Time for an update of, "Loveland's toughest angler!"

It has been a while now since the Loveland Fishing Club decided whom among us is No. 1 in the sheer ability to try something questionable involving our physical, mental or marital well being.  This is the call for nominations for 2008 Loveland's Toughest Angler.  Send your suggestions to Bill.

Over the years, guys and gals, we have had some doozies.  I am reminded of long-time club member Frank Zupanc, dazzling us with one crazy adventure after another -- including a legendary, could-have-been-tragic-but-wasn't spill into Boyd Lake and numerous other solitary float tube adventures, despite that broken back thing of his.  And of course we have to bring up the late Dave Harem, whom I met for the first time as he emerged from Boyd Lake one hot summer weekend.  The jet skis and wake boats buzzed around him like hornets as he took off his flippers fresh from maneuvering his belly boat from the Marina Inlet to the far east bank and back.  I can't recall what he caught, but he going after mid-day walleye.

There's also Jim Clune, and that memorable, non-angling adventure in 2013 with Norm Engelbrecht and Jim Roode, ignoring Jim's all-too-recent heart attack, and the worst flooding in northern Colorado history, to fight their way up flooded canyon roads for a black powder moose hunting trip.  (I also recall loyal wife Jean telling me, "Well, it is really hard to get a moose tag.")

And who could forget the frozen dozen among us who braved minus 23 temperatures, fluctuating water levels and 25 mph winds, to unsuccessfully ice fish Lake Grandby?

Now that I think on it, that trip included two female charter members of the club, Dottie Bethel and Shirley Smilley,  Dottie always a bit whiny about the cold but Shirley tough as nails and stoic in that howling blizzard.  And how about Shirley on that Glen Elder, Kansas fishing trip, freshly released from a three-month West Coast hospital stay?  But for the most part, the members we sometimes call "toughest" have been males of our outfit, possibly confirming that old cliche', "It's amazing how many boys make it to adulthood."

Anyway, with spring still far away and local ice getting rotten, it is time to give ourselves something new to discuss over breakfast.  Female nominees are especially welcome, but we seek any and all recent evidence of club members' questionable judgment.

We even have a slogan for all this, submitted in casual conversation by Dave on that fateful 2004 Lake Grandby outing:  "You know, I think we do things like this to remind ourselves we still can."

Dang, I miss that dude.

So, whatcha been up to lately?  You can tell us about it over breakfast Friday.  Or if involves someone else, you can whisper it in my ear.