Who is Loveland's Toughest Angler?

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 Jim Roode and Norm Engelbrecht. That occurred just two days after the Great Flood washed away everything but the boys' camper, further hampered by Jim C's recent hip replacement and that troublesome heart attack. (I still fondly recall Clune's wife Jean telling me, in Jim's defense: "Well, a moose permit is awfully hard to come by." 
• There was also the late Dave Harem, legendary in part because of a solitary archery elk hunt in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, not to mention a separate event involving the memorable removal of an ice fly from his tongue on frozen Lake Antero. (The elk trip came just weeks before Dave's badly needed hip replacement surgery. (You may spot a recurring theme here). Dave's solo hunt earned extra points for guts after he limped through the woods pursued by an enraged mother bear separated from her cub.
• There was also Shirley Smillie, whose memories always bring a smile. Right after celebrating her 80th birthday, Shirley turned out for the club's legendary, minus-23 degree ice fishing trip to Lake Grandby. She followed that a few years later by refusing to miss our summer catfishing trip to Kansas, a few weeks after a month-long hospital stay of hers for complicated heart conditions. Which ranked up there with Shirley and Jim Clune (there he is again) hauling in 45- or 50-pound spoonbill catfish on an early spring outing to eastern Oklahoma.  
• No one can forget the credentials of our most recent honoree, the late Charlie Higgs, who stoically spent a decade battling for multiple myeloma, one of the leukemia/lymphoma group of incurable kidney cancers. Charlie was declared the Club's Toughest in 2019. Then in 2022 Charlie was declared "Angler of the Year" after landing a 34-inch channel catfish from the handicap dock on Dragonfly Pond. (It turned out to be both the biggest catfish of Charlie's fishing life, and his last.

It's been awhile. And now: the 2026 honoree

None of the above questionable feats should distract admiration from this year's honoree: grizzled, 93-year-old Dennis Kelsey. A club member for two decades, he's known for regularly fishing in all seasons in all kinds of weather, even ice fishing while keeping his bait dry in his all-terrain walker. While we don't track most club members' ages, Dennis is believed to be our very oldest member. And one of the best. Most recently he finished finishing second in the annual Angler of the Year competition. 

If you want to learn how to catch largemouth, you can do worse than watching Dennis and buddy Don Knudsen on one of the handicap docks at River's Edge Natural Area. Neither is someone you'd want to follow around a lake.