A week of bad luck

Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't.

On the week of Independence Day, July 4-9, I didn't have it.

The Fourth of July, what better way to celebrate Independence Day than to get outside and enjoy nature?

I went out east, to Prospect Ponds. Originally, the destination was Riverbend Ponds, but I stopped a little short and tried the ones off of Prospect and Sharps Point.

It was my first time there, and the water was incredibly murky, green and seemingly lifeless.

Of course, it was midday--and a hot high-90s day at that--which could have all the fish hiding and resting.

After an hour of throwing my entire tackle box at them, and roasting in the sun, I moved a few hundred feet away to the Cache La Poudre River. At the first spot, there was no luck, though I saw a small bass go for the yellow Rooster Tail on the first cast.

Off to just north of Prospect I went, and found a sandy beach area across from a downed tree. This, I thought, would be where I would catch some fish.

Luckily, I did catch one, a small bass, which salvaged the long day.

A few days later, I went out on Sunday night, after work and before softball, to the McMurry Ponds, on the north end of Fort Collins.

It was my first time at the ponds, and they were small and a quite cloudy on this evening.

I started with spinners, as per usual, switched to Kastmasters, and even tried balls o' fire on the bottom.

No luck, in only an hour and a half.

The next night, it was off to a private lake for a little over an hour, with no fish caught once again.

I guess that's why they call it fishing, and not catching.