Simpson Ponds take one

June 13, 2012


An off day from the day job always welcomes a fishing trip, be it long or short, with or without friends.

This day was great, as I got to go fishing with my buddy James, our first outing together.

He hails from Loveland, some 15 miles to the south of Fort Collins, and he came and picked me up to show me around his stomping grounds around 3 p.m.

We cruised down to Loveland, while the smoke from the High Park Fire billowed wildly out of control into the thin Colorado air.

Our first stop on this wild Wednesday was at Long Hagler Reservoir, my first time, and apparently his first as well. We were shocked to see how shallow the water was, only dropping around a foot some 5-7 feet off the shore, and the broken shale lining the bottom was an ominous sign we shouldn't cast there. We hiked a good quarter of a mile down the south side of the reservoir and came across a thicket of bushes, where the water was certainly deeper, but we couldn't get to it without waders or, even better, a boat.

So we turned and wandered our way along the shoreline back to the truck and James decided we should head to Simpson Ponds.


I'd heard of them and the incredibly large large mouth bass that can be caught there, but had never been.

It's a simple little natural area, with three or four smallish ponds, with enough fishing area to serve lots of anglers at the same time.

At this point, it was hot, and the sun was mirroring off the lake and hitting me straight in the face as I fished facing west from the eastern shore, staring in disbelief at the immensity of the High Park Fire burning out of control in our view.

I also had to stare at my reel, noticing after losing my silver and blue Kastmaster at the Poudre River a few days before, my line was only at some 40 feet.

We started with some Rapala's that float on the surface of the water, mine a jointed one, with no success. I switched over to my Mepps clownfish colored lure, nothing. The black fury came out, to no effect. Just then, James caught a Crappie at around 6", our only catch of the day at Simpson. He caught it using a panter martin spinner.
I later moved over to his spot and got a few bites on a rooster tail, but didn't actually hook anything.

After an hour or hour and a half James decided we should leave, and even though I wanted to stay a little longer, we did.

It was a serene and quiet time at Simpson Ponds, and knowing how many giant bass there are--along with the many other types of fish--I'll certainly be back again, and soon.


Rich Kurtzman is a freelance journalist. You can follow Rich on facebook and/or twitter.