On October 29, on his final fishing trip of 2021, Club Member Charlie Higgs caught and released back into Dragonfly Pond a 34-inch channel catfish, biggest of his fishing life.
The beast qualified for a Colorado Master Angler award, and Charlie is the Loveland Fishing Club’s 2021 Angler of the Year.
Charlie’s big cat fell victim to a nightcrawler threaded onto a bare hook on 6-pound test line, A usually reliable witness, friend Rick Golz, says the fish fought off the inevitable for more than 20 minutes before Charlie landed him on the dock.
The long-time club treasurer relocated to Fort Collins in 2010 after a career with Wisconsin Natural Resources. This was not his first club title. In March 2019 he was proclaimed “LFC’s Toughest Angler,” partly in acknowledgement of his fortitude and great attitude during a decade-long battle with multiple myeloma.
For example, in April 2013, not long after his myeloma started getting worse, Charlie waded into a frigid prairie lake near Walden, seeking big ice-out rainbows, cutbows and browns. He found them all that day.
“There we were,” he recalled, “with 40 or 50 feet of open water between the shore and ice cap. The action was fast and furious. I got one particularly large brown up into shallow water, but he got off. Even though one boot got stuck in the mud and I stepped in the icy water, I was hooked on ice-out fishing right then.”
You can read the entire article about that award by clicking here.
Of all the tough-minded, great anglers we’ve come to know and admire in this club, Charlie Higgs’ name goes right to the top. Way to go, Charlie.
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