Had to milk the “Gimme”

So my recent ice fishing outings have come up empty. Chatfield Res., Chatfield Ponds, Evergreen, Bear Creek Lake, even Golden Gate Ponds have been educational rather than spectacular. That is a shame as these places have treated me very well in the past for the hard water scene. So what is a fishaholic to do? In an act of pure desperation I had to milk the “gimme” for a few respectable fish.

The term gimme comes from the game of golf where the shot is so automatic that most players don’t even consider the approach, the lie or wind…just walk up and shoot. That is what this place is like a lot of the time. A few waterhounds might recognize the area as this is fishing hole that I post from periodically throughout the year.

Once again the gold pattern was the ticket along with dodging a few cold spurts. First cast was absolutely hammered by a stocky brown trout. There are times when I wonder if I were to tag fish in spots like this…how many times could I catch them in one lifetime?

(Above: Love the dark colors on this fish and I typically see or catch two brown trout approx. this size at this location. One is a bit thinner in shape, slightly smaller and light in color. The other fish tends to be dark, slightly larger and much fatter than the other.)

The second spot was met with one rainbow trout and then another and then another. Getting into three quality bows on this stretch is amazing! One of my casts was virtually perfect grazing the edge of the tree line and plopping right in the slot. The line stretched as soon as the lure hit. This fish put up a quality fight or as much as it could in the shallow water and then was downright polite during the whole photo op. thank you Mr. Trout.

(Above: This was the larger of the three cutbows on the day and was nice enough to pose for a quick picture. Catch and release.)

My guess is that these rainbows might have moved down from a large hole somewhere upstream. As the upstream clogs with ice bigger fish get pushed down into the few open/tailwater sections. These areas look a bit “ghetto” which seems to keep most if not all of the pressure away.

People have actually laughed when they see me…”There’s actually fish there?” They might yell while biking or walking their four legged friends.

“Nope!” I yell sluffing a cast or start looking in my tackle bag. “Just getting in a little practice.”

Before I get too far off on the tangent here let me just say that I recant all of my trash talk towards ice fishing. I don’t hate ice fishing. I LOVE ice fishing. Hear me fishing gods? Please do not smote me any further on the hard water scene.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.