Bass Nation seeking volunteers at Boyd

 FYI, Dan Swanson has posted the following on his Facebook page. Colorado Bass Nation is seeking volunteers (20 or more) this weekend to install habitat structures at Boyd Lake State Park in Loveland, CO. Volunteers need not be members. I believe your park pass for the day is being comped. We'll meet at 10:00am (location to follow). Please bring a screw gun (if you have one), work gloves, sunscreen and wear work clothes. Questions? Contact George Mauries, 303-819-1171, or Bill Wilson with Centennial Bass. 

Boyd Habitat Project

Saturday Sept 18th

10:00 am - 

Bill Wilson

Centennial Bass Club of Northern Colorado

bassinbill@gmail.com

970-218-2895

 Long stretches of the Yampa and Colorado rivers are among the streams currently closed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife as the result of this lingering heat and drought. In its weekly fishing report, the agency noted the CPW director may " authorize emergency closure of fishing waters in the state when it is determined that environmental conditions in these waters are such that fishing could result in unacceptable levels of fish mortality. Additionally, CPW may initiate a voluntary fishing closure where the agency asks anglers to find alternative places to fish until conditions improve. When such determination has been made, public notice will be given, including posting at the relevant water. 

The criteria for any potential action may include: 

• Daily maximum water temperatures > 71°F 
• Stream flows ≤ 50% of the daily average flow 
• Fish condition visibly deteriorating 
• Daily dissolved oxygen < 6 parts per million 
• Natural or man-caused environmental event has occurred

Here's a link to the list of voluntary and mandatory closures, subject to change: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vTCyNM4dgkEYGLpKTmcZnKjmveF1uSQeUnH0X6uaykYai3o4Z4dPql5nv4NRhKNIc5HQ7s5HAxr86hI/pub

Dennis has a secret technique for big largemouth

 Darned if we're going to tell you about it here, though; you'll just have to ask Dennis Kelsey how he landed this fat 18-inch largemouth on a Loveland area pond on Aug. 24.

I'll give you a hint:  no, ask him yourself. Or maybe Don Knudsen, who watched the fight and then took this photo.

You can call me “Bluegill Bill”

 Those who know me well know this: For the 17 years or so I’ve been with the Loveland Fishing Club, I have been in dogged, some say mindless, pursuit of a Colorado Master Angler bluegill. They are gorgeous, tough little devils, but don’t grow well here in the land of fluctuating water levels and near-total lack of hard cover. Which perhaps explains why I and a few other lonely missionaries keep chasing a very few big ones, while others mindlessly pursue skinny but tastier walleye.

My version of Don Quixote ended abruptly Wednesday morning on an unnamed, snake- and mosquito-infested pond not too far from Loveland. That’s when I (and my secret Gulp minnow) battled and subdued an obese, 10 ½ inch male that had been naively feasting on a ball of bait fish. That’s a full 5 percent over the minimum to qualify for a Colorado Master Angler patch for the species.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the pond, Wayne B muttered said something about

catching a couple 4- or 5-pound largemouths that had been feasting on another school of minnows.

All I can say about that is, his float tube was pretty far away. All I can say for certain is, there were a couple of greenish looking fish flopping around in his landing net.  I still haven’t seen any photos. But here’s mine:

Anchor worm infestation killing Dowdy, West Lake fish

By COLORADO PARKS & WILDLIFE | September 1, 2021 at 8:16 a.m.

RED FEATHER LAKES, Colo. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials at its aquatic animal health laboratory have identified an anchor worm infestation as the cause of dead and dying fish at West and Dowdy lakes in western Larimer County.

Anchor worm is a parasite that can cause severe inflammation resulting in open bleeding sores on fish. Adult females are permanently fixed to a fish, resulting in the observed sores. It can lead to stress, osmotic imbalance and to secondary infection. The free swimming immature stages of the anchor worm can feed on gill tissue, causing considerable damage that can impact respiration and osmoregulation, in addition to being an irritant.

Anchor worms are not new to both West Lake and neighboring Dowdy Lake. They can become problematic to the fish populations every several years according to CPW Area Wildlife Manager Jason Surface.

“We want anglers to be aware of this situation in these two lakes,” Surface said. “These could be spread around if anglers are not aware of that potential, and they should consider decontaminating waders and other equipment when traveling from these waters to other locations. People can eat the fish after removing the worms and cooking the fish.”

Anglers should look for the parasites green, red or white in color attached to the body or fins of the fish and in the gills. CPW officials noticed them on both trout and suckers.

All remaining stockings at West Lake have been cancelled for the season.

“It is reasonable to conclude such an infestation of anchor worm alone is capable of causing the observed morbidity and mortality,” said John Drennan, State Fish Pathologist for CPW.

CPW is working through its process to determine the best options to halt any spread of the anchor worms and how to best recover the fisheries.

Crowded conditions favor the transmission of the parasite, and those two lakes have high densities of fish. The fishery at West lake consists of brook trout, brown trout, rainbow trout and suckers while Dowdy Lake has the same species composition in addition to cutbows.

“Slow-moving water also favors infestations and those places have minimal flow,” Drennan said. “If you get rid of the anchor worm, you don’t have any problem unless it gets introduced again.”

Dowdy and West Lake are stocked annually with both catchable (~10 inches) and sub-catchable (5-7 inch fish). The lakes, sitting above 8,000 feet in Red Feather Lakes, receive high angling pressure year-round.

Dowdy Lake State Wildlife Area has a campground and waterfowl hunting is also permitted in-season. The West Lake State Wildlife Area also has a campground, but recreational activities are limited to angling and camping. Boating is prohibited at West Lake SWA except for float tubes or craft propelled by hand, wind or electric motor.