's technically illegal to be.
Thanks in part to a YouTube video of someone actually SCUBA diving there and a slew of security concerns, the Bureau of Reclamation is cracking down on fishing at “The Toilet Bowl” – even though it's been a well-known spot for well over a decade.
“Our main concern overall is public safety,” said James Bishop, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Reclamation. “The last thing we want is for anyone to get hurt. So we're going to discuss how to prevent access and to avoid someone getting harmed by the sudden release of water.”
Bishop says per his understanding, it's always been trespassing to go to certain points of the Toilet Bowl. With that being said, Colorado Parks and Wildlife actually manages the recreation there, and they took to Facebook on Wednesday morning to clarify that it is open – despite reports from local enthusiasts saying otherwise.
Mike Porras, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, says people are welcome to fish there as long as they follow the posted signage.
However, there have been reports of people fishing in places they weren't allowed to fish from – such as the dam itself, Porras said.
“There were previously some leniencies for where visitors are going that they're not allowed,” he said, adding that “if people don't listen, there could be a permanent closure.”
But Jennifer Balmes, who lives in the area and is an avid trout fisherwoman, says if you're following the signs asking you to stay 100 feet from the dam, you aren't actually fishing in the Toilet Bowl.
“The Toilet Bowl, to us, is those three rocks that are right up at the dam that you're not allowed to be at because you're right up at the dam,” she said.
Balmes says people fishing in the area often wait for a long time for their turn at the best spots, and that while fishing is allowed downriver, that's technically the Flats, not the Toilet Bowl itself.
Fisher said a YouTube video of the monster fish below dam taken by a SCUBA diver played a role in the Bureau of Reclamation's decision to crack downing on fishing there – especially because he says water could be released from the dam at any moment without warning, something that's a dangerous situation for anyone in the immediate proximity.
That's why he says the Bureau of Reclamation is posting more signage in the area to hopefully deter people from going places they shouldn't, since right now, Fisher says it's pretty easy to jump the fence over by the dam and get to restricted areas.
The Eagle County Sheriff's Office is contracted by the Bureau of Reclamation to help enforce the rules near the dam.
Amber Barrett, with community affairs at the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, says despite reports to the contrary, they haven't really upped patrols at the Toilet Bowl – even though people might notice it a bit more thanks to something you might not expect.
“With the weather being not as cold and the snow not as deep up there, a lot of our kind of more seasonal folks have been frequenting the area now, because it's not under a bunch of snow and ice,” Barrett said, adding that the area is busier than it usually is during this time of year because of an unseasonably warm December.
She added that there could have been some confusion because some newer deputies who didn't quite know the area could have given wrong information to fishermen.
Barrett says the focus of the sheriff's office at the Toilet Bowl has been educating people about where they can't go, and that they haven't actually written tickets in years.
Balmes says part of the problem is the fact that the area is only increasing in popularity.
“To me, I've wanted it to be closed because people just go there and just trash it, and there's fishing line everywhere and there's bottles of water underwater and stuff like that,” she said. “It's something that, to me, just needs to be closed because people get really crazy about big fish and it's just another reason to poach it.”
On Facebook, Colorado Parks and Wildlife wrote that they've received reports of people swimming below the dam and even paddleboarding – two other problematic activities that could close the Toilet Bowl area forever.
Bishop says the Bureau of Reclamation won't make any major changes without public comment. The Bureau is meeting with the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, city of Aspen, U.S. Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife next week to discuss the next steps for the Toilet Bowl, and that a chance for the public to weigh in could follow.
