North Park Colorado

Fishing Delaney Buttes Lake

On Friday, we headed off fishing for the first time in 2011. It took a while to gather all the pieces for the boat, etc. When we hitch the boat to the 5th wheel, the entire rig is 62 feet long! The drive over was routine, although the traffic was heavier than usual, due to those leaving early on Friday afternoon.

We were hoping to see a moose, but no luck.

We bought our fishing licenses in Walden, where Richard talked about going out with a guide to try to learn to fish better. The guides suggested that we come back in the fall for a day of guided fishing.

South Delaney Butte Lake was a little more crowded than usual, but we found a decent campsite overlooking the lake. Richard went out in the boat in the evening, but no bites. He chatted in the dark with a fishing bum, sleeping in his van, with an unusual tiny ten foot boat, fully equiped, just big enough for one person on a small lake.

Saturday morning we slept in. Richard did a little midday fishing (it's called fishing, not catching). We headed in to Walden to go to mass; Richard saw an American Avocet on the way. There were about 25 people in the small church. The priest was one we recognized, he used to be in Boulder. There are now two priests covering two counties and five churches. We chatted with an couple after mass. He was a serious ice fisherman, a two time winner of the local ice fishing championship! They had lived in Walden since the 1940s.

After dinner, and around sunset, Richard went out in the boat, and caught a 14 inch trout on the first cast! He caught two more similar fish in the next 15 minutes, then nothing, but good to break the jinx. The fish were right at the legal limit, and Richard did not have an easy way to measure the fish, so he put them back. Marianne wanted him to keep some fish for her friends. Unfortunately, he also broke one of his fishing rods, but we have extra rods.

On Sunday morning we slept in again, and awoke to find the camper cold and the lake glassy. The thermometer says that it got down to 42 degrees overnight. Richard went out on the lake, but got off the lake around noon when the winds picked up. The winds later got strong enough to shake the camper. Richard went out in the evening, but no luck.

On Monday morning, Richard went out on the lake, and caught a couple of trout, one 15 inches and one 13 inches. The photo is of the smaller fish, which we kept. The day started out calm, but the winds returned by the afternoon.

Richard went out for the evening fishing and found himself in a hatch, with groups of fish slurping down something on the surface. Richard had a fish on with the first cast, but the fish headed to the bottom and wrapped around the weeds, so Richard only caught a clump of weeds! He had lots of bites, and some fish on, but only got one fish in his net. Richard found watching the fish activity to be quite entertaining. He never figured out which hatch had the fish so excited.

On Tuesday we drove back to Boulder, making a stop in the Wildlife refuge to go on the wetlands hike.