Lately even when it's pouring rain with occasional hail, the fishing's around here has reportedly been downright scary good. So if you haven't signed up yet, get going.
Lately even when it's pouring rain with occasional hail, the fishing's around here has reportedly been downright scary good. So if you haven't signed up yet, get going.
Funeral services for Richard M. "Fish Head" Hunsaker, 89, one of the club's founding members, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 14, at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 1730 W. 12th St. A reception will follow in St. John's Hall.
Burial for Fish Head, who died last year in Ogden, Utah and was cremated, will be at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver. (Fish Head was known for his love of fishing and infamous hat.)
Dick graduated from South High School in Salt Lake City. Dick met the love of his life, Claudia, while they were attending the University of Utah, where he received his Bachelor’s degree. Claudia preceded him in death. She and Dick were married June 13, 1956 in Salt Lake City, Utah while Dick was serving an active duty tour for the United States Army. Their journeys took them through Utah, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, eventually retiring in Loveland, Colorado.
During his career he had many varied interests to include Law Enforcement in multiple states, Real Estate, Phillips 66, and retiring from Marion Merrell Dow Company in 1994.
For Dick's complete obituary, click here.
You can view, copy and share photos from this Google Photo Album; we plan to add additional photos over the next few days.
Great day of Fishing at the 2025 Kids Derby
The first-time anglers ruled the day Saturday at the North Lake Duck Pond, with a 4-year-old and 3-year old capturing prizes for biggest and smallest trout. But everyone seemed to be hauling in fish on a perfect sunny day.
Herons and cormorants gathered on the Duck Pond island and flew overhead as hundreds of youngsters crowded the banks and kept volunteers from Colorado Youth Outdoors and Outdoor Buddies busy cleaning and cooking trout donated to the event by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Loveland Fishing Club kept busy registering anglers, handing out fishing gear and bait and later measuring their catches and presenting fishing gear prizes at the free raffle on the half hour.
Winner of the fishing pole and tackle box for largest catch of the day was 3-year-old Weston Pharris of Loveland with a whopping 14-inch rainbow. Winner of the prize for smallest trout of the day was 4-year-old Lilah of Loveland.
![]() |
Weston Pharris, 3 |
![]() |
Lilah, 4 |
Barring a little late spring rain or snow, we should be out fishing! And the rest of the club needs to see some fish pictures. So let's have them! Got any favorites from the distant past? Let's see those too. You can reply to this note or e-mail to billjohnp@gmail.com.
I’m not one to either endorse or talk ugly about anyone's fishing equipment. But I’ve got to tell someone about the remarkable experience I had this week with the lightest gear I can lay hands on, especially my new 7’ ultralight Fenwick HMG Trout & Panfish rod. And I want to tell everyone I know to forget that old cliche’ about it taking a big lure to catch a big fish.
So there I was, peacefully fishing a small Northern Colorado pond from a belly boat with that 4.8-ounce Fenwick rod, a 1000 series Daiwa reel spooled with 4-pound Nanofil braid and a fluorocarbon leader, tied to a barbless 1/32-ounce Mule Fishing mushroom head jig. Just hoping for a nice bass or bluegill, with no warning I found myself confronted by the biggest carp I’d ever seen: 34-inches long, just a tad under the Colorado state record.
That bruiser and I battled it out for well over half an hour, likely longer. At least I thought of it as a battle; the fish seemed indifferent as it tugged me around and around that pond in a Colorado equivalent of a “Nantucket Sleigh Ride.” Nonstop, the rod was bent like a pretzel and yanked from side to side. From the outset, I was pretty sure I was about to test the replacement warranty on that Fenwick.
Anyway, though it was terrifying to see that $160 rod being put to such an ultimate test, the sweet little thing just wouldn’t break. When part of the fish was finally crammed into my net, I was exhausted, my right wrist was bruised and sprained, but the carp and the Fenwick were unharmed.
Over seven-plus decades of fishing, I’ve managed to torture and snap my share of rods: tried to pull a jig free from an overhead tree, mishandled more than one rod while landing a fish, dropped a couple over the side of my belly boat, even had the wife slam a trunk lid on three rod tips all at once. Also had a kinda costly, heavier rod snapped by a much smaller carp a decade or so back.
Anyway, I’m sold on that ultralight rod and ultra finesse fishing, and thinking I really should add that little Fenwick one-piece 5-footer to my arsenal. Father's Day is coming.
Please join Pat Mikulak at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Fairgrounds Park Pavilion to help get our loaner poles ready for the May 17th Kids Derby. Pat will have all we need to get the stuff ready for the Derby at North Lake Duck Park.
Okay gang, we've messed around and flat missed first ice out of 2025, but hungry fish still await. North Park Anglers in Walden today reported the following:
Okay, here are the last two Loveland Fishing Club comments on Thursday's report from Doug Money on he, Ken Kesterke and Bill Rottman lip-hooking and landing that long dead walleye:
Former Club President Doug Money swears this is what happened recently out in the middle of Boyd Lake– and why would he lie about something like this?
It seems Doug, Club Treasurer Ken Kesterke (past winner of the club’s annual championship) and Jim Rottman were blissfully trolling along when … SUDDENLY … their bait was attacked by a sizable – but long dead – walleye.
“Here she is hooked right in the mouth,” Doug notes while sharing the photographic evidence below. There’s no obvious category of Colorado Master Angler award that qualifies the fish for the club’s annual Big Fish contest. And Doug concedes “it was Ken who gets the credit for reeling in this trophy fish. I netted it.”
Doug adds that the phantom strike occurred on a purple diver running 15 feet down in 30 feet of water. How the hook got in its mouth we will never know.”
If you have an opinion and choose to speculate, drop me a note. Bill