December meeting is Tue, Dec. 17. Gift exchange!

 ​Remember, there's no planned agenda for the last general meeting of the year, 2 p.m. Tuesday Dec. 17th.In its place: the annual holiday party! And gift exchange.

President Danny Barker and other club party lovers will ensure we have coffee and cookies, but if you're so inclined and handy around the kitchen, feel free to bring something to share with the rest of the club. If you forget or choose not to participate in the gift exchange; just don't pick up a gift., so we don't run low on presents when we get to my name. 

Remember, if you want to participate, get something (new) for about 10 bucks. Wrap it up but don't put your name on it.  We have a kind of raffle to decide who gets to pick first. Happy holidays, everyone. Bill 

Let's give Thanks to this great place we call home

 

We'd normally urge you to get out there and fish before the winter ice cap settles over northern Colorado lakes and ponds, but hey, Happy Thanksgiving Everyone. Enjoy the holiday, and maybe think about where to head with the ice fishing season opening soon in the high country. We're blessed to live in a special place. Bill

What shall we talk about until Spring? If we just reminisce, we've got two decades to work with

 Well, there's always ice fishing, too. But a distressing number of Loveland Fishing Club's finest tend to spend our winters huddled around the television set watching Harold Ensley or Homer Circle reruns. If you have a subject you'd like us to cover this winter, let me know, lovelandfishing@gmail.com Otherwise, consider this the first of a series of  past columns published on this blog over the past two decades. Some names may be unfamiliar, or bring back recollections of members past. If you need a briefing, ask an old timer. 

At this Friday's club breakfast, while reminiscing about great old trips of the past, a member with a good memory pointed out that most of our most unforgettable club events don't seem to involve the catching of a lot of fish. I simply note that no one likes a smart ass. 

To start this conversation going, following is an article originally posted on March 1, 2011: the first of our ongoing speculations on "Who's Loveland's Toughest Angler?" If you have a new candidate to suggest, drop me line. Bill 

The legendary Loveland Fishing Club is comprised of fisher men and women with a median age well into the '70s, maxing out at just over 90, with a tendency to test ourselves against the elements. With March winds howling, it's time once again to ponder, "Who's Loveland's toughest angler?"

My own claim to the title of toughest came during a February journey to the Sandhills of northwest Nebraska, where I'd forgotten my heaviest coat but bravely kept whimpering to a minimum on a day where the temperature never rose above zero. Others arguably have a more legitimate claim. 

There's Shirley Smillie, for example, who just celebrated 80, who kind of stunned everyone a few seasons ago when she turned out for a legendary minus-23 degree ice fishing trip to Lake Grandby, followed by an equally memorable midsummer catfishing trip to Kansas a few weeks after a lengthy hospital stay for heart problems.  Followed in turn by her hauling in a 45- or so pound spoonbill catfish on an early spring outing to eastern Oklahoma.