Adopt a lake trash grab at WP

Just doing another lake cleanup, folks. Wish that I have better fishing action to post but the trash grabbin’ action is always there. This place gets a Mattsabasser scrub about every year give or take a few. The good news is that I am not the only one doing annual scrubs at this location. The bad news is that at times you would never know anyone was doing nothing BUT leaving refuse. Only way to make it go away is get to grabbin’.

Pull into the fence guarded dirt parking lot and see a few empty cans. Sometimes I see bags of leftover fast food or the remnants of a small party when I roll in here. Get the trash bags out, put the gloves on and make sure I have the new trash claw grabby thing on hand. This was a 10-dollar purchase from Walgreens to keep me from getting bit by spiders and snakes while digging stuff out of the bushes. Before I can so much as pick up a single trash can I step on something metal. Seconds later I kick something silver. Reach down and pull up two discarded lures. These would have really ruined someone’s day had they ran their dog or tires over.

Coves seem to gather up the most trash due to wind and frequent use. When reaching one of these areas I know to set the bag down and start collecting items by the handful. The southwest cove offers half a trash bag of refuse. The northeast cove however filled up one bag all by itself and reduced the trash grabbing helper unit into trash as well. There was a chunk of carpet. Several cans and broken bottles were strewn about but the worst may have been the enormous snarl of line. Thankfully I didn’t have to pull out any dead birds or baby rabbits from this mess. Could have made a small hammock with the amount of line pulled from this one area. The photo below doesn’t do this line snarl proper justice.

Conditions have been dry in Colorado making it a lot easier to pull off a good scrub at the local lakes that I fish frequently. Earth Day rolled around again this year and was a helpful reminder for me to get out and give a little back to the sport I love so much (even though things have been slightly worse than terrible for me this season).

Trash removal is one of the best things anglers can do for the waters they fish. Empty beer bottles, aluminum cans, spent fishing line and more takes away from the natural setting on so many levels. I encourage everyone to adopt the waters that they frequent and pick up trash on a regular basis. Earth Day can be any day and this amazing planet could use the help. You might see an increase in wildlife activity as a result.

Good luck and good fishing.

Shoulda been here yesterday

Chasing fish and the primetime prespawn has been difficult at best this year for me. An early summer brought water temps up faster than normal leaving me scrambling to find water with active fish. Optimum success in prespawn requires good timing. Right place, right time can make all the difference in the world.



The water was clear and the morning weather left the surface smooth with high visibility. Quickly going into creature mode I start throwing the crawdad presentations with a senko rig as a backup plan. If I see fish shallow I can go to a lighter jig presentation on rod number three. With three rods and half the kitchen sink I work half the lake only to catch a few dinkers.

“What gives?” Questions and doubt start to creep into my chi. “They should be right here in front of me.”

Work the rest of the lake and change the creature presentation to a crankbait. I see one large fish but it tears off into the distance as soon as it hears the lure plop on the water’s surface ten yards away. A few more dinks come along on the senko setup as I round the corner to the last section of the lake.

Reaching the edge of the lake with the path leading back to the trailhead parking a passerby with son in tow asks me how the fishing action is for the day.

“Slightly worse than terrible.” I reply. “A few dinkers and I probably went through half the tackle box.” (which wasn’t really true but for me to have to change more than twice on a lake that I fish a lot is fairly rare).

The man offers his condolences and then pulls out his cell phone. He then proceeds to show me a picture of his son holding a 3lb smallmouth and then a few of him with one-hander shots of other fine bass specimens. At this point I am guessing he heard my teeth grinding in frustration and put the Iphone back in his pocket. We part ways and seconds later two anglers with gear in tow roll off one of the other lakes and our paths cross at the trail intersection.

“You get anything?” One of them asks.

“A few dinkers. You?”

“Nothing.” The man says shaking his head in lament. “But they were lighting it up yesterday. Huge smallies about every other cast. We can’t friggen buy a bite today.”

Sometimes that is how it goes with prespawn fishing, You either time things well or go home with only touching a few dink fish. Clearly one of those “Day late-dollar short” days. Dang nabbit!

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

Striped bass caught at McIntosh lake a Colorado record

LONGMONT — A Longmont High School junior caught what appears to be a state-record-breaking striped bass at McIntosh Lake on Friday evening. He reeled in a fish that tipped the scales at 31 pounds, 8.4 ounces when weighed as a Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer looked on.

"I just got lucky," 18-year-old Isaac Sprecher said. The bass measured 41 inches long and 26 inches in diameter.

Sprecher said he's a good fisherman, but "I didn't expect to catch anything like that" when — accompanied by his girlfriend, Longmont High sophomore Megan McGuire — he began casting from McIntosh's south shore about 5 p.m. on Friday.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_20457326/31-8-pound-striped-bass-colorado-record

Photos from the field

Through my adventures photos are taken that never seem to make it into specific fish posts. So much of my fishing goes unseen or heard. Even though these pictures may not be ready for prime time fishing posts, I have found a way to fit them in an excerpt called “Photos from the field.”

Mountain Trails

(Above: Admittedly there are things I do other than fishing. One of them is hiking. It would be a complete tragedy to live in this beautiful state of Colorado and not see some of the areas that do not have fishing nearby. )

Two Snappers

(Above: If people knew what was really in the water, they would have a much different outlook. Sometimes it is the things that are most difficult to see that can be the most dangerous. Here are two very large snapping turtles hanging out in the spring sun…probably getting ready to make more snappers.)

Dirty Job-Clean Ride

(Above: If you are going to have one of those jobs that can get a little sticky, you can at least look good doing it. My guess is that back in the day this panel wagon was kept fairly busy. Times changed and now we only see this rig at the occasional car show.)

Monster of the “Crick”

(Above: I think I figured out why fishing has been so terrible on the “crick” lately. Or maybe I simply needed a few more cups of coffee. When this slip of water fishes well I call it a “creek”. When it fishes terrible I call it a “crick”.)

Thank you so much for your views, comments and rates. This blog is fueled by your support. 

Good luck and good fishing.

Don hits it big

Don sent me a picture the other day of him sticking the landing on a big prespawn bass. This fish is guestimated around 20-inches in length and close to 5lbs (some folks on a few local fishing forums might claim this as an 8-pounder or something crazy like that). No official tape or weight as is the case with most of Don’s fish. I guess the good news is that if I can’t post up pictures of big fish, maybe I can milk a few great fish pictures from Don. Way to go, Don! Always good to see this guy putting the lip grab on a big fatty bass.

“Deep jiggin’. Brown and green pumpkin.” Was all I could get out of him.

Water is still holding on to 57 degrees at a lot of lakes. The weather is keeping prespawn action in a slightly bi-polar mode. Just when I think the bite is going to turn up, a cold front moves in and shuts things down on the one day I took off to fish. In absence of luck I will need to find more determination. This is the only thing can possibly bridge the gap between the lack of good timing and my feeble skills.

Good luck and good fishing.

Slow roll spinnerbait action!

Early spring roll out to the water and the electronics give me news that I can use right off the bat. Water temp is reading 57-degrees and the fish are hanging just off the bottom. These two clues may not solve the entire puzzle but it definitely points me in the right direction. With a slight breeze creating some mild chop on the water I decided to go with the spinnerbait and slow roll it.

The slow roll is just like it sounds. The bait is retrieved slowly so the blade and body more or less flutter along the bottom. In this case I am reeling in a bit faster to keep the bait moving a foot or so above the weed matte. Most folks think of the spinnerbait as a fast moving lure when in fact it is very successful bouncing across the bottom. When the weed matte is very thick I prefer to run it just above the weed line.

The color was white and black with silver and gold blades. Booyah Counter Strike in 3/8oz weight. I did not have to sexy this bait up with a grub combination or trailer hook. The skirt color, shiny blade and slow roll action brought a number of quality fish to the hand. This was a simple presentation that matched the day’s conditions very well. This is something I rarely pull off by the way. Usually I have to struggle and the way this year has been going…it is just good to see a few fish.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

Thirsty already-preparing for the worst

Scarred by destructive wildfires and an arid March, Colorado needs a cold, wet shot of moisture. State water managers are begging for it. They are already eyeing dwindling snowpacks and wondering whether water restrictions should be clamped on the state's towns and cities as warm temperatures persist. "This always makes us nervous," said Aurora Water spokesman Greg Baker.

Many reservoir levels are actually in better shape than they were in 2002 — Colorado's last significant drought year, Baker said. But Baker said he worries that a hot, dry 2012 would drain reservoirs and other water sources so much that not much could be left for 2013.

"It's really next year we are concerned about," he said. "We need the water — every little bit helps."

Denver Water gets about half of its supply from the Colorado River and half from the South Platte River, and snowpack levels in both basins are very low. According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, both basins are at about half their typical averages for this time of year.

Officials have yet to implement mandatory water restrictions but could if Denver Water system reservoir levels drop.

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_20311924/98-colorado-drought-say-csu-climatologists?source=rss

Matt’s Rant: Apparently two biologists are wrong or extremely optimistic about future moisture levels for April. Conditions are very alarming for this early in the year. A rapid snowmelt and lack of spring moisture could set things up for a devastating summer. Fires, drained reservoirs and rivers that look more like a trickle will play havoc on this state come July. My only hope is that this will be one of the wettest spring and summer seasons on record. I am already preparing for the worst.

Albino hellifiknow

Wind was messing up my low valley bassin’ game so I decided to change things up and hit some mountain water. The mild winter and dry spring weather have opened up a few possibilities in the high country. Fished most of the day and missed a few nibbles. Then out of nowhere I get a solid fish bump. As the fish is battled closer and closer I see colors of white and yellow shimmering through the water. Land the fish and do a quick pic and go as fast as possible.

There are a few names for this type of fish. I refer to these fish as albinos because of the isolated genetic abnormality. Golden rainbow trout and palomino are the two most common from what I can find out from a few web searches. Golden trout is another species altogether. A more detailed answer is listed below with some of the history around how these fish came about.

 http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/pages/qa/fish/trout_golden.htm

In closing, I am still not sure how or why these fish are in this lake other than the fact someone put them there. Even though my numbers may never come up in some mega-lotto jackpot, I am lucky enough to catch one or two of these albino rainbows in my lifetime.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

Why not have “keep limits” for more sports other than fishing?

“You just let the fish go? I don’t see the point of all that effort if you don’t keep the fish you catch.”

This is a sentiment that I hear a lot in my sidebar fishing conversations in the work place or from the occasional passerby subjected to stories about my fishing exploits. I greatly exaggerate the size and even show them a few pictures only to hear them ask how the fish tasted. Folks will often look at me in bewilderment after hearing that the fish was released back to the water. For some it is unfathomable to consider the act of fishing satisfying enough all by itself. Without bringing the fish home to eat it is all just a waste of time. Then I show them a really good photo, maybe it was what I caught yesterday or best of the season so far.

“No way would I let something like that go. That fish would be dinner.”

My heart sinks as these words leave their lips of salivation. The fact this could possibly be a 10 or 20-year-old fish is of no consequence. Concerns regarding the health and quality of the sport overall have little or no bearing on why they are there. To them what matters is how many can they catch and do they taste good. Yet these same persons may participate in other sports where they get to take home very little at all.

The more I think about this the more it perplexes me and I wonder why other sports are viewed so differently. Take bowling for example. What if people started bagging up the rented shoes when they did well or made off with a few bowling pins if they got a strike? With little or nothing in the take home scene, why the heck is bowling so popular?  I don’t hear anyone at the local Bowlarama ever saying things like, “As soon as I nail that 7-10 split I am getting one of those bowling pins mounted!” or “I’ll be disappointed if I go through all of these frames and only have two or three shoes on my stringer. The limit here is four.” Why does fishing have to be so different?

I submit the sport of golf as another prime example. This can be an expensive sport with pricey equipment options and greens fees that are fairly steep compared to my annual fishing license. There is a bit of walking involved similar to my style of fishing and the setting is in the beautiful outdoors (even if a bit manicured). There are a lot of aspects of golf that are similar to fishing but once again there is very little take home outside the experience of the sport itself. Golfers don’t get to keep the cart. They don’t get to take a piece of the green or fairway with them when they leave…so why go through all of that pain and anguish simply to smack a little white ball around? At one point I actually posed this question to one of my co-workers who just so happened to be an avid golfer.

“I like golf because it is relaxing and fun. There doesn’t have to be anything more to it than that.”

“Why can’t fishing be the same way?” I asked.

“Probably because golf balls don’t taste as good as some fish do.”

Ok, he had me there but it didn’t make me feel any better. He also offered the notion that there are aspects of sports such as baseball and football that allow fans to keep one or two token remnants of the game for posterity. I argued that this percentage is very low and I would greatly welcome that same standard for a few crowded places that are fished routinely.

At the end of the conversation neither side seemed to sway their opinion. We simply had to agree to disagree. This is where I often leave most debates before folks view me as even more of a fishing-lunatic than they already do. Tomorrow will be another day on the water. If someone lands a big fish it will most likely end up on a stringer to be frozen and eaten later…maybe. My passion for fishing optimum typically falls on deaf ears. At times this mentality makes me want to start mounting bowling pins for wall trophies, removing patches of sod from golf courses and try to find the “take home” in other sports. If anyone asks what I am doing I will simply say…

“Just trying to make it worthwhile. I didn’t come here to go home empty handed."

Good luck and good fishing.

Stick the landing

Early morning gear up delayed by a few morning errands and two extra cups of coffee. Rush to the tooner storage and do the quick load up and double-check. Roll out and get halfway through Boulder before realizing that I have left the handcart behind. This is the trailer that is used for carrying the tooner to the water. With a few hundred yards from the parking area to the back lake I would have to divide the gear into several trips. Anxious to reach the water the trips were cut down to three as opposed to the usual four or even five. And there I was carrying the boards, the oars and crate of miscellaneous parts on the last trip. My fingers were in agony. They started to cramp and a few times the gear had to be readjusted in my grasp. Put it all together at the water’s edges and my arms are exhausted before even taking a cast.

Push off late in the morning and start looking for fish. This lake has several areas of identifiable structure in submerged trees, islands and the occasional shelf or two. Fearing afternoon wind, the attack was set to key points first and then search casting later in the day. Pull up to the first structure point and on the second or third cast get a heavy clobber on the jig\grub setup. The fish is heavy and gives several two really good tugs on the drag before submitting to the lip grab.

Move to the other side of the structure and I start throwing a fantastic plastics and swimbaits in search cast mode. At first I am getting nothing but weeds but then feel a small sturdy tap on the tube jig. The tap wasn’t enough to set the hook and a lift of the rod tip whispered that the fish had only thumped the bait but not picked it up. A second bump followed and my left arm stuck the landing on a good solid hookset for a change. In the shimmering water a flash of bronze caught my eye. The sporadic fight giving no quarter or slack mixed with the bronze meant one thing.

“Smallie. Hot damn.”

The area was worked for another hour and then I moved on with another largemouth in the fourteen-inch range. It was time to move to the east side of the lake and work the submerged trees and then the shelf before letting the wind push me back to the landing. Must have thrown for hours. Saw a few fish, missed a strike here and there along with dragging up a lot of weeds. I felt lost on the wrong side of town. My arms stopped and for several minutes I scanned the water.

The morning bite had faded several hours ago and I simply missed the shift change. Water temp was checking in at 56-57 degrees Fahrenheit. Air temp was mid 70’s and by now the wind was averaging 5-15mph. Water surface wore a mild chop and a light but steady current was present. I had positioned myself on the far side of the lake, pulled up the anchor and let the boat push me for some drift fishing. I had switched to a green\yellow spinnerbait and started fishing in search cast mode. Casting to the structure or running through open water, the bites didn’t want to happen. My mind started second-guessing everything.

“Am I running too fast or too slow? Is the bait too big? Do I smell bad?” The questions endlessly ran through my mind.

Just when the self doubt started to take over and I was nearly going to change back to the plastics, a faint bump is felt through the slack forming on the line. The lack of action made me a bit sloppy. I nearly missed this fish completely. Thankfully I was able to sneak in a hookset at the last minute and land another solid bass to finish the day.

Landing the fish and photo op cost me some time and the wind pushed me well past the island and nearly to the other side. Not wanting to give any ground up I had to fight the wind for nearly twenty minutes before reaching the spot where the fish had hit. Starting the run once again I threw a handful of casts in all directions. Each cast got harder to control as wind velocity increased. My arms were getting heavy from fatigue. Then one of my casts went haywire leaving me a small snarl of line near the reel face.

“Ahhhh there it is.” My lips babble conceding warning signs of breakdown.

Not only was my body starting to fail but so was the gear. The left side of the tooner was getting a bit saggy-sally from the leak I am still unable to fix. Rod number 2 was snarled with not enough time to fix. This was as good of time as any to bag the day and head out. Slowly drifting to shore my tired arms began lamenting the several trip gear haul without the handcart.

“Mudder Ducker!!!” I blurt out. “Starting the season out really rough with these trips. Always forgetting something.”

Water temps were hovering around 57-degrees. Fish are still deep and clinging to the bottom of the inclines.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

Fat stocker

It happens sometimes for no good reason. I step to the water, make a cast and a big fish ends up tackling my tackle like a freight train. What makes this occasion even more amazing is that I actually land the fish. Not the type of fish I am going for mind you but a decent fish nonetheless. In this case I was chasing bass with heavy metal. You might find me doing this early in the year when a lot of water distance needs to be covered from shore.

This lake has a mix of largemouth bass and stocked trout. Sometimes I get a nibble early in the year from these stocked fin slappers whether I want their attention or not. Certain times of year I find lake dwelling trout to be “annoying” when my focus is on other species. However when these fish come with a bit of gumption and fairly large in size, it can change the outcome as well as my overall perspective on the day. If not for this skunk-beater “cow trout”, I would have had to carry a goose egg all the way home.

My name is Matt and I’m still a fishaholic. 

Mattsabasser’s pretty lame blog promotion drive

The slump of 2012 really cut into my shameless bragging and made my blog more or less stagnant. This slowed my views and hits down to a trickle. A few months back the “fishing with hookers” video lost me a few folks in the follower’s department. I was afraid of that happening along with a few bloggers signing off or moving to another format. My imaginary PR department (and my follow list) has taken a serious hit of at least four or five followers. To make matters worse the number of new followers has nearly come to a standstill.

It all points to the fact I am not trying hard enough. Not trying hard enough to promote my blog and apparently not willing or able to spruce up the format once in a while. (Sigh) The sad part is that I am probably not going to either. I just want to fish and don’t have the time for managing a part time marketing department on the side for this blog. My focus is on the fishing content. Here is where you come in. For 2012 I am running a shameless blog promotion drive in what will be another failed attempt at making my fishing blog more popular.

Top ten things you can do to shamelessly help me but I’ll totally understand if you don’t.

1. Follow my blog if you don’t already. Most of my blog hits come from IE outside of my follow list. C’mon guys…show some love. You got a Google e-mail. Sign up and add your avatar thingy to my fishing blogilicious.

2. Share my blog with a few folks you already send a bunch of stuff to. I don’t even mind if you put something in the subject line like “Cool video link and also some weird guy’s fishing blog…”

3. Add a few rates to recent posts that you have liked. I know this sounds a bit like groveling. Whatever step exists below groveling is probably where I am at right now.

4. Add a comment once in a while. A new post on my blog averages fifty to one hundred hits in the first week and then views drop off. Unfortunately my comment section averages about five comments. This is most likely due to two factors; poor writing and most of my viewers are lazy. Let’s meet halfway on this. I will promise to edit my posts better if you add a comment once in a while.

 

5. You could put me on a follow list or something like that? One day I will have a follow list and it will be the best ever. You will see. Hopefully my pictures and blog post titles are enough to make it worth your while.

6. Put in the good word for me around town. You know, say something like, “That Mattsabasser is alright. He just wants to fish.”

7. Submit my blog to OBN on their “Featured Blog” listing that they have going on. http://www.outdoorbloggernetwork.com/2011/12/19/featured-outdoor-bloggers-of-the-week-with-a-twist/

8. Don’t hate me for not using a fly rod 24/7 in Colorado. As long as the big fish are going back with minimal harm we should be able to agree to disagree. Fishing is a religion to some in Colorado and my spin fishing trout scene is often referred to as blasphemy.

9. You could give me a blog shout if you wanted. I know that my efforts probably don’t deserve to be listed on blogs with more advanced layouts, Google banner ads and actual bonafide sponsors. Some blogs are so “boingity-boingity” that a blog shout for Coloradocasters would go virtually unnoticed. In that case you have nothing to lose.

10. Pick up some trash at one of your local fishing venues and post it up on your blog or even one of the local fishing forums. It would be nice to say something like, “Mattsabasser, this one is for you” with a link to my blog or something like that. It would warm my heart greatly to see the trash pickup photos outweighing the “sink of death” pictures.

More about ColoradoCasters and the Mattsabasser

Once upon a time I envisioned the ColoradoCaster’s entity as some sort of waterhound fishing club with a handful of lunatic anglers shamelessly bragging about their amazing fishing exploits. A few years and many venues later these efforts have boiled down to one thing…a guy that just loves to fish.

Mattsabasser was a term developed at the water cooler and a handle on a few fishing forums back in the day. There are many supporting cast members that I couldn’t do all of this without such as Don and I have even gone so far as to separate those exploits into a different title called The MAD Fishing Show…none of which have been remotely successful in regards to promotional endorsements, TV show offers or anything of that nature. I don't reach out to promoters which is 99% of the problem.

Not too shabby

Roll up to the spot and realize that I had forgotten the crucial piece of the frame that bolts the tooner pods together. Guess that is what I get for hanging out too late and loading gear up at 2:30M. Don makes a cal and the landowner agrees to let me use one of their paddleboats for the day. This was both a blessing and a curse as the rudder was broken and I found myself having to use one of my tooner oars to move in the desired direction. It seemed as if my fishing slump was starting to form into a full on downward spiral. The fantastic spring weather and a few of Don’s jokes were just enough to hold up my spirits.

Water was crystal clear and hanging just above 48-degrees. Wind was light with the occasional breeze between 10-15mph. Vegetation was still dormant but still created reefs of structure and open pockets. Baitfish were congregating near or in the open pockets. To build confidence I decided to target a few of these guys with a beaded nymph on the long rod.

Beaded nymph? Long rod? Don had made a challenge that we fish this lake with only fly rods. It sounds crazy for this Mattsabasser but I was looking to change things up drastically in attempt to break out of this slump. Maybe I was getting bored with spin fishing. Maybe a gear switch would bring something fresh to the table. As fish nipped at the feathers at the end of my fly it seemed to be adding frustration more than anything else.

Varying the presentation I found that pulling the fly away from the fish as they moved in for the strike would bring heavier bites. As the sun rose to mid-sky the bass became more active. I could see them swimming around the pockets or lumbering in areas of cover. These fish were deep and hanging on the bottom. Getting the presentation in front of them with floating line was going to be an issue.

“Should have stripped and went with braid.” I mumbled remembering a few last minute decisions.

First I went with some streamers and large baitfish flies on the surface. No bites and a handful of change-ups later I decided to weight everything down with some lead. It didn’t sound right at first and looked a bit ridiculous to be honest having three small weights on the line. I would have used four but that would have looked obtuse. Luckily it was enough to pull the gear down to the lower depths where the fish were. A few casts, a few strips and wham! Spring bucket!

As the day wears on I am getting the hang of things. The hookset was still hit and miss but I was putting fish on the end of the line. Keeping them there was another story. A paddle here, a peddle there and I was in an area full of potential. In the distance a bass is seen slowly cruising along the edge of the weed line. Cast out a safe distance ahead of the fish and let the lure sink. The bass goes nearly vertical and pounces on the bait. I can see the fish’s jaws slam the bait in a flash of speed and suction. Seeing the strike is thrilling for me but also greatly helps in timing of the hookset. A few bursts of energy and the fish was in the hand.

I didn’t get many fish to the reel and scolded myself constantly for having too much line at my feet. Lessons learned were enough to fill the large truck that the farmer uses to feed his cows. Fishing farm ponds like this can be a little too easy sometimes hence the fly rod challenge. Next time I will come with a completely different setup on the longrod or maybe two.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

And so it shall be known as “The great slump of 2012”

Wintertime and the months I call “the cold three” typically cut into my fishing success taking my shameless fish bragging down a notch or two. This season however has been my worst slump ever. It seemed that right after I got a little yackity shmackity on the 2012 “Fish It” post the fish gods put a serious smote upon my game. This slump was so bad that not even my determination or bag of excuses could overcome it.

Looking back and trying to pinpoint one particular cause of this slump was difficult. Even in the worst situations I am able to pull something off most of the time. Not this season. Bites would be far and few between. When I would get the opportunity from a fish of shameless bragging quality even the tiniest mistakes would bring tragedy.

For example, I stumbled onto a trout frenzy in February where for once my timing was spot on and the fish were highly active. I land one fish, then another and then hook into a huge trout shortly after. This fish is practically double the size of the previous fin slappers of the day. Battling the brute was an intense battle of patience and drag. Finally get the fish to the boat, remove the hook, set the time delay on the camera and the fish jumps out of my hands.

The following week I am trying my luck at a different lake and searching fish in a lake that holds a good population of bass and crappie. I somehow manage to pick the one gorgeous day without hurricane force winds howling like mad and the ice had come off a week prior. Expectations were set on high as my casting elbow sorted through the tackle on a series of search casts. The retrieve is slow go but no takers. Slow things down even more and then even more. Nothing. Eventually I get the tooner to northeast cove and on the first search cast the bait gets a series of small nibbles. In the distance my eyes spot a patch of glowing white. Quickly I realize that this is an albino trout. Instantly my right arm grabs the rod that had been set up for crappie while letting the bass bait float to the bottom underneath me. One cast with the lightweight jig and wham! I hook into the white flashing fish. Realize the odds of this fish being here and me catching it are staggering. But here I was mystified with the very rare fin slapper on the end of my line. Bring the fish to the boat and it wraps itself around the line of the bass rod left to tangle in my moment of haste. My only play was to release the fish and undo the snarl. I paid the price for being sloppy with the gear.

A few trips were shut down by wind. Not average winds mind you but hellacious wind that toppled trees, light poles and turned water into a white heavy chop. This knocked out Plans A, B and C forcing me to fall back on Plan D…a small slip of water close by. Re-tool the gear, work spots for two hours and then bail after not seeing so much as a bug moving. Go home and plot the next trip. The following trip comes and I start the ballet of dejection all over again. Anyone else might have taken that moment to ponder other sports or activities. Not me. This only makes me more determined.

Eventually I realized that this was all in my head and simply of symptom of the season. My luck was failing because I wasn’t doing any my luck any favors so to speak. Using some common sense and reviewing past notes easily avoids picking destinations at the worst time. Applying more focus can help eliminate that one vital thing that gets forgotten or avoid that one crucial mistake from happening. There may be many factors to a fishing slump and all of them need to be considered if the slump is to be turned around.

In closing let me state that my lack of blogging posts has not been due to lack of effort but more due to lack of success. I could have continued generating posts with filler content as opposed to shameless bragging.  This would have kept my two sisters from sending me a few e-mails with the subject, “Are you still alive?” But that is not what my blogilicious is all about. Sometimes it is better to say nothing at all. The good news is that the weather has turned and I have no doubt my fishing success will turn as well.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic

Early Toonage

Frosty morning gear up in the dark and the voice in the back of my mind is wondering why am I loading up the tooner? This is February and lakes were frozen just a week or two ago. However I was really itching to take the new electronic fish lookie-lou device out for it’s first run. Really it was a simple replacement of the Hummingbird 110 lost in the semi-tragic storage break-in of 2011. This model can be easily transferred from pontoon to bellyboat and even some larger boats. It doesn’t have the greatest graphics or even sonar compared to a few high-end models but gives accurate depth and temperature. For me that is half the game and then some. After several moments and trips back and forth from truck to boat the tooner is finally ready for its first voyage of the year.

(Above: Guess I could have straightened up the anchor rope on the back of the tooner before taking the picture.)

Break a layer of surrounding shoreline ice and port in. Set the fish finder up and it clicks down from an inside truck temperature to 44-degrees. The display shows a gradual incline and then a steady depth of twenty feet. I do my best to follow this line around the lake occasionally stopping at structure points. Heavy baits searched the middle of the lake as where jigs and plastics worked the shallower water towards the shoreline. I expected to see fish on the sonar and get bites right away but this was not the case. It took nearly an hour before getting action of any kind.

Getting a few taps but no commitment on some of the larger plastics had me downsizing with some added weight. 4” senkos with a 1/8oz drop shot setup and a 3” grub on an 1/8oz jig head started attracting more attention. Even these smaller baits brought only timid hits that picked up the bait leaving nothing on the end of the hookset.

“Probably perch.” I tried to console myself while slow casting for smallmouth, crappie and possibly even largemouth bass. “Gotta be some larger fish around here willing to give it a go.”

Finally after moving to the east end of the lake I start getting larger thumps and even get one fish to hang on after the hook-set. The fish stays deep for a while offering only flashes of silver through the murky depths. Soon the realization came to me that this was not any of the species I was originally targeting. This was a trout, rainbow trout to be exact. A few of these stocker bows are fairly respectable in size and get active early in the year.

The fish comes closer with some coaxing of the reel and into the hands for a quick photo-op. Once in my hands it does a quick tail flip that splashes water on the camera lens. I don’t even hit the button and just let the fish go. It was a decent trout well worthy of the photo op. Sometimes it just isn’t meant to be.

A few more casts and the jig gets clobbered from right underneath me. Heavy struggle on the end initially makes me think this is a bass or even small catfish. Then once again I see the silver flashes through the water. Get it closer to the boat and the drag sings out for the first time in a long time. Eventually I get the fish to me and the photo op goes a lot smoother this time.

(Above: Not too shabby trout shot for the solo click and go. This trout has a scar line down the side possibly from last year? )

Moving along the east side of the lake it became apparent that this is where the fish were collecting. At least that could be said for the active trout. The fish finder didn’t exactly tell me where the fish were (to be honest it hardly blipped a fish) but at least it worked like it is supposed to. Getting things ready now helps me iron out the kinks before spring prime time.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

First clean up of 2012

Sharing a lake with hunters may require additional tolerance and nerves of steel at times. Periodic shotgun blasts that send me diving to the ground are always fun but the shells left behind annoy me after a while. As part of my “Adopt a lake” philosophy I do my best to remove these shells on a somewhat annual basis. Due to this lake’s size it would be difficult to cover the entire shoreline in one day (while working in a few casts). Typically I pick one side or the other and that area gets a good scrubbing every other year or so. Each haul is about the same nearly filling a grocery bag with spent shells. This effort may seem tedious and unnecessary but in my view the cleanup is an ounce of prevention as much as it is cosmetic.

Sports-folks of all types can help serve each other by removing some of the visible blight we may leave behind. A little bit goes a long ways and helps keep our sporting rights in place. Hunting and other funds associated to non-fishing endeavors directly or indirectly help protect fish habitat thus creating a symbiotic relationship. If this lake lost funds from duck hunting others and myself might lose the privilege to fish here. Picking up a few shells now and again is my way of giving back. Breaking the cleanup into smaller sections keeps the chore from being a real back breaker. A lot of people ask what fishing can do for them. I would like more people to ask what they can do for fishing.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

Warm water rematch

Looking for a rematch in regards to my bass action last week I found myself driving across the Front Range in search for viable water. A cold snap rolled through again making me shake my head wishing that I had planned a trout run somewhere else.

First pond was a no-go so my casting elbow and me moved down to another location. A few more casts and it looked like the day was sure to be a skunker. Then the fog seemed to break a bit as the midday sun started to power through. A few minutes before my afternoon cut-off time I get a thump on the bait solid enough to put a hook set on. Land the fish and put the lip-grab on a largemouth bass that looks a bit haggard. This fish has suffered some type of damage and survived to tell the tale.

(Above: This fish looks a bit rugged and thankful to make it through the winter. Didn’t spend much time with the photo op to minimize the overall stress of the experience. Hope to see you next year, buddy.)

This fish hit a 3” white grub on a 2” EWG hook rigged Carolina style with a 1/4oz sinker. A dropshot setup would have worked better but my dropshot weights must have been set to the side on a winter cleanup of my bass gear for some reason. Presentation was kept on the slower speeds and most of the day was spent cleaning moss of whatever I was throwing. The senkos and other fantastic plastics were put in the rotation as well.

My February fishing game has been really hurting this month. Weekend cold snaps are absolutely wrecking my warm water attempts. This month my shameless fish bragging is looking more like a run of apologies. The last few trips I have barely managed to C&R one skunk-beater fish and walked out with my bag of excuses.

Energy Farming in Colorado, a conservation-filler post

Agriculture is an important part of Colorado and farming has had to evolve in an effort to stay viable with the state’s ever changing needs. The farming of alternative energy is one of those evolutions gaining momentum across the state. The goal is to utilize the natural energy that exists all around us in many forms to reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuels. As more and more projects are developed we become more self-sufficient. We also help change supply and demand factors for the other types of energy we buy.

Solar Farming

Above: A sizeable pasture of photovoltaic panels grazing on sunrays to generate power. Many communities are establishing similar solar farms in a co-op scenario that absorbs the initial startup costs. The savings is then distributed evenly to all participants by a non-profit entity based in the community. Electric bills range 18-30 dollars where as across the street they pay 75-150 to some regional power conglomo.

Wind Farming

Above: This wind farm generates power for a small village that thinks like a metropolis. This area recently encountered 100mph wind gusts and they only had to run one pinwheel to keep the batteries red hot. In other cases the owner may have installed a more sophisticated transformer and meter that returns surplus energy back to the grid for profit. How sweet is that?

Hydro-Power Farming

Above: Did you know that The Big Thompson River generates power for Estes Park and other communities? Irrigation water flows through a series of tunnels and strategically located hydroelectric turbines that create a few hundred megawatts of power annually. These are hydropower projects on a much smaller scale than say a Glen Canyon Dam but less extreme to the natural waterway.

These are just some of the examples in regards to power farming. Admittedly these examples and others cover only a fraction of the state’s power needs. Fossil fuels still have the advantage of reliability without the sizeable startup costs. Coal burning generators still produce the lion’s share of electricity for Colorado’s overall power usage and most people still drive petrol based vehicles including me. However the landscape is changing and more power options are being brought to the table. Also factoring in the growing participation of ethanol and even bio-fuels made from sources such as used vegetable oil, you can say we have a farmer’s market of energy options in Colorado.

How does all of this apply to fishing?

This question has to come into play at some point for me to maintain any shoreline-cred as a fish blogger. The answers are subtle and obvious at the same time. The clean environment issue is the most obvious even though it feels like a losing battle to save this planet at times. Clean air means cleaner water when clouds form to drop the moisture that develops. We covered this in 1^st grade science but a lot of people tend to forget this when profits are concerned. Substantially less water would be used as well as polluted if cleaner sources moved to the forefront. Plenty of room for improvement.

Another, possibly less obvious aspect is the possibility of flooding the market with alternative power that is farmed domestically. Cheaper energy costs and more local jobs is a win-win for any state and Colorado is reaping the benefits already. Colorado has some of the lowest energy costs in the West. Adding more energy jobs to the scene helps the economy stabilize but it just might ease up some of that extra water pressure that I am seeing during the week.

“Oh man. Did all of you guys take the same day off as me to fish?” I ask waiting for my turn at the tailwater casting section.

“Nope.” They reply in unison. “Out of work. Might as well fish.”

Acknowledgements, resources and places I went to get some of this information:

http://www.prpa.org/sources/

http://prpa.org/

http://k0lee.com/2007/12/colorado-hydroelectric-power/

Desperate for warm water action

By the time February rolls around I am fairly desperate for some warm water action. Unfortunately winter’s icy grip still has a hold on most of my bass locations. For the sake of consistency my thoughts should be focused on trout. My plans should revolve around drilling hard water or chasing finslappers in the tail sections. But the heart wants what the heart wants and with signs of open water and a possible warm trend I set my weekend fishing sights for bass. Probably not one of my better ideas.

To make matters worse, this was another situation where the weather-heads set me up for failure. On Monday the weekend forecast called for a high of nearly 50-degrees. The ponds showed signed of open water and my head started to fill with dreams of bucketmouth and bronze bass. However, by Wednesday it looked severely worse and Saturday morning there was several inches of fresh snow on the ground. High temps were looking to be 30, maybe 35 degrees if I was lucky. The freezing weather complicated things greatly and left me with the struggle of finding any open bass water. 

After burning half a tank of gas and most of my windshield wiper fluid I finally reach a pond showing some open water. A quarter of the lake is open on the north side with a smaller slice of no-ice on the south side. Most of the exposed areas were shallow. This left me searching for any deep spots that might possibly provide access to fish. Thankfully the ice had receded past a few inclines and drop-offs.

The first spot that I stopped at was ideal with a short shallow section at my feet and a steady incline to deep water. At the base of the incline was rock structure that I had viewed a few years back when water was very shallow. The lure was tossed at the edge of the ice and dropped in the water without so much as a ripple. It sank slowly to the bottom where it lie motionless aside from the occasional “thump” noise I would make from tiny popping movements with the rod tip. After many moments of waiting one of the “thump” movements was met with significant resistance. This didn’t feel like a fish strike. More like a stick, rock or slow moving non-fish object. As I lifted the rod tip and gave the reel a few cranks the rock-stick-nofish thing came to life and I had realized a fish battle was on my hands.

The fish put up a sturdy fight considering there was little cover for it to use against me and well it is February. Largemouth bass take a little bit longer for their circulatory system to react in colder water compared to trout or other species more suited to cold temperatures. Northern strains that are introduced into Colorado do feed in winter but it is a slow motion lifestyle.

For this trip I relied on my 6’-6” medium\heavy rods on my usual 6lb mono. Pitching tube jigs and soft jerkbaits on a 3” EWG hook, weightless. The 5” shad assassin in white (Alewife) was what caught the scrapper. Dying minnow presentation, slow, slow, slow.

My name is Matt and I’m a fishaholic.

Weather Mistress…why do you taunt me so?

Tracking and predicting weather patterns as they make their way through Colorado cannot be an easy task. Things change at any moment and I know these 5-day forecasts are more of a guess than actually bonafide. Most of the time the talking heads get it close or within reason. Lately though it seems like the weather sources I use are purposely setting me up for weekends of peril!

It sounds far fetched but why would satellite photos and other evidence be presented for a perfectly docile five day pattern only to rip it away with reports of pending blizzards right before I leave? Sure I could understand a mistake or “freak weather disturbance” once in a while but we are talking the last three trips I have tried to peg down.

Monday looks crystal clear, pure bliss actually when I get the ball rolling. Warm trends like this in January and February don’t come often so it is best to take advantage of them. Before I can finish my first cup of coffee my e-mail lights up with one recognized sender and three notifications about Google changing their policies. (Whatever I did to Google to make them change their policies, I greatly apologize. Rest assured I have been notified.) A grandiose plan is put in to play as my mouth froths with anticipation over a triumphant second cup of coffee. Little did I realize that this was merely a trap…again.

Above: This is a slightly exaggerated report of what the forecast looked like

Mid-week rolls around and I make sure I have a fresh spool ready to go. But on the Wednesday double check the weather is looking a bit “iffy”. The good day sunshine weather signs had turned all gloomy Gus on me with a difference of thirty degrees on the temp side of things. Conditions were not impossible but they surely were making a slow downward spiral. Not quite bad enough for me to cancel plans but more or less prepared me for the worst…or so I thought.

Friday comes and all hell is breaking loose. It was snowing on the way into work and chain laws were required for heavy vehicles going through the major passes. This is when I have to do a serious gut check before walking out the door. Sometimes the trip gets called off and sometimes you just got for it. Currently I am 51% on that being the right decision for my planned trips. This is due to the fact the last trip turned out pretty well actually. That is the good news.

The bad news is that I am faced with the same scenario this weekend except conditions are even worse. A different venue but travel is still a great concern. The trip would take an hour in good conditions and very problematic in snowy conditions. Looking at the blizzard warnings and dramatic snow levels predicted to drop right smack dab on top of my fishing spot, it may be impossible to get there at all.

I may or may not go ahead with this trip but that is not my main concern. I am more worried about the nefarious plot of weather patterns and forecasters consistently setting me up on Monday with a blissful five-day only to see things so drastically different by Friday. They haven’t gotten every weekend wrong this year. Just the weekends I have a big fish trip planned. It is what it is (that phrase pretty much translates into “ahhhhh #$%^!”).

If I’m not fishing I am thinking about fishing.