Loveland Fishing Club Blog

 By Bill Prater Regardless of what warm-natured folks are doing, now is not the time to put away the rod and reel and hope for an early spring. Okay, you may stand a fair chance of getting skunked, I guess. But late fall through winter  is also a great time for some of the year’s most memorable days on the water. Most of those annoying folks who crowded next to you in June and July are now watching football and Netflix horror shows, turning their attention to hunting, or hoping for early ice. So until the lakes and ponds at lower elevations freeze over until spring, they can be all yours and mine. Fish do generally bunch up this time of year. Unless you scout out great locations in September or October, they can be hard to locate. For me, that means I stand a better chance in smaller lakes and ponds and smaller than the bigger ones. I moved to Colorado in the early ‘80s after learning to fish the southern fringes of the Midwest. I’m embarrassed to say, it took me years out her...

 Friday seemed like a good day to be chasing stocker-size trout on Dragonfly Pond. But it proved to be an even better time for Charlie Higgs to be battling a trophy-size, 34-inch channel catfish.  Who knew that lunker was lurking near the fishing dock, probably gobbling trout? Certainly not Charlie, who would have probably tied his nightcrawler onto something a little stouter than 6-pound line. Nor fishing buddies Christina Weiss and Rick Golz, tasked with trying without much success to capture the bruiser with a  pair of  inadequate trout nets.  Rick reports Charlie "fought the beast for 20 minutes before he got it up from the bottom and we could see it was a cat. It took another five minutes to get it to the dock, where Christina and I tried to get both ends of the fish into two small trout nets without success before I finally picked it up by the gills and Charlie had the biggest cat he'd ever caught. "The pinched barb on a tiny hook was barely in its mouth w...

 An untimely cold front and high winds kinda messed up the fishing for kids at Saturday's "Fishing Future" clinic at River's Edge Natural Area, but a good time was had by all. About a dozen Loveland Fishing Club members staffed tables introducing youngsters and their families to the sport of fishing, and later helped them in search of fish at Dragonfly and Sandpaper ponds. The event was organized by Fishing Future and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Thanks to all who helped out. (Interesting sidenote: CPW dropped about 2,000 trout into the two ponds a couple days before the clinic, and most of them are still waiting for someone's bait). Photos by Rick Golz

 The following is background information about the role of volunteers at Saturday's event. Plan to be there by 9:30 a.m.  Greetings and thank you SO MUCH for being willing to volunteer with the Loveland Fishing's Future Chapter event on Saturday!  I sincerely appreciate it!  If you could arrive at 9:30am please on Saturday that would allow enough time to get you situated.  Come in the Main Entrance off of First Street into the paved parking area.  We will be set up near that parking lot.    There will be stations set up.  During the first hour of the event, I would love to have at least one volunteer at each station to give a short 10 minute demonstration/lesson about the topic for that table.  The station topics are listed below.  If you have a preference for which table you are at, we can accommodate!  Just tell me which table you want.  If you don't have a preference, I will put you where we need you.  You don't ha...

Chris Nelson was peacefully rowing his boat on one of the Delaney Butte lakes last month when this fat rainbow attacked. Chris won the ensuing fight, estimated the beast's size at about  5+ pounds and 22+ inches, and released it to swim another day. Photo by Dave Johnson  

After polling club members with the note below sent Sept. 22, the decision's been made postpone the annual club tournament until 2022. The exact date will be announced later, according to President Doug Money. Things have been pretty goofy as the pandemic lingers; this is one of them. We traditionally have the derby at Flatiron Reservoir, with winners determined by the biggest string of four fish, the legal limit. If you'd like to try something different, let Doug know.  Your input needed: Should we have a club fishing  derby   this year? One lovely Loveland Fishing Club tradition  scrubbed in 2020 because of Covid-19  was the annual  derby  at Flatiron Reservoir to determine the club's finest angler: four hours  of frantic fishing followed by a celebratory picnic.  For more than a dozen years, the winner  has had their name placed on a traveling trophy that is supposed to remain in the champion's  home for a year.  Club histor...