Loveland Fishing Club Blog

Fairgrounds Park is great, but hey, Chilson has air conditioning. After more than a year's closing due to you know what, the center has reopened for business. So dust off your fishing cap and badge, and meet us at Chilson at 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 20. And bring some cash. John Gwinnup's been squirreling away great stuff for the raffle. 

 Once again the Loveland Girl Scouts will be holding a day camp at Lon Hagler reservoir, and once again they're asking the club to help them with a day of fishing. Save this date: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday, July 12. There will be a signup sheet at Friday breakfast.

  Barb Ding, who's guarded the club's treasures for the past eight years, will be passing on those duties on Jan. 1. That leaves plenty of time for a new volunteer to step up and learn from the best. Interested? See Barb or President Doug Money at breakfast or the next club meeting.   In the meantime, let Barb know how much you appreciated her work on our behalf.

 T’was a record hot at Boyd Lake state park Tuesday, but that didn’t keep Loveland Fishing Club volunteers help our Girl Scout buddies with a morning of fishing. Here are a few photos of the event.

  By Bill Prater (The following treatise on fishing etiquette  appears on the  http://fishexplorer.com  website) The trouble with writing an occasional fish story is, most readers won’t even agree on what kind of fish to catch, much less what to do with it afterward. (Eat that carp? or Let It Live to Bite Another Day?) Dig further into the nuances of our sport - for example whether or not to tell the unembellished truth - and you can shatter more friendships than a show of hands at a political rally. I’m not absolutely sure what I think about folks who choose to share intimate details about exactly where and how a fish was caught, especially when another person may be naively expect “the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth.”  Seems like a religious question to me, best left to my minister brother. I do, however, feel compelled to share the limits of my own candor in a public forum. To me, the crucial question is, Just how frank and open should on...

The Loveland Fishing Club is resuming its monthly meetings after more than a year's hiatus. We still can't meet at Chilsen, but the June meeting will be at 2 p.m. at  Fairgrounds Park, 700 S. Railroad Ave., Loveland. It is suggested that you bring your own chair and water.   Also Tuesday, the club is also taking Girl Scouts fishing at their annual day camp at Boyd Lake State Park, in the group meeting facility on the northeast corner north of the marina. Their fishing day will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Volunteers will finish in time to make the club meeting at Fairgrounds Park, so get out and help. 

 Cindy Graul traveled to Colorado State Forest State Park and camped at North Michigan Lake. She found a few other campers - but no water. Repairs are being made to the dam this summer, and the lake was supposed to be pretty much drained. Um, it was. This is the view from the west.

A Girl Scout shows Norm Engelbrecht how it's done during the 2010 day camp. Here's one more of the club's favorite things that's getting back underway! Covid-19 forced cancellation of our annual fishing day with Girl Scouts at Swift Ponds last year. The Colorado Youth Outdoors facility was unavailable this summer, but the girls will be able to hold their annual day camp at Boyd Lake State Park, in the group meeting facility on the northeast corner north of the marina. Their fishing day will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, June 15. That's the same day the Loveland Fishing Club will resume its own monthly meetings, but volunteers will be able to make that meeting as well. Club President Doug Money will have a sign up sheet for volunteers at breakfast Friday, but please turn out to held the girls regardless.  This has been an annual event for the club for more than a decade, and it's great to have to opportunity to fish with these kids. We'll have al...

 Here's a link to photos taken at Saturday's Loveland Kids Fishing Derby. https://photos.app.goo.gl/9dPSsfw8dzp1EJ4KA

 Lots of trout, lots of sunshine, lots of kids. You couldn't ask for a much better day at the Duck Pond at North Lake Park in Loveland Wednesday.  Raffle prizes were awarded on the half hour, with all participants eligible. Winner of a rod and reel combination and tackle box for smallest trout of the day, an 8 incher, went to 13-year-old Alex Torres. The prize for biggest trout, at 13 3/4 inches, was shared by two angleers, 8-year-old Caden Schaeffer and 4-year-old Lars Rehberger (grandson of Loveland Fishing Club veterans John and Marcia Lewis, who now live in Colorado Springs. Check back for more photos; we'll be sending a link to others found on Google Photos. Thanks to all the club members, other event organizers, sponsors and family members who made this possible. Caden Schaeffer Alex Torres Rick Golz with raffle winner Judah

 By Bill Prater My exasperated Mom had a favorite expression she used with my annoying older brother Paulie and occasionally even me: “I’ve had just about enough of you…” Fortunately she never carried out the implied threat behind that frustrated wail. But she likely had cause. These days, so do I, and, I will reluctantly admit, so do you. Probably. As an introverted, short-tempered, solitude-loving retiree, I am faced with daily doses of darned near everything that annoys me: Sold-out campgrounds. Jet skis. Wake boats. Paddleboards. On every body of water that can float a duck. I find myself annoyed even by other well-intended fisher men and women -  ones who get up really early or when it’s really really cold or wet to fish one of my favorite spots. I look for peace and quiet, and find crowds. In fairness, they’re finding me, too. In a state known for wilderness, we are jostling for space in the Great Outdoors the way New Yorkers jockey for a space to park. In one fashion ...

The thought of a tiger muskie lurking around a small body of water like Bass Pond can make one hesitate before dipping ones toes in the water. Wayne Baranczyk had the chance to remove that threat from Bass Pond Tuesday, but chose instead to land and then release a humongous tiger muskie. Wayne never got a photo of the darned thing, choosing caution and common sense over valor as he wrestled the beast into that puny landing net of his (Unlike my own well-documented, 28-inch grass carp yanked from the same body of water last month) . But I really did see the thing from my distant belly boat, and Wayne did get a good measurement: a solid 30 capped by a mean face full of teeth. (Plus, there's no denying Wayne had hooked something pretty scary: you could hear the lad being dragged all over the lake for at least 20 minutes, screaming like he'd hooked himself with that tiny Gulp Minnow. Here’s a stock photo of what his prize must have looked like: