How to kick Danny’s butt for Angler of the Year!
By Bill Prater
It is past time to get serious about the Loveland Fishing Club’s Angler of the Year contest, now in its 11th year. Bragging rights will go to the handful of club member who report catching the biggest fish of 2024 from a Colorado lake, stream or pond, as long as that water is potentially available to all club members. (If you’ve been forcing feeding that green sunfish in your bathtub, just see how it tastes as sushi.)
Our brutally honest President Danny Barker (last year’s winner) pointed out at the March general meeting that 5 of the club’s 10 Angler of the Year fish have been caught from his boat, though not necessarily by him.
If you’d like to reduce Danny to honorable mention status in 2024, below are several recommended tactics from the contest’s Chair, Darrell Knight, who is taking over from contest founder Jim Roode. (You can reach Darrell by e-mail, DarrellKnight99@gmail.com or text him at 1-678-232-2040.)
Wrangle a ride in that magic boat of Danny's. You might start by seeing if his dance card is filled at the May 16th LFC Boat Day at Boyd Lake. (It is startling how open and honest that lad can be, possibly due to the influence of his life- and boat-mate, Kathleen.)
Any species of fish which meets Colorado Parks and Wildlife Master Angler criteria is fair game. Think about your fishing skills and interests and how they can be best used anywhere in the state, not necessarily in Larimer County. A Master Angler longnose sucker, for example, is 18 inches. (They spawn in late spring, so get ready.) The Saint Vrain River from Longmont west into the foothills is a proven good place to start, and they don’t get much fishing pressure.
Study where past winning fish came from. Most came from Boyd, but that’s also the spot most frequently fished by club members.
And finally – likely the best advice of all – talk to your fellow club members. Danny Barker, for example, as Club President, is duty bound to share what he knows about all aspects of fishing, at least until his term expires Dec. 31. Most club members for that matter, Danny included, really are curiously willing to share their fishing knowledge. We can be embarrassingly open about where, how and when to go after the big ones. Modest by nature, though, most won’t volunteer information without being prompted.
Largemouth bass seem to be the predominant species entered each year, but Club Secretary Kathleen Barker set an unofficial state record for crappie in 2015 with an 18.75-inch crappie, measuring more than 133 percent of Master Angler criteria. (The state record is 18.25 but Kathleen, practicing catch and release, never had it officially measured.)
Read below to see where the biggest entries have come from over the years.
Here are the club’s Anglers of the Year, dating back to the 19 ½-inch largemouth taken by the late Tom Garland from Bass Pond in 2014.
2023: Danny Barker, 21-inch largemouth bass, Boyd Lake.
2022: Norm Engelbrecht, 28-inch walleye, Boyd Lake
2021: Danny Barker, 18.5 inch yellow perch, Boyd Lake,
2020: Bill Prater, 26-inch rainbow, Rivers Edge
2019: Danny Barker, 19.75-inch white bass
2018: Bill Prater’s 24-inch cutbow trout, South Delaney
In 2017, Danny Barker, 20.75-inch largemouth, Boyd Lake
2016: Dave Boyle, 23.5-inch brown trout, Boyd Lake
2015: Kathleen Barker, 18.75-inch crappie, Ish Lake.
2014: Tom Garland, 19.5 inch largemouth, Bass Pond
Rules are pretty much identical to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Master Angler criteria, except for the club requirement for public waters. (The top three entries will be honored at year’s end, and you don’t have to meet Master Angler minimum to enter. Try to get an honorable club member to witness the catch, or take a measurement photo that can be posted to the blog.
Here are CPW guidelines:
