Loveland Fishing Club Blog

  When the mud had settled Tuesday, Bob McHale wound up the club's 2023 Derby Champion at Flatiron Reservoir, with a string of four trout measuring 49 inches. Wayne Baranczyk was second, just behind with 46 3/4".  Bob's name will be forever enshrined on the derby trophy, and he'll earn $50 to buy more bait. Wayne takes home a $25 prize. The fishing got better Tuesday as the day wore on, as water slowly refilled the reservoir. It was a great day on the water, organized by Vicki Tesar, followed by a  banquet of leftover but still nutritious and tasty hotdogs from the Senior Derby. To view a few more photos of the event, go to the club blog, http://lovelandfishingclub.blogspot.com. To see more photos of the derby, that you can also print and download, click the following link to the Google Photo Album:   https://photos.app.goo.gl/2Fv2N72dwKGmNA418 Bob McHale, left, with Wayne Baranczyk Dennis Kelsey, with one of the prettiest views in northern Colorado

Flatiron Reservoir is the new home to more than 3,300 freshly stocked rainbow trout, promising strong competition at this year's annual contest to determine who's our finest angler. The event will run from 9 a.m. to noon at the reservoir, site of the club's Senior Derby last week, followed by a celebratory picnic. Okay, fishing kinda sucked at the club's Senior Derby. But Derby Chair Vicki Tesar says the lake never received its promised fall stocking until this week. Fishing next week should be spectacular, or at least darned good.. The contest has been a club tradition since 2007, and last year's winner was Ken Kesterke, who earned his name on the club's traveling trophy plus $50. Second place went to Dennis Kelsey, who took home $25 along with bragging rights. There is no entry fee, but we'll be expected to measure and witness each other's catches. If possible, bring a tape measure, a notecard or two, and a pencil. There is an admission fee to the Lari...

 Vicki Tesar this month set up what proved to be a popular visit to the Bellvue-Watson Colorado Parks and Wildlife hatcheries near LaPorte. Didn't make it, but interested? Contact Vicki by phone or e-mail. If there's sufficient interest she'll set up a date next month.  The hatcheries are among 19 in the state that breed, hatch, rear and stock more than 90 million fish each year.    The Bellvue-Watson Hatchery & Rearing Unit is a cold-water facility that raises rainbow trout, rainbow/cuttrhroat hybridgs, cutthroats, splake and brown trout. Watson raises about 300,000 catchable trout each year and Bellvue annually raises about 1.5 million sub-catchable trout. 

 This from Colorado Parks and Wildlife:  Rachael Gonzales Northwest Region Public Information Officer 970-773-8587 /  rachael.gonzales@state.co.us Twitter: @CPW_NW CPW announces discovery of Rusty Crayfish in Lake Granby   GRAND LAKE, Colo. -  Colorado Parks and Wildlife announces the discovery of rusty crayfish in Lake Granby, south of Grand Lake, Colorado.   Multiple crayfish were found at Lake Granby during routine Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) sampling by CPW’s ANS Sampling and Monitoring team near Sunset Point campground, on Aug. 17. Samples were collected by the tam, preliminary species identification was performed at CPW’s ANS laboratory and suspect specimens were sent to Pisces Molecular in Boulder for genetics testing, where the samples were confirmed to be rusty crayfish on Aug. 31.  CPW’s ANS Sampling and Monitoring team and area aquatic biologists set multiple crayfish traps around Lake Granby and other waters in close proximity to de...

 

 Here's a link to a Google Photos album of photos by Rick Golz at Wednesday's Loveland Fishing Club Senior Derby:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/82aBuQoSPr9hTHFt6

  Here are photos from Wednesday's visit to Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Bellvue-Watson hatcheries near LaPorte. Club members were guests of the hatchery staff who stock the trout used for the club's Senior Fishing Derby and Loveland Kids Derby, as well as giving us some tasty fish to catch. The hatcheries are among 19 in the state that breed, hatch, rear and stock more than 90 million fish each year.    The Bellvue-Watson Hatchery & Rearing Unit is a cold-water facility that raises rainbow trout, rainbow/cuttrhroat hybridgs, cutthroats, splake and brown trout. Watson raises about 300,000 catchable trout each year, while Bellvue annually raises about 1.5 million sub-catchable trout. No good field trip to the hatchery would be complete  without a celebratory lunch at nearby Vern's. Photos by Rick Golz  

  The derby will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13th at Flatiron Reservoir, a Larimer County Open Space property. Volunteers, please be there by around 8. ( If you’re helping with setup, be there much earlier.) Don’t worry if you ‘re able to show up without a specific assigned task; there’ll be plenty to do to make this another memorable occasion for our older fishing friends.     This is one of the club's great traditions, and fun for all. So come on out.   The club also works with Colorado Parks and Wildlife taking advantage of their free facility fishing license for participants, and the Division also stocks the lake in advance with trout. We also work with Larimer County to arrange free parking for the event.     Chilson Senior Center joins us in this event, and all seniors 65 and over are welcome and may sign up at Chilson. But the basic goal is to provide a day of fishing for folks  who find themselves physically unable to s...

It is time for members of the Loveland Fishing Club to get together and catch some trout. And a good spot for just about everyone in the club is Bellaire Lake, one of the U.S. Forest Service lakes at Red Feather about an hour northwest of Fort Collins. The plan is to meet at the lake around 8 a.m. and fish until we're hungry. Bring along a lunch.  Carpooling is encouraged; for most Lovelanders, a good meeting place is Sunset Vista Natural Area parking lot at the junction of North Taft and 57th Street.  If you're unfamiliar with this little lake, you're in for a treat. It's only about 10 acres, recently stocked with trout, generally clear and accessible -easily fishable by a path all the way around. It's just a few miles from the more well-known Dowdy and West Lakes, but a bit more hidden and less crowded. There is a close-in spot to launch a float tube or kayak a short walk from the parking lot, restrooms and shaded picnic tables. And there's a paved path down t...

  FYI,  we have removed the  "Follow.it"  gadget from the Loveland Fishing Club blog, which has been sending members a link to the blog whenever something new is posted. Frankly, I suspect we all found it a bit annoying. In exchange for sending us the headline of a story, it would add a bunch of colorful advertising, none of which I was able to review and approve in advance.  In its place, we will now simply send an e-mail with the complete story or a link to a new blog posting. These will go only to  our list of currently paid-up members . If you're currently active, you needn't do anything differently. Anyone else with an interest in club activities can still read the blog directly by going to the blog:  http://lovelandfishingclub. blogspot.com   (You can renew your annual membership through acting Treasurer Tom Miller,  ranger1936@icloud.com ; 970-669-3583.  So unless your membership has lapsed, whenever something new i...

News release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.  Kara Van Hoose Northeast Region Public Information Officer 303-829-7143 /  kara.vanhoose@state.co.us CPW, volunteers help restore rainbow trout population in Cameron Peak fire area Rainbow trout fingerlings are transferred into a bucket to be released into the Poudre River Aug 31, 2023 CPW, volunteers help restore rainbow trout population in Cameron Peak fire area in Larimer County POUDRE CANYON, Colo – Colorado Parks and Wildlife is restoring trout populations devastated by the Cameron Peak fire and subsequent debris flows by stocking more than 130,000 fingerlings into the Poudre River. CPW aquatic biologists and volunteers from Rocky Mountain Flycasters Trout Unlimited released the two-inch trout across a 25-mile stretch of the Poudre on Aug. 23. In 2020, the Cameron Peak fire burned more than 200,000 acres in northern Colorado and ripped through the Poudre Canyon. With much of the landscape stripped of vegetation, a major debr...