If it swims, try to catch it!

 

Here is the semi-official motto of the Loveland Fishing Club, as posted on the LFC blog masthead:

“We fish by boat, by float tube, from the bank and in the stream waving a fly rod. Some of us give our catch a little hello and goodbye kiss and set them free. Others can show you how to fry, bake, pickle, smoke or make sushi out of just about everything that swims.”

For years, that motto was even simpler: “If it swims, someone in the Loveland Fishing Club will be trying to catch it.” That goal is also at the heart of a brand-new competition – the “LFC Most Species of Fish Contest.”

Details will come. We’re still arguing over a few things, like, should we lump some species together, for club members who can’t tell the difference between a bluegill and a green sunfish? I’ll bet even legendary club founder Tom Miller, who majored in some kind of fishy degree way back before the mass migration of Californians to Colorado, probably can’t tell the difference between a “Rio Grande” and “Mountain Sucker.” We’ll start by limiting eligible species to the 46 listed in the Colorado Master Angler Program. Here’s the link: Colorado Parks & Wildlife - Apply for Master Angler Status (state.co.us)

Basically, the crafty member who catches the most types of fish, during the period between monthly meetings, will be declared “LFC Angler of the Month” for that monthThe reward? Bragging rights, of course, along with free tickets for the club’s monthly raffle: one ticket for each species, six tickets for the angler credited with five or more distinct species.

In other words, you get to compete in the raffle drawing for free, against lesser anglers who will continue to be required to buy their own chances to win things like a gift card for Perkins or Texas Roadhouse. That is admittedly a bit cheap as prizes go, I guess, but, Hey. We are a nonprofit affiliation of retirees, not wealthy sportsmen like Tom, Barb and Arnie. Some of us have to dig our own worms. Also, we don’t want to make the contest so lucrative that some former club presidents will be tempted to bend the rules, if you catch my drift.

Like any contest worthy of the attention of legendary Colorado anglers, this one will have rules. Just not many:

• Entries are limited to fish caught in Colorado waters open to anyone. 
• Just catch as many kinds of fish as possible, and identify them as best you can. Photos not necessary, but desirable. 
• Write down the number, body of water and type of lure or bait used. 
• And before the monthly meeting begins, submit your entry using the official form posted below. 

This is not going to be like that walleye tournament last summer, where winners allegedly spiked their fish with lead weights. If you solemnly swear that small carp of yours was a big old walleye (which brings to mind a memorable gag by our late, lamented friend Norm Engelbrecht) well, okay. Just remember that fish will only count as one species in the fight for raffle tickets.

Folks, this is going to be a contest built on integrity! While lying about fishing is an honored, traditional art form among club members (and will continue to be encouraged at vents like Friday breakfast), this is one contest built on a simple reliance on truth – along with a reasonable knowledge of Colorado fish.

Which brings us to the subject of Colorado fish species. The contest is being developed by club newbie Darrell Knight, a veteran fisherman but one who honed his craft down in Florida, where they have more types of fish than Colorado has fish. We are never going to stock an aquarium with colorful exotics caught here in Loveland; I’m afraid. Our water is scarce, fluctuates every time Karol Stroscheim flushes the toilet, and filled with predators that will eat everything including their own offspring.

Still, we have enough variety in our fish population to keep this interesting. Following is a link to a Wikipedia photo list of all types of fishes of Colorado, including the 46 we’ll be fishing for. Damned if I’ve ever seen an “American eel” here in the Rocky Mountain West. But you can prove me wrong in a few months. We won’t require photos of entries, but welcome them just the same. Here’s that link:

List of fishes of Colorado - Wikipedia