Loveland Fishing Club Blog

About two dozen of Loveland's finest anglers had a productive day of catch-and-release fishing at Swift Ponds Thursday, May 16, courtesy of our friends with Colorado Youth Outdoors. Most of the bass caught weren't great, but they were plentiful, and some handsome bluegill went for an artificial snack. CYO will also be joining the club for the June 1 Loveland Kids Fishing Derby, and will be our host again in July for the annual Girl Scouts outing at Swift. Last catch of the day.  Merle Gordon kept pestering this 17 1/4" smallmouth until  it took a bite of his  grub on  his last cast of the afternoon.  

If you have a few hours to spare on a Saturday morning this summer, consider helping Colorado Parks and Wildlife with a fishing clinic for young campers. Hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (meet at the Boyd Lake Visitors Center at 8:30 a.m.) Fishing gear will be provided; participants must be 18 or younger and accompanied by an adult.  They'd like two or three club members to help the team lead. Here are the dates: May 25 June 8 (a Jax-sponsored Boat Day at the lake) June 22 July 3 Sunday, July 25, Adventure Day Camp Aug. 31

"Here's the plan," said Jim Roode:  We wait until ice out at Delaney Buttes, and fish from the bank into the open water.  Big fish." All of us had Jim's invitation to go to the lake north of Walden, but only Charlie Higgs took him up on the offer.  "You missed a good one," Jim said, upon his return. "That cut bow (see below) was 23" and I also returned a bigger brown that took over 5 minutes to land on 2lb test line. The fish was exhausted and needed to be returned immediately . He was a couple of inches longer measured next to the rod and twice as heavy as that cutbow. I caught 5 more from 10 to 18" in two half days of fishing and Charlie caught more than twice that many. It was a good trip."

DENVER - Whether you’re a seasoned angler or you’ve never picked up a rod, finding a place to fish in Colorado has never been easier! Colorado Parks and Wildlife has launched several new tools for anglers ready to enjoy everything Colorado fishing has to offer.  The Colorado Fishing Atlas , the latest interactive mapping tool offered by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, allows users to search for fishing opportunities by species, specific interest or proximity to your home or destination. Use the simple map interface to locate and view recommended opportunities for the family, remote fly fishing or ice fishing. Additional information such as handicap accessible fishing access, stocked waters, boat ramps, special fishing regulations, stream gauges, license agents and Gold Medal waters is included overlaid on top of Bing™ street maps, USGS topographic maps or high-resolution color aerial photography. The Colorado Fishing Atlas also includes a printable Fishing Resource Report...

The May 3 "M averick Sporting Clays Shoot," CYO's annual fund-raiser at Sylvan Ranch, supported by Loveland Fishing Club volunteers for years, is three weeks away and they need some help with Sta tion Masters and Hosts and other positions.   The Maverick Shoot is attended by former pro athletes, local business leaders and shooting sports professionals so you never know who you may meet!   Sign up at Tuesday's General Meeting at Chilsen.  For more information, e-mail or call Brad Wright , 970-663-0800, and identify yourself as a club member.  

Using Google Earth to catch more fish!    Okay, some of you fish more in a week than I do in a month. And the fish I pulled out of the ice this winter all came from my freezer.  But I’ll bet I AM generally cleverer than most of the club when it comes to scouting and fishing new water.  And I’ll show you how and why:  by taking advantage of new internet technology – especially Google Earth, Bing Maps, another web tool called Angling Technologies that costs a little, and some related new Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife software.

We've no doubt had a setback with the past week's snow and icy cold weather, but hey, it's warming up some and the bass should be starting to get active.  I'll be looking for them with a lipless crank bait, and maybe a football jig, but you should also be testing the water with a drop shot.  For the water around here, particular the gravel ponds that warm up first, it's a good technique right on through the spawn.  Not real complicated, just requires you to learn to tie a Palomar knot, and exercise a little patience and imagination. Having said that, you might want to look over this article on the Tackle Warehouse website; they're trying to sell you stuff, but it's a pretty non-commercial discussion of how to go about dropping your worm right where you think they're hiding.  Bill   http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/guides/dropshot.html