Fishing the Poudre River: Take Three

June 22, 2012

I've got fishing fever, what can I say?

After going out with Anderson to North Shields Ponds and the Poudre for a few hours the day before, I still had the urge to get out and get my line wet again.

So, I set off for the Poudre River, Riverbend Ponds to be more specific, just east of Lemay on the Poudre Trail.

I biked over there after work, and arrived at the same spot as in my first trip there only a few weeks earlier, which is right off the bike path.

The water was noticeably higher, at least another 6" in the middle, and moving at a higher rate of speed.

I figured it was a good sign there'd be more fish to catch, and it seemed that way.

I started off with the balls o' fire once again, just like I did the day before a few miles upstream with Anderson.

But there, it was quite shallow and the hook was able to sink to the bottom easily. At my favorite spot, the river was moving too fast to allow the hook and bait to sink where I wanted it to, so I gave up and switched to lures.

First I tried my new 1/8 oz. silver and blue Kastmaster, the same lure I lost the last time I was at that spot and caught three fish on. I had no luck, though a few nibbles, with it.

So I switched again to some spinners, and my little yellow and black spinner landed my first fish of the day.

It was a pretty 7" rainbow trout that grabbed on near the middle of the river and only around 20 feet from the shore.

It got my blood pumping and I kept that lure on the line.

Around 10-15 casts later, no bites, so I switched to a rooster tail that landed a greatly sparkled rainbow.

I actually thought of grabbing the tape measure, and he measured in at 11", not bad for the Poudre River.

I nursed him back to health and got him swimming again.

After around three hours, I called it a night and rode the bike back home happy.

On my way home, this striking sunset was in my view, with the smoke of the High Park Fire billowing wildly out of control.