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The fishing derby for The American Fisheries Society up here in Ft. Collins is this Saturday. Anyone have a ticket?? Should be a good day!!! Good luck to anyone coming!!!
Fishing Derby at College Lake
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My friend told me he might have an extra. It would be awseome if I could go. Can people just come and watch?
Also if any one has an extras or wants to get rid of one I'm buying!
Also if any one has an extras or wants to get rid of one I'm buying!
I'll be going, unfortunetly I only have one ticket sorry guys. I also don't think they'll let you in without a ticket. The place back there by the lake is very high security and except for this day your not allowed back there at all period. I'll be taking a camera with me though so I will try to post some pics afteward.
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I will be volunteering with the AFS so I will be fishign the afternoon, but good luck to ya Derajaman!!!
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I dunno why... but I will bump this, just in case anyone cares... hey Derajaman, do you fish with a flyrod? or is this your first time there?
TimberlineArcher:
I have actually not fished this Derby before, this will be my first time along with the two friends of mine that are going as well. I'll try to see if I can recognize you at the Derby so we can at least say hey to eachother. I'll probably be wearing a white CSU hat, not real specific but at least it'll give you a narrowed selection lol. I know it starts at 7 but whats the best time to start showing up? Oh and I'm spin fishing, not flyrod
Edit: I was also gonna ask do we need to be equipped with Jaw Spreaders for the pike?
I have actually not fished this Derby before, this will be my first time along with the two friends of mine that are going as well. I'll try to see if I can recognize you at the Derby so we can at least say hey to eachother. I'll probably be wearing a white CSU hat, not real specific but at least it'll give you a narrowed selection lol. I know it starts at 7 but whats the best time to start showing up? Oh and I'm spin fishing, not flyrod
Edit: I was also gonna ask do we need to be equipped with Jaw Spreaders for the pike?
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Derajaman and TimberlineArcher:Derajaman said:TimberlineArcher:
I have actually not fished this Derby before, this will be my first time along with the two friends of mine that are going as well. I'll try to see if I can recognize you at the Derby so we can at least say hey to eachother. I'll probably be wearing a white CSU hat, not real specific but at least it'll give you a narrowed selection lol. I know it starts at 7 but whats the best time to start showing up? Oh and I'm spin fishing, not flyrod
Edit: I was also gonna ask do we need to be equipped with Jaw Spreaders for the pike?
I'll be out there as well, waving a flyrod (and maybe an 8'6" steelhead rod) under a Carp Unlimited hat (that ought to make me stand out from the crowd).
I've either fished or volunteered at the Derby since 2000, and I get to sample the lake with fishery gear (as opposed to fishing gear) each year with various CSU Fishery Biology courses, so I know a bit about the fish in there. The small pike are plentiful (20 - 24" average), and the prize for largest pike usually goes to a fish in the 40 - 48" class. There are some very large smallmouth bass and hefty largemouth bass...most years the largest bass caught is between 20 and 22", big crappie (14"+), and carp in the 10 - 20-lb class. You might want to bring jaw spreaders for the pike, or at least something that will allow you to remove the hook safely (i.e., without hurting you or the fish). The check-in is at 0700 h and the horn to start fishing is at 0730 h, so I'd show up between 0640 and 0700 h to get signed in, briefed on the rules and regulations, and then have time to walk to your fishing spot of choice.
As for the security at the lake Derajaman is right...it is tight, and with very good reason! I know that the AFS Student Chapter had to have a list of derby participants and volunteers ready ahead of time in case the CSU Police Department or the various federal security agencies (e.g., Federal Protective Service) wanted to look at them. The lake is immediately adjacent to the Centers for Disease Control laboratory, and a couple of other federal research facilities, and because they are high-profile federal research labs that sometimes work on sensitive materials, they have had very tight security, even before 2001. The area around the labs, including the lake, is patrolled 24 hours a day by armed FPS agents and you absolutely do not want them to "contact you" if you don't have permission to be out there—it is not worth risking state and federal trespassing charges. I have worked closely with the security folks out there in the past and they have a tough job, they take it very seriously (as they should), and they do it well.
Hatchmaster...you can come out and watch, but when I've done that it has been hard on me...I don't like watching other people catching fish when I can't!
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Excellent, I cant wait to get out there, I need a bit of fishing this weekend...
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I'll be out there with Derajaman on sat. can't decide if i want to use my waders or not. sleep will not come easy tonight ;D
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Waders will be a very good thing for you. I would strongly suggest taking them...
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My friend said you need a ticket just to get in. Is this the case? It would be cool just to watch some big old pike get caught.
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yeah, the fishing sucked... some say it was too early in the year... I only measured one bass, and I was a volunteer!!! biggets pike on the fly was 27 1/4
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That was one of my buddies who caught that one. It was one of three he caught. My other friend who went didn't catch a thing. I still wish I could have gone though.
Yah, the fishing wasn't nearly as good as I was hoping it was gonna be. I only landed two fish, hooked and lost another two. Out of the two friends that were with me one got two, and the other only was able to hook one but got away. Largest Pike overall was 28" and largest Smallmouth was 19 1/2". The water temp was around 46 degrees when we started fishing at 7:30 and was around 50 by the time it was over at 12. The two I got were just over 22" each and my friend's two were over 23". I really had wished the water was either a little warmer for some better action or that the derby had been hosted a few weeks later this month, I guess thats when they've usually hosted it but I heard that this derby had the best weather in a long time from the other derby's. Maybe that made a difference with the bite but I couldn't tell ya. I think it was still fun, since both fish were my first pikes ever caught which was really fun for me. I will go again next year but I'm just really hoping its much better next time. $35 for the action we had was almost not worth it.
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yeah, I can imagine that... oh well... cant always have a great day, even at a private lake, am I right? fishing is never a sure thing.
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yeah, next year will be better
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lets see some pics!
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Thanks again TimberlineArcher for the tip on the waders, really glad i brought them!
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Thanks again TimberlineArcher for the tip on the waders, really glad i brought them!
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No problem!!
Lol... I dont think you would want to wet wade in that lake anyway... ewww...
One of the security guards came up to us in the late afternoon and talked to us... the conversation went something like this...
"You guys catch any?"
"yeah we caught a few"
"Any that glow in the dark??!!??"
hahahahahahaha!!!
Lol... I dont think you would want to wet wade in that lake anyway... ewww...
One of the security guards came up to us in the late afternoon and talked to us... the conversation went something like this...
"You guys catch any?"
"yeah we caught a few"
"Any that glow in the dark??!!??"
hahahahahahaha!!!
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I fished the derby hard, when I wasn't helping the volunteers out, and had one nice pike take a swipe at my fly just as I picked it up for a backcast. Should have been paying more attention, me thinks, because that has happened to me a lot. The fishing was slower than it has been in recent years, perhaps because of the high water (the lake is as high as I've ever seen it) or because of the cold front that went through the day before (I refuse to believe it was because I didn't know what I was doing, which I didn't). The bass fishing was, as usual, fairly spectacular if you knew where to fish but the size of the largest pike was much lower than usual. One of the reasons that the derby was earlier this year was because of security concerns with the various federal agencies...the time of year it is normally held (early May) is apparently a period where security alerts are more common and it greatly increased the chance that the event would be called off. Anyway, I'll have to see what we catch in the nets later this year...it may be that the cohort of large pike is almost gone and we have a new age class coming up.
Of course, keeping in mind that the event is a fundraiser for a good group of college students who are trying to become our fishery biology professionals (and who do neat things like take kids from the Boys and Girls Club fishing), I don't mind paying $35 for a slow day of fishing. Come to think of it, I've paid a lot more...and had a lot less fun!
Of course, keeping in mind that the event is a fundraiser for a good group of college students who are trying to become our fishery biology professionals (and who do neat things like take kids from the Boys and Girls Club fishing), I don't mind paying $35 for a slow day of fishing. Come to think of it, I've paid a lot more...and had a lot less fun!
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