Loveland Fishing Club Blog

Usually we tell a veteran Loveland Fishing Club angler they kept their thumb on the scale measuring a fish (Not mentioning anyone by name here; just saying. In this case I think relative newcomer Ken Tarvin is being way too honest in his measurement of the big old Colorado Master Angler-class largemouth he caught last week.  "Big ol' Bass today," he reported after visiting a local pond. "Biggest I've ever caught. Measurement comes in at 18.75 which should qualify me for a Colorado Master Angler Award." It should also put Ken in the running for Loveland Fishing Club Angler of the year, the annual competition to see who can land the biggest fish based on Colorado Parks and Wildlife criteria for Master Angler. But your Editor keeps looking over a blowup of the tape measurement Ken did on the beast, and here's HIS semi-professional conclusion:       From the front, t he yellow tape measure extends past the lip. If you look closely at where the tip of the fis...

 The fishing was a bit slow but the conversations proceeded at a rapid pace Saturday, June 6 at the 2026 Loveland Fishing Club Senior Day, a joint project between the club and City of Loveland Open Lands & Trails.  About two dozen senior anglers were hosted by the club at Rivers Edge Open Space, along with some younger folks we welcomed as well, fishing during Colorado's annual Free Fishing Weekend.  Thanks again to all who volunteered, and to Debbie Eley, Resource Specialist and volunteer coordinator for Open Lands & Trails.  Click here for photos taken during the event:  2026 Senior Day

  As a well-aged fisherman, I am like a well-aged wine, one that gets a bit better with each passing season. (My fishing buddies think of me more as aging catfish bait.) But the net effect is the same: Like the infinite number of monkeys sitting in front of an infinite number of typewriters, occasionally my time in a belly boat pays off with something useful. In this case, I’ve found a quirky way to ambush some fine fish that have been safely hiding in shallowest water they can find.  I’m not conceited enough to think there aren’t other anglers experimenting with something similar. (On the other hand, at least one of those social media geniuses should have spilled these beans on Facebook or something before now.) Regardless, let me tell you about a new (to me at least) tactic to adapt gear meant for "forward facing sonar" and deep water to fish Colorado’s notoriously shallow, weed-choked shorelines. If you fish gravel ponds and other small bodies of water along the Front Rang...

  Ken Tarvin and a friend recently decided they had to  drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park and fish before the crowds and reservations came into effect. He shares this report: (Editor's note: ignore the byline at the top; I don't know how to delete it. Ken wrote this: ☺ We wanted to fish Moraine Park and so, with the morning sun shining, we made the drive up the canyon into Estes Park and headed to the Beaver Meadows entrance. There were few other vehicles and we were quickly in the park after showing our pass.  The plan was to fish the Big Thompson around the Fern Lake trailhead first. It was full however, so we backtracked to an open parking space down the road a bit. We both fish Tenkara, and so with rods and flies in hand we made our way to the river. The flows were good and the water was COLD at 46°F. The problem, as my friend put it, was it was a great day for fishermen. Bright and sunny with almost no clouds isn't a recipe for eager trout and it turned out th...

We couldn't have picked a nicer day for the 2026 Loveland Kids Fishing Derby: sunshine and eager anglers. More than 250 kids registered to fish, before they and their families lined the banks of the North Lake Park Duck Pond Saturday. An 11-year-old Elie won the top prize for biggest trout of the day, a handsome 13/12-inch rainbow. Two-year-old Zealand earned his new rod and tackle with a 7 1/2-incher. "Everyone stepped up," says Derby Chair Bob McHale. "My thanks to all the club's volunteers, and our teammates from Loveland Police, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Kiwanis and Colorado Youth Outdoors and Outdoor Buddies." For a slide show on the Derby, click this link: 2026 Kids Derby Photos below: Bob McHale and Zealand, and Elie with her winning catch.

  Fishing club friend and Front Range guide Brad Peterson passes this along:  BREAKING: Union Reservoir Boat Launch Advisory Water levels at Union Reservoir have dropped to the point where I am not recommending any boats over 18 feet attempt to launch, and dual axle trailer rigs should stay home. The ramp is extremely shallow right now — you’re looking at getting your vehicle nearly to the point of water in the cab just to get a boat in the water. On top of that, there are larger gravel and rocks near the loading area, and I’m already hearing reports of anglers hitting their prop while loading. That’s an expensive and frustrating end to a fishing trip. NoCo Fishing News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Upgrade to paid We’ve talked about the reality that we’re going to lose lakes to boating as the summer wears on — and I’m afraid Union is the first domino to fall. I was hoping we’d at leas...

 Cindy and Walt Graul had some legitimate concerns about Navajo Lake, where drought and fluctuating water had loused up fishing in recent seasons. But the Grauls were back on the lake last week anyway, and so were the fish - northern pike, smallmouth and a big old catfish. Meanwhile, Kurt Henkenius had a similarly good first of the season with a trout outing on the Red Feather lakes. Cindy Walt   Kurt

 Just when we'd given up on fishing Boyd Lake this drought-cursed summer, turns out we can launch our boats and Danny says the fishing there have been biting! So this month's Boat Day, first of the season, will be from about 7:30 a.m. to noon Thursday, May 21st. Meet near the boat ramp. All paid-up club members are welcome, but space is limited based on the number of available boats. If you've not registered as a boat captain or angler needing a ride, contact Danny Barker by text or call 970-302-8965.  The club provides some protein, chicken or somesuch, and everyone is asked to bring a dish to share, and whatever you want to drink. "Fishing has been really good," according to Danny (which usually means wife Kathleen has been catching some good walleye). "And yes, we can get boats in without having to walk in the water. "Boat Day is alive." 

  This free event for kids 15 and under will be 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 23rd at the North Lake Duck Pond at the corner of Taft and 29th Street. To qualify for free raffle drawing prizes and prizes for the largest and smallest trout caught, anglers just need to register at the pond before starting to fish. Registration and loaner fishing gear will be available on the east edge of the pond, and at the band pavilion on the southeast. For a second year, the Derby will be earlier than its traditional date of the first Saturday in June, when Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a free statewide day of fishing. The change was done at the recommendation of CPW biologists out of concern for warming water temperatures. Holding the derby on the 23rd provides a longer window after the derby to fish for trout not taken by the kids.  After the contest, everyone of all ages will be free to fish the pond (License required for older anglers). The derby is a collective effort of Loveland Po...

  From Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Note: The following only covers state-managed properties, but other spots like Horsetooth and Carter are also being impacted. We'll just have to fish while we wait and see what happens next.   DENVER — As Colorado navigates  drought conditions  and a historic low snowpack year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Northeast Region is evaluating boating recreation options for state parks and wildlife areas. Reservoirs often act as storage spaces for water used in agriculture, irrigation or municipal purposes, with aquatic recreation as a beneficial byproduct. Snowpack runoff typically begins to fill reservoirs during early spring and summer. Reservoir levels will decrease during the boating season through evaporation and withdrawals made by water rights holders.  In low snowpack years, such as 2025-2026, reservoir storage becomes a critical safety net to ensure continuity in agriculture or municipal operations, which may result i...

 For years now the Loveland Fishing Club and CYO have worked together to support youngsters, and CYO's Maverick Shoot, its biggest fundraiser of the year, will be Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2.  Volunteers from our club annually help make the trap shoot at Sylvan Dale Ranch it a big success.  Club member Bob McHale, who does a lot of volunteering at Colorado Youth Outdoors says this is "a big Big event that brings shooters from around the nation. As a volunteer, your duties are to help with the Shooting stations. We have six opportunities for individuals to volunteer on Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 8:00-5:00 and 20 on Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. To volunteer, contact Courtney Strouse at cstrouse@coloradoyo.org  You can also contact Clinton Parker at 1-805-705-8225. It's a fun day at a beautiful facility just west of Loveland off U.S. 34. And lunch is provided.      

This month's general meeting will be at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20. This month's social fishing day will begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 22. Location to be announced on Tuesday. We're all invited to Don Knudsen's 90th birthday party! The old boy will be celebrating the milestone between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. at Mahaffey Park on May 2.

On the left, Dragonfly and Sandpiper Ponds downloaded from Google Earth. On the right, same download, Bass Pond, enhanced using Gemini Nano Banana.    By Bill Prater  You’re likely right to be concerned about where technology is taking this world, anglers and hunters along with everyone else. But meanwhile, there’s a new software tool called “Gemini Nano Banana” that can wring the last useful details out of your Google Earth satellite images. I tried it out while using Gemini to restore old family photos, and found it also works magic on images taken from space.  Trust me on this. And just forget about some other futuristic electronics like “forward facing sonar,” which lets you spy on fish through a high definition camera, like a pervert in a public restroom. Not that those things don’t work – we all know artificial intelligence is changing the nature of tournament fishing, and helping even novices empty some lakes and ponds of their biggest fish. Too much...

First, a short history lesson.    The informal title of Loveland's Toughest Angler has been conferred intermittently for two decades now, with no particular rules or a democratic vote, just the whim of the club's editor: Me. To qualify, you just have to impress the editor by unexpectedly tossing aside common sense or, over time, consistently perform memorable fishing feats of skill or guts. For no particular reason beyond showing yourself and your buddies that you still can. And will. Before we get to this year's winner, let's do a quick review of the club's history of questionable behavior. I recall that the title was initially bestowed on former member Frank Zupanc, known for solitary, crazy angling adventures in a notoriously leaky belly boat. Those feats were made even more adventurous and memorable by that broken neck of his. And don't forget Jim Clune, whose reputation for questionable good sense was cemented by his 2013 risky black powder moose hunt with ...

So it's early in the season, and so maybe this 17 1/2-inch largemouth isn't the biggest fish you'll see this year. But it's bigger than anything else turned in to Bob McHale so far in 2026. So the only way to tone down my rhetoric is to get your butts on the water and fish. The contest runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, with the winner being the largest fish of any species recognized by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, based on percent of Master Angler criteria. At  17.5 inches , this fat mama was approximately 97.22% of the way to the minimum requirement. (A less truthful angler might have rounded it off to 100 percent) To move ahead of me in the Angler of the Year contest, you just have the come up with a carp that is at least 97 and a quarter! Remember, to be eligible, your fish must be taken from Colorado waters where all club members could potentially fish. So Jim Barbarok can pound sand when he shows off that giant catfish from his China trip. Get a photograph of your ent...

Baffling Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists and fellow Loveland Fishing Club members, John Gwinnup boated an invasive Northern Snakehead fish Monday from Horsetooth Reservoir. It was the first known sighting of the slimy predator west of the Missisippi River. The ravenous fish's range has expanded alarmingly since being discovered in the Florida Everglades in the 1990s, devastating native species and startling unprepared paddleboarders. Gwinnup, a founding member of the club and our Member at Large, injured his shoulder while landing the beast in the upper reaches of Satanka Cover using a 3-inch Berkley Gulp! Emerald Shiner minnow. He also incurred cuts to his right arm and thumb (see below). Aided by fishing buddy Pat Mikulak, John had the nearly severed digit sewn back in place at a Fort Collins Urgent Care clinic. Surgery on his shoulder is set for April 16. The two anglers were able to rejoin other club float tube members later in the afternoon; however high winds forced an...