The club is open to all, but club events take place during the week and we meet at Chilson Senior Center in Loveland, CO. Our basic purpose is to fish, but we're easily distracted by the chance to work with youngsters or improve northern Colorado outdoor resources.
Norm Engelbrecht was always meticulous about his yard, and the leaves had been piling up since his passing, with Gail still a bit too frail to get out there with a rake.
So John Gwinnup put out a call for volunteers to help with a yard cleanup last Friday. About a dozen and a half friends turned out to make short work out of a pretty big task. Result: a spotless yard, ready for winter.
"A big thank you to all who did leaf cleanup," says Gail. "Blessings to everyone. It was wonderful.
Be on time, wear something festive, and don't forget the gift exchange.
Also, it'd be a great time to bring your dues to Treasurer Barb Ding - $25 for an individual, $30 for a couple.
There's no planned agenda, beyond a short video Tom Miller's lined up on ice fishing. If you want to participate in the gift exchange, wrap up something new, for around 10 bucks, and don't put your name on it.
We'll have coffee and cookies, and anything else you might want to share with the rest of the club. (I for one will never turn down a chocolate chip cookie. Or fudge.)
Here
is the semi-official motto of the Loveland Fishing Club, as posted on the
LFC blog masthead:
“We
fish by boat, by float tube, from the bank and in the stream waving a fly rod.
Some of us give our catch a little hello and goodbye kiss and set them free.
Others can show you how to fry, bake, pickle, smoke or make sushi out of just
about everything that swims.”
For years, that
motto was even simpler: “If it swims, someone in the Loveland Fishing Club
will be trying to catch it.” That goal is also at the heart of a brand-new competition – the “LFC Most Species of Fish
Contest.”
Details
will come. We’re still
arguing over a few things, like, should we lump some species together, for
club members who can’t tell the difference between a bluegill and a green
sunfish? I’ll bet even legendary club founder Tom Miller, who majored in some kind of fishy degree
way back before the mass migration of Californians to Colorado, probably can’t
tell the difference between a “Rio Grande” and “Mountain Sucker.” We’ll start
by limiting eligible species to the 46 listed in the Colorado Master Angler
Program. Here’s the link: Colorado
Parks & Wildlife - Apply for Master Angler Status (state.co.us)
Basically, the
crafty member who catches the most types of fish, during the period between
monthly meetings, will be declared “LFC Angler of the Month” for that monthThe
reward? Bragging rights, of course, along with free tickets for the club’s
monthly raffle: one ticket for each species, six tickets for the angler
credited with five or more distinct species.
In other words,
you get to compete in the raffle drawing for free, against lesser
anglers who will continue to be required to buy their own chances to win things like a gift card for
Perkins or Texas Roadhouse. That is admittedly a bit cheap as prizes go, I
guess, but, Hey. We are a nonprofit affiliation of retirees, not wealthy sportsmen
like Tom, Barb and Arnie. Some of us have to dig our own worms. Also, we
don’t want to make the contest so lucrative that some former club presidents will
be tempted to bend the rules, if you catch my drift.
Like any
contest worthy of the attention of legendary Colorado anglers, this one will
have rules. Just not many:
Folks, this is going to be a contest
built on integrity! While lying about fishing is an
honored, traditional art form among club members (and will continue to be
encouraged at vents like Friday breakfast), this is one contest built on a simple
reliance on truth – along with a reasonable knowledge of Colorado fish.
Which brings us
to the subject of Colorado fish species. The contest is being developed by club
newbie Darrell Knight, a veteran fisherman but one who honed his craft down in
Florida, where they have more types of fish than Colorado has fish. We
are never going to stock an aquarium with colorful exotics caught here in
Loveland; I’m afraid. Our water is scarce, fluctuates every time Karol
Stroscheim flushes the toilet, and filled with predators that will eat
everything including their own offspring.
Still, we have
enough variety in our fish population to keep this interesting. Following is a
link to a Wikipedia photo list of all types of fishes of Colorado,
including the 46 we’ll be fishing for. Damned if I’ve ever seen an “American
eel” here in the Rocky Mountain West. But you can prove me wrong in a few
months. We won’t require photos of entries, but welcome them just the same.
Here’s that link:
List of fishes of Colorado - Wikipedia
Handouts of the following form will be available at the December general meeting.
“Most
Species of Fish Contest” Rules and Entry Form
1)
The member who catches the most species of fish
between monthly meetings is “Angler of the Month” and earns free tickets for
that month’s raffle. One ticket per species, 6 for 5 or more species.
2)
The contest is for most different species
caught, not size.
3) Qualifying
species are the 46 listed in the Colorado Master Angler Program
4) You
must fill out an Entry Form to qualify. Contest relies on the Honor System.
Photos welcomed.
5)
The Entry Form must be turned in to the
Raffle Master before the start of each meeting, so they may announce that
month’s official “Angler of the Month” prior to the raffle.
Use the form below:
Member’s
Name ______________________
Month______________________________________
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Fish species |
Quantity |
Pond, lake or stream |
Lure or bait |
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1 |
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3 |
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4 |
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I'm seeing reports on http://fishexplorer.com of a 4-inch ice cap on the Delaneys, Lake John and Cowdrey. Intriguing, yet, but I'd prefer one of you tell me venture out and tell the rest of us whether the ice is thick enough to fish yet. I'm thinking, no way. Also, I see Antero has about a 2-inch cap, so I know it's cold, but wait awhile.
I'll send an e-mail to club members in a few days and maybe put a list together of folks wanting to get out on the ice this winter. If you're a novice, I'd recommend just talking to some of the rest of us before spending your retirement money on equipment. We should have enough spare gear for you to borrow and see if you like the sport before investing. And you won't need an auger and such if you go with a group.
We'll have no planned agenda for the last general meeting of the year, Tuesday, December 20. In its place will be the annual holiday party! And gift exchange.
President Karol Stroschein will ensure we have coffee and cookies, but as we discussed on Tuesday, feel free to bring something to share with the rest of the club. Someone's already talking about their homemade fudge, for example, and you can never go wrong with chips and dip, or of course, chocolate chip cookies. No problem if you forget or choose not to participate in the gift exchange; just don't pick up a gift., so we don't run low on presents.
Remember, if you want to participate, get something (new) for about 10 bucks. Wrap it up but don't put your name on it. We have a kind of raffle to decide who gets to pick first.
Scheels of Johnston is going to donate a total of $100K to nonprofit organizations in northern Colorado. They will pick 20 and gift in $5K increments, based on the number of votes or Facebook Likes" each individual organization gets. Please go to their website, https://www.scheels.com/stores/colorado/johnstown/event/jo-giving-day.html?fbclid=IwAR1POcMAUs-Y3evWsHu0QnB5DwdjbB0y-w1opuNi4wMPYcZI8caBRK2Z_hk and nominate Patriot Anglers. Dave Boyle and several other members of the Loveland Fishing Club have been active with the organization, and have acquired a pontoon boat used for the first time this summer to take veterans fishing on Boyd Lake. The money can be used for upcoming fishing trips and boating activities in northern Colorado for veterans. And please ask your friends to help us.
Ok, it’s not a new fishing hole. It’s the Boyd lake inlet. But it has some new trout.
Tom Miller and I watched Tuesday as the Colorado Parks and Wildlife hatchery truck dropped a load of stocker trout at the boat ramp. We left without attacking them with a fresh Gulp minnow, but suggest you might want to give them a try.
By any measure, though, this is one husky trout, which Darrell Knight wrestled from the gin-clear water of South Delaney Lake Tuesday. One of a stalwart group of clubbers taking to the water, Darrell caught the 21-inch plus fish from his newly acquired float tube, endured a smack in the face, and released it to swim another day. There was a pretty good ice skim along the shoreline Tuesday, a pretty good indication that the fall season in North Park is winding down.
Okay, several club members have been clamoring for Sherry Cadle's delicious Cheesy Sweet Corn Spoonbread recipe, and she's just passed it along for the rest of us.
You start with Krusteaz Honey Cornbreak and Muffin Mix, one 14 3/4-oz can of cream-style corn, 1/2 cup of melted butter, a cup of sour cream and 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. It makes enough 12 servings.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and in a large bowl stir together all ingredients until well blended.
Pour into lightly greased 9x9-inch baking pan and bake for 38-52 minutes. Top with additional cheddar cheese, if desired. Let sit for about five minutes before serving.
That's it!
By Bill Prater
Following is pretty much all I can think to tell you about how to become a thriving member of the Loveland Fishing Club. It also describes some specific fishing preferences of a few long-time (and reasonably successful) members that you should get to know.
I’m often asked, in front of witnesses, about specifically where to go fishing around northern Colorado, and how to catch fish when you get there. I hesitate to respond with the absolute truth.
That truth is, our public waters tend to run on the small side, while our population gets steadily bigger. So I'm reluctant to share too many specifics about too many specific spots with too many people. Some annoying social media - places like FishBrain and YouTube - have also cropped up in recent years. They allow – even encourage – overly intimate information about favorite fishing holes. Trouble is, you’re not just sharing what you know with a quiet and loveably discreet guy like me. If you’re not careful, that secret bass spawning bed of yours will have has its own GPS tag on Google Earth.
So, what is an innocent newcomer to northern Colorado or the sport of angling supposed to do? The best thing I can recommend to new club members is: patiently invest time in identifying and getting acquainted with club members with shared interests. Tact, persistence, hygiene and a reasonably affable personality should get you started. As a group, we old timers do tend to be a bit cliquish. But hey, we all joined the club at some point to find folks with shared interests, and tend to hang with the ones we find.
Start by going to breakfast with us; just buy a cup of coffee if money is scarce. Thanks in part to Covid-19, we now have three distinct groups that meet each Friday – around 7 a.m. at the Perkins and El Cielo restaurants in in west Loveland; and about 9 a.m. for the Fort Collins crowd at the Breakfast Club on College. Also, show up a bit early for our 2 p.m. general meetings at Chilson Center on the third Tuesday of the month, and board meetings on the third Tuesday, when the B.S. is flowing freely. Point is, we are a mostly talkative, welcoming bunch, even if some of us (like me) are also grumpy and introverted. So introduce yourself (multiple times if you have to; we’re getting old) and take the initiative to start conversations.
Also, do not neglect one of your most valuable club resources: that membership list you should have gotten from Treasurer Barb Ding. You won’t find that useful list of names and contact information on this blog. These days you can’t, or at least shouldn’t, post name and contact information in lists in public places like this. You may find yourself targeted by Democrats, Republicans and other likely scammers. It has been suggested multiple times that the club should add individual member fishing preferences to our membership lists. I’m not sure why, but we’ve tried that several times in the past and not had much success. Most of us are just not that organized, I guess. So, prepare to be a bit persistent and deliberately extroverted.
Another time-tested method for getting the most out of this club is to consider ways to help actually run the club. Talk to Tom Miller or any of the board about volunteer skills we’re needing; often that's not much more than a willingness to help. Look over the volunteerism we do as a group, things like the annual June Loveland Kids Derby, summer trips with Girl Scouts, and the club’s Senior Fishing Derby for assisted living center residents. We come together to help others, and in the process get acquainted with each other.
To help get you started, here are some specific fishing preferences of a few long-time club members, some more likeable or competent than others. But hey, that’s the chance you run in trying to be part of a club.
First, bank fishermen. We’ve got many good ones in the club, some slowed by stuff like arthritis, and others who just prefer the conviviality of a shared shoreline. Club Treasurer Barb Ding and coots like Dennis Kelsey, Don Knudsen, Harvey Purman, Doug Money and Tom Boesch are a few of the craftier ones, and I think most are reasonably truthful. And don’t get me started about Rick Golz and that damned half a nightcrawler technique of his. At this point, I should also concede that Ken Kesterke kicked the rest of us’ butts at the annual club championship at Flatiron Reservoir in September, using some kinda spoon.
I’m not sure who to recommend as a catfishing legend, with the passing of old Harry Case. We do have a pretty strong cat population in the lakes and ponds around here, but for some reason club members just don't target them much, or at least don’t talk about them much. Wayne Baranczyk has caught several dandies from his belly boat. Kelsey has a sneaky trick for catfish and bass that involves live bait. And Jim Roode is a good guy to see about night fishing for channels from his float tube; fun but a bit intimidating for someone scared of the dark.
With open water trout, given our average age, not many of us are still agile enough to regularly wade a Rocky Mountain stream. But we’ve got some scary good folks fishing small lakes and ponds in pontoon boats and float tubes, with spinning gear or fly rods. John Gwinnup immediately comes to mind, along with Jim Clune and Walt and Cindy Graul, though I’ll also concede that others like past presidents Jim Visger and Dave Johnson are handier than me with their fly rods and hand-tied flies. Speaking of which, Roode and Gwinnup have been talking about getting back into offering an introductory fly-tying class. You might ask them about it.
Ice fishing. Around here that almost exclusively means fishing for trout. You can do worse than talking to Baranczyk or Kelsey, though I wish you’d had the opportunity to get on the ice with my now-lost but not forgotten buddies Norm Engelbrecht and Dave Harem. Those rascals would brave any weather, and out fish the rest of us every time. (Don’t bother bringing up the subject of ice with Dan Barker, though; he just mopes his way through the winter season and dredges up memories of his lone, disastrous January trip with us to the Laramie Lakes in Wyoming.)
For fishing from boats, hats off to Dan and Kathleen Barker and Dave Boyle for introducing the club's Boat Day, a great way to pair up boat owners with others needing a ride when the event resumes next spring. And Club Vice President Tom Miller has a proven, effective way to go after trout and walleye with lead line trolled behind his pontoon. Ask how he does it, and he'll talk your ear off.
Speaking of trolling, and whatever else some guys will do to chase and eat walleye, I’d start by badgering the Barkers and Boyle, and probably George May.
The above is by no means an all-inclusive list of possible references - just something to get conversations started. (Ask Kesterke what kind of spoon that was) I haven't until now even mentioned Ray Park, for instance, and he can consistently pull trout from Carter Lake in the dead of winter. The point is, find opportunities to just sit with us, or call us, and if you have to, take the initiative to steer the conversation away from hip replacements. In turn be generous in sharing what you have learned about this great sport of ours.
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