Thanks for the response 4Corners.

Yes you got my location correct! BTW - I lived between Dolores and Cortez back in grade school on hwy 145. Good times, we had 40 acres, cows/animals and a small pond. Back when kids were kids and brother and I would spend dawn to dusk doing stuff we shouldn't be doing while parents were at work, ha!

Goals for lake. #1-Fishery. #2-Recreation. Lake not quite big enough for a big boat pulling wakeboarders/skiers but probably jet skis pulling tubers, etc.

WQ / Fertility? I assume because its groundwater source nutrients maybe low? Temps. Yes probably a cool water BOW. As you know GJ gets hot in the summer but with the lake being on the deeper side there is that change in temp as depth increases. I didn't pull water temps back when the lake was full. Nor did I test for nutrients.

Yes mining has dewatered the lake to only a small channel flowing at bottom and continuously being pumped so they can mine. Most of the carp (and any other fish) are gone by now, assuming birds of prey snatching most of them or maybe coons.

Since the lake is being pumped, at around the 12-15 foot depth there are a number of groundwater discharges flowing through the gravel/cobble seams. Probably 10 or so scattered throughout the lake. Haven't ran a bucket test on the discharge but if I was to guess avg. 10-15 gpm discharge. When lake was full and it was calm out, you could see water moving in all directions from the subsurface discharge.

There are many gravel pit lakes scattered along the Colorado River in western Colorado. All that I have fished (public & private) have a good amount of SMB and BG. Some have crappie/trout/etc. So I have to assume my lake can be no different with good management and setup.

Can't remember the last time the Colorado River has breached the lake perimeter, but no doubt it has happened in the last 5-10 years or last high water year that introduced species into the lake.

Thanks for the cottonwood/elm comment. I was worried about the acidity of those trees. Sounds like oak can create issues depending on the ratio of oak to volume of water...