Loveland Fishing Club Blog

Tom Miller recorded temperatures down to 40 feet Thursday, finding a surface temp at 54.3, slowly falling to 49.5 degrees near the bottom. His trout had been feeding on plankton.

Jim Roode is arranging for the annual Delaney Buttes ice-out trip for next Wednesday or Thursday, weather permitting. Contact him at jimroode@yahoo.com if you're interested in one of the best big fish opportunities of the year. Bill and Walt couldn't wait another week, and drove over Wednesday morning to find every available body of water pretty much capped with ice. (They did land 3 decent rainbows after the only available puddle was vacated by other anglers in the afternoon, then drove on home to warm beds and understanding wives.) Jim's pretty sure the lakes will break open next week, and we're pretty sure he's right. If not, hey, that's ice-out fishing... If you go, might want to bring a sledge hammer or at least an ice pick. Bill borrowed Walt's wading staff to try to wedge open a channel to open water at Lake Cowdrey, but couldn't quite break through. Photos by Walt Graal.

By Bill Prater Reprinted from Fish Explorer Let me begin by admitting this is not really an “all you need to know” introduction to the gentle craft of fishing from an inflatable. Because frankly, the rest of the angling community including me prefers watching first-time tubers learn by doing. So rather than offer newbies useful, practical advice, we view someone else's maiden voyage as an opportunity to reminisce about our own first awkward experiences with things like backing into the water in fins, learning about the effect of Colorado winds on floating objects, and realizing that cold water can bring on a sudden, irresistible urge to pee. So resign yourself to learn by doing, and be willing to let others watch. Trust me, embarrassment aside, you will want to share that initial tubing experience with buddies. They may giggle, but they SHOULD also be there to help, eventually. Besides, if you want a how-to tutorial, just Google “float tube fishing,” scroll and scroll past all...

Tom Miller has been sitting around the house thinking, always a dangerous time, and came up with this suggested slogan for the Loveland Fishing Club:    "Fishing is folk medicine of the first water.       You feel better when your line is wet..." I think it might be dirty, but you be the judge...

A small contingent of club members led by Charlie Higgs has been meeting with Fort Collins Natural Areas staff, Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologist Kyle Battge and Fish Explorer's Matt Snider to enhance fishing in the city's natural areas. This Wednesday April 24 we're going to begin an assessment of two ponds in the River Bend Natural Area - that is, we're going to see if we can catch some fish there! Let's meet at 10 a.m. in the parking lot on northwest corner of River Bend. It's just east of the Timberline/East Lincoln intersection. See map below. Should be warm water fishing, hoping for bass, bluegill, crappie and maybe catfish. If all works as planned, we'll be working on ways to enhance the ponds to make them a more quality fishery. Questions? Contact Charlie at  achiggs4162@comcast.net

Going to be gorgeous Friday. Bring your pole to breakfast and we'll decide on where to gofrom there. We could head for Rivers Edge, Lon Hagler, Carter, Flatiron, Pinewood.

Start getting your fish stories together for 2019 Angler of the Year. Bill for years has been in hot pursuit of a bluegill that would qualify for Colorado Master Angler. But he abruptly switched tactics on Tuesday after battling this 8 1/2 inch pumpkinseed at the Rivers Edge Bass Pond, a full half-inch beyond the minimum for Master Angler. Hey, they're rare here in Colorado, and it ain't his fault they don't grow to walleye size...Or that they're suckers for a tasty one-inch Gulp minnow...

https://www.greeleytribune.com/news/5-spots-in-greeley-windsor-and-beyond-to-wet-a-fishing-line-after-work/

So Wayne and Bill headed to Douglas Reservoir on Tuesday. Nice day, threatened high winds stayed pretty much at bay,and a few fish cooperated. Wayne caught a couple nice walleye anyway, including this fat 18 incher.

C LOVELAND, Colo. – Attached you will find a joint press release between Reclamation, Northern Water, and Larimer County regarding new gates at Horsetooth Reservoir and Carter Lake.    Area resource managers have installed a new gate system at Horsetooth Reservoir to allow boaters to exit the water after scheduled boat ramp hours. The gate system is located at the South Bay day use area and ramp at Horsetooth Reservoir. Gates will be closed and locked when boating hours end for the day to prevent vehicles from entering the area. An exit lane protected with spike strips will remain open after hours, allowing vehicles to exit the South Bay area but prevent vehicles from entering it. This system will allow boaters to remain on and get off the water at the South Bay boat ramp outside of regular hours of operation. A similar system will be installed at the North Pines boat ramp at Carter Lake by April 15. The North Pines ramp has not yet opened for the boating sea...

Following is a link to photos of various Loveland Fishing Club activities taken over the past decade.  https://photos.app.goo. gl/4m9Xdf7Zm2KiEko5A You should be able to open and copy them for your own use. If you have any problems, let Bill know, billjohnp@mail.com .

Okay, optional. But you really should join us about 9 a.m. Friday at Lon Hagler, somewhere in the vicinity of the boat ramps. Going to be a warm spring day, and if you can’t find a way to catch a fish, Tom will give you one. Questions or complaints? Need to borrow a worm? We can talk about it over breakfast.