Fly Fishing Colorado » Fishing

Bass Pro Kids Day A Success

Marshall — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:00:38 +0000

9/9

Bas Pro’s Kids Day Fishing Derby last Saturday 9/6/08 was a great success. Eighty kids plus walkins signed up for the morning fishing derby. Eighty kids also signed up for the afternoon derby.

The Fishing Derby was held at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. The Arsenal is part of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Many species including bison and eagles reside on the Arsenal. This event was put on by Commerce City and sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Bass Pro Shops.

Fishing with artificial lures or flies only was allowed at the derby. U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Bass Pro personnel conducted casting classes for the kids. Bass Pro supplied some nice prizes for the event. The kids fished Mary’s Lake which contains perch, sunfish, crappie, bass and catfish. Fifteen minutes before the morning derby started someone caught a 1.5 pound bass from Mary’s Lake.

Bass Pro Personnel included Troy Coburn BPS "Bass" Fishing Pro, Goldie Sellers BPS "Crappie" Fishing Pro, Jim Cranmer BPS "Walleye" Fishing Pro and Simone M. Geoffrion of Bass Pro assisted in teaching the kids fishing. Randy Kittleson, president of CCTU also assisted in teaching the kids fishing.

Yours truely, Nancy from Bass Pro Sports Women Outdoors and Ralph from Cherry Creek Anglers chapter of Trout Unlimited demonstrated fly tying for kids and adults. This was my first public tying experience but fun.

Watch the Fly Fishing Colorado blog for future announcements of Bass Pro events

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

Colorado Fishing License Extended

Marshall — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:25:56 +0000

If you hold a Colorado Annual Fishing License, the license period has been extended to 3/31/2009. The Habitat Stamp period has also been extended to 3/31/2009.

Starting 4/1/2009, the fishing season will run from 4/1 through 3/31 the next year. (Ex. 4/1/2009 – 3/31/2010)

Per a DOW representative I talked with today, this change is being done to bring the fishing licenses into sync with other licenses and improve management of the license programs overall. http://wildlife.state.co.us/Fishing/SeasonDatesAndFees/

Tight Lines and Good Fishing,
Marshall, Editor
www.fly-fishing-colorado.com
www.110flyfishingtips.com
www.troutadventures.com
Alaska Trout Fishing Information

Pike are Big Toothy Critters

Marshall — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:55:27 +0000

7/30

There’s no denying it. Northern Pike are big toothy critters. Especially the ones I ran across the other day in this post. This newwest.net post on pike fishing at the Cree Lodge in northern Saskatchewan, Canada caught my eye.

Gene with 47 inch pike caught at Unknown Lake on Cree River – Guide Louie on right called this a "Holy Shit Fish".

Bills 42 incher and native Dene guide Louie

Read rest of this great post

Fishing Geeks Catch World Record Rainbow

Marshall — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:46:20 +0000

1/29

Even though this story happened last year, it is still newsworthy.

The Fishing Geeks, Adam and Sean Konrad, 26 year old identical twins from Saskatchewan, are not strangers to the trophy trout world. Sean holds the Saskatchewan, Canada provincial record, a massive 34 inch by 27 inch girth 28.45 lb rainbow on 8 lb test line from Lake Defienbaker. This record did not come easy. It required 7 years of research and practice fishing the lake.

Pending World Record Rainbow

On June 5th, 2007 all the research and practice really paid off. Adam Konrad hooked and landed a massive rainbow using a Mepps Syclops spinner. This awesome rainbow was officially weighed at 43.6 pounds. Good enough for the world all tackle record. On June 27th, the IFGA confirmed that this fish is a pending world record. The previous record rainbow was established in 1970 at 42 lbs 2 oz and was caught off Bell Island, Alaska.

Congratulations Adam. Maybe in 2008, one of you will catch a bigger one.

Read The Full Story

Fishing With Dad

Marshall — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:49:54 +0000

10/23/07

My father grew up poor in Oklahoma. Hunting and fishing were not recreational pursuits. They were done to put meat on the table. My father loved his fishing and hunting. He especially loved hunting for pheasants in the Iowa cornfields after harvest.

But he loved fishing during the warm Iowa summer months for channel catfish around Red Oak, Iowa where I spent my boyhood. Dad would keep a round cardboard tub of shrimp and a package of chicken livers in the freezer over the winter for aging. By spring, they were well aged believe me.

He would thaw both packages out. Then we would head out for Oak Creek where some large blue channel catfish could be found. Under a railroad bridge was a big pool. To fish the best part of the pool required walking the bridge to the far side. Then descending to the creek bank to cast back into the deep part of the pool where the big catfish hung out.

My last time bait fishing started out on a nice warm Saturday in June. I was about 12 years old. The shrimp were stinking to high heaven. And Dad had a fresh package of chicken livers. We arrived at Oak Creek mid-morning. We parked the car along side the country road. Then we carefully crossed the railroad bridge to the far side. I hated the bridge crossing because I was afraid of getting a foot stuck between the ties.

The bridge crossing went well. We enjoyed a great morning and afternoon of fishing. Dad gave me my first taste of beer. My response was Ugh! During the day, I caught a couple of 2 pound channel catfish and Dad caught a couple that went close to 3 pounds. Fish that size on a bait casting rod were fun to catch. By the time we were done, I had used most of the shrimp and my hands smelled awful.

Finally it came time to go. We were about a quarter of the way across the bridge when we heard a train coming. In those days, steam engines were the norm. The whistle was loud and shrill. Dad yelled at me to run. I started to jump ties as fast as I could but not fast enough. Dad grabbed the fishing gear in one hand, threw me under his arm. Then he literally ran the ties to the far side. It must have been quite a sight. Dad was only 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighed 130 pounds dripping wet. He had cut meat since he was twelve years old and was very strong. With me still under his arm, he jumped off the tracks just ahead of the train. This was the second time in five years Dad saved my life.

It took me over a month to get the stink of shrimp off my hands. I used lemon juice, lava soap, plain soap, dirt and several other concoctions.

We went back to Oak Creek several more times but I did not fish. The memories of coming close to death and the stink of well cured shrimp remain with me today.