Tried Horsetooth for the first time in a long time, no bites at all,spent a few hrs. there, tried different spots,baits,etc. with no luck. Moved up the road to Watson, the guy next to me had only caught 1 little smallmouth all day. Only stayed there about 45min. Wanted to try some of the Ft. collins ponds for the first time. Stopped at Riverbend ponds, fished one pond for quite a while with no luck, not a bite, until late in the day.... was getting ready to leave when we caught a real nice largemouth- 16" 2.7 lbs.....Ended up being a pretty good day.
Horsetooth,Watson,Riverbend ponds
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Haven't tried Horsetooth yet this year (can't afford the fees, right now), but have caught several smallmouths at Watson on 1 1/2" and 2" tube jigs in white, black and chartreuse. Mostly, just right off the front of the fishing dock on the Northeast of the lake.
Arapaho bend ponds has been good for crappies of late, but nothing really big (most about 8"). Prospect ponds has been producing some largemouths of decent size, and if you're adventurous you can catch some huge carp there on a fly rod by site fishing with small woolly buggers or realistic nymph patterns - like damselfly nymphs.
Arapaho bend ponds has been good for crappies of late, but nothing really big (most about 8"). Prospect ponds has been producing some largemouths of decent size, and if you're adventurous you can catch some huge carp there on a fly rod by site fishing with small woolly buggers or realistic nymph patterns - like damselfly nymphs.
Which pond at riverbend did you fish? So far I've only had 2 13" largemouth and a whole bunch of crappie. I've heard that clear turtle pond has some good sized largemouth in it but I just never see any in there so I kind of doubt it. Not sure about bass in the trout pond thats over on the east side next to the turtle pond. I know there is crappie in there but dunno what else.
I don't yet know my way around Riverbend, it's the pond just west of the parking lot right off Prospect. I don't remember a dock,I'm looking at a map....It's the small rectangular pond,........... When I was there, most fisherman seemed to walk right past this one. How busy does Riverbend get mid-summer? There weren't many people there on 5-7 late afternoon.................also, please point me in the right direction for crappie at Riverbend.
The crappie fishing is actually really good in the wiper pond. That pond is the one furthest west of the parking lot on the north side if you were to come from mulberry and timberline. Just yesterday we left with 4 9" crappie. Won't be there for the rest of the summer so I figured let you know hehehe. And after looking at the map, if your saying you got it at the small one to the SE of the riverbend area then I might have to try that at the end of the summer when I'm back up here cause we've actually never tried either of those ponds to the south or the bluegill pond that is just north of them.
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I have pulled some really nice Largemouths out of the bluegill pond. On the north part of the bluegill pond it has heavy growth and that is where I fish with topwaters. I have done really well there.Derajaman said:
How do you guys know which pond is which?(bluegill pond, wiper pond, etc.) Is there a map or signs showing pond names somewhere?
I'm headed back out to Riverbend tomorrow (5-14) to do a little exploring and hopefully a lot of good fishing.Thanks for sharing the info, it's very appreciated. If I have any luck I'll post a report.
I'm headed back out to Riverbend tomorrow (5-14) to do a little exploring and hopefully a lot of good fishing.Thanks for sharing the info, it's very appreciated. If I have any luck I'll post a report.
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Patfish said:
Yes, there are small signs telling which pond is which. There is only one sign for each pond tho, so you may have to do some walking to find them!
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Where is Walston and these riverbed ponds?
Lets see...the crappie were being caught on types of small spinnerbaits. Not the big bass kind that look like half jigs, but the single blade roostertail type. Rainbow trout pattern seemed to work the best. The other type we were using was this Blue Fox minnow spinner. The weird part about it was that I had this one in my tackle box for probably a year or two and it was still in the package. lol. Anyways, I decided to give it a try, and sure enough on like the 3rd cast I get a fish. That first evening of using it in about 1 or 2 hours I had about 4 or 5 crappie. I've also had 3 or 4 largemouth off of it from the 12" to 16" range. My friend decided to go ahead and get one since he saw how good I was doing with it. Well sure enough we go out there another evening, he decides to try it and in 5 casts he had 4 crappie, then ends up losing it lol. I've lost about 5 so far in branches, they aren't very weedless. Anyways, they have worked pretty well to catch crappie and bass. Now I'm back home, Parker if you know where that is. Not sure what the fishing is down here. Never have had much good luck down here. Anyone have suggestions let me know that too. I don't have a boat of any kind so shore fishing is my only option.
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Fished Horsetooth on 5-8-05 and had a blast. Caught six smallies, four of which were 15" or larger, nice and fat to. We were using slip bobbers rigged with shinners or leeches. North Pines Cove, 10 to 12 ft, water temp around 52. While cleaning one fish noticed it had a stomach full of 1 to 2" crawdads. Also landed one 14" eye and a keeper crappie.
Can someone fill me in on how to insert pictures?
Can someone fill me in on how to insert pictures?
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Check out this topic: http://www.coloradofisherman.com/forum/index.php?topic=172.0flounder said:
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thanks work2fish for the help. here are the pics from horsetooth 5-8-5.
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