Club News Winter 2020-2021

Hope everyone has had as good of a holiday season this year. Here is the club news for winter 20-21:

A few neighbors searching for open water for a drink during a snowstorm in December.

Things have been very quite for the club as of recent. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the club has been forced to cancel most of the regular activities. The one exception has been the continued maintenance on the farm which is being done with a very small, core crew. We’re optimistic that we will be able to move back to normal near the second half of 2021, but we’re constantly monitoring the situation.

Farm Improvements

Last summer we made some much needed improvements to the collection lines that feed the clean, 60 degree water to our fish. Since then, we’ve seen a noticeable bump in our water flow and it has created a healthier environment for our fish. Again we would like to thank both Alvin, a long member of our club for donating his time and efforts and the property developer for graciously working with us to make this happen. Since the improvements, we’re able to keep water running in the runs without fish as well. This keeps the runs a lot cleaner when we move the fish during cleaning.

Farm Update

As mentioned above there aren’t many big updates at the farm. We received our new fish shipment from Parks and Wildlife this summer and they have been progressing great. We recently invested in new nets for the farm which will help out a lot. The old ones were on their last legs and almost completely held together with mends.

Unfortunately during one of the early winter storms, a piece of construction insulation made its way into the run containing the bigger fish we hold in the farm for an extra year. This resulted in a somewhat large fish kill which was very disappointing for us. Losing fish is a normal part of the raising process, however this instance was larger than normal and hit the fish we love putting in the kids’ ponds the most. It was most likely a very unlucky occurrence but a reminder that Boulder is a windy place, so remember to secure your trash.

Film Digitization

The club has been in possession of some great old footage of stocking efforts in the Indian Peaks Wilderness during the 1950s. With Film being a medium that degrades over time, we would love to get this footage preserved digitally. It’s not the cheapest process and we’re hoping to find a place that can clean up the footage as well. If you have any information on how to go about such or have services that can help. Please contact us through the contact us page.

We hope everyone has a great winter and we’ll be back for another update in spring. Thank you for your continued help and support!

Club News Spring/Early Summer 2020

Hope everyone has been staying safe during these tough times. Here is the club news for spring of 2020.

Covid19 Pandemic Response

The club has done it’s best to take proper precautions during this time. As mentioned in the previous post, we unfortunately had to cancel the kids’ fishing derby this past weekend. We’re excited to have it back next year, though.

Extra precautions are being taken at the farm as well. We’re keeping cleaning crews to a minimum and proper protective gear is required by all working. In addition, we’ve modified our stocking procedure to minimize close contact.

Kids’ Ponds

We will continue stocking the Kids’ Ponds through the summer. Last weekend, 500 Trout were stocked into the ponds with a good 100 of our 2-year holdovers (17”+ in Length). With maintenance to the collection lines coming up, we’re doing our best to keep as few fish in the farm. So expect more stockings in the near term.

Farm and Maintenance

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New inspection boxes will make future maintenance easy.

Development at an adjacent property has opened the opportunity to replace very old collection lines. For those who don’t know, the fish farm is run entirely by spring and ground water. There is no electricity used in the process of raising the fish (Michael does have power in the caretaker’s residence). The collection lines used for collecting the large amounts of ground water that run under the adjacent properties have not been replaced since the 1970s. This past week, the lines were replaced and upgraded to allow for better maintenance ensuring that they will be operation far longer than the current ones were (50 years). The project will be complete in time for our annual bio-test and next round of fingerling fish. Extra care has been taken to make sure during all this work that the remaining fish stay healthy.

Looking Ahead to Summer

Activity will continue to be slow through the summer months as we as well as the community focus on getting through this pandemic. At the moment we’re holding off on new volunteers to keep numbers down at the farm cleanups, but please continue to submit your interest. We have a backlog going that we’ll address when we’re ready to bring in new volunteers.

Stay safe and enjoy what Colorado summers have to offer!

Cancellation of the 2020 Kids’ Fishing Derby

The Boulder Fish and Game Club, founded in 1908, is focused on bringing an awareness and appreciation of fishing along the Colorado Front Range - from our legacy in stocking trout in high-alpine lakes to our proud sponsorship and support of the Kids’ Fishing Derby.  The Kids' Fishing Derby was first held as a Huck Finn and Betty Thatcher themed fishing event in 1949 at the Evert Pierson Kids' Fishing Pond near 6th and Canyon and has been held annually since the 1970s, with the exception of the two years post-flood of 2013 when it was held at Harlow Platts park (Viele Lake).  

This community event has been so popular in recent years that we expect to exceed the City of Boulder threshold for large gatherings. Therefore, in support of the Governor and the community’s desire to protect ourselves through social distancing, the Boulder Fish and Game Club has decided to cancel this year’s Kids’ Fishing Derby.  

Looking forward to seeing you all at next year’s Kids’ Fishing Derby in 2021!

High Lake Stocking

In mid-September, Boulder Fish and Game Club was given the opportunity to help Colorado Parks & Wildlife stock the high lakes in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area in western Boulder County. The trip involved a pretty rugged 5 mile round-trip hike with packs full of fish. But we were happy to help!

The bags were carried up to the lake in backpacks. With the journey to the lake being around 2.5 miles, it was no easy feat.

The club along with some helpful friends backpacked a total of 11500 Cutthroat Trout into 3 lakes off of the Forth of July Trailhead. We put 6000 into Diamond Lake, 3000 into Banana Lake, and 2500 Cutthroats into Lower Cony Lake. The majority of the fish made the journey (99%) and swam off into their new home.

Some of our friends who helped to get these bags up to the lake. Thank you again to all those who helped out!

High Lake stocking has been a tradition in the club since the 1950s. We’re happy to be back helping with it and hope to continue to keep the lakes of the Indian Peaks Wilderness full of healthy fish to catch for years to come.

Closeup of one of the bags of fish ready to be released into the lake.

Meeting in Nederland before heading up to the trailhead.

Closeup of the Fingerling Cutthroat Trout.

Releasing the fish to their new home.

Club News Fall 2019

Hope you all had a wonderful summer! Here is the club news for late summer/early fall 2019.

Helping Colorado Parks & Wildlife with Fish Surveys

Fish Farm

Things are fairly business as usual at the fish farm. We passed our bio test in early July. The bio test happens every year and insures that the environment we’re providing the fish is a healthy one. Once that’s confirmed, we’re able to get our next batch of Cuttbows to raise (again, big thank you to Colorado Parks & Wildlife for providing these). Since then, they’ve been doing great and settling in well. We’re also finally down to our 150 fish holdover number which resulted in a lot of stocking over the summer (more on that in the stocking section). Cleanings still happen every other weekend and we can always use extra help. Use the help out button at the top to send us an email for more info.

Kid’s Ponds and Stocking

The kid’s ponds saw an incredible summer. The kid’s derby was a success and saw a lot of kids bringing in a lot fish. Thank you as always to all our supporters and donations from local businesses. Check out our supports page for a full list.

A great snow-pack meant great water flow in and out of the ponds all summer, at no point did we need to consider closing the head gates. This meant there was healthy and happy fish to be caught all summer. Due to a better than usual yield of holdover fish from last winter, we were able to stock every month this summer from May to October. So there might still be some chances to catch fish if there’s some warm weekends in November.

A special thank you from the club to members of our community who have worked to keep the area clean; from creek cleanups to passersby throwing out trash. Thank you.

Fish Surveys

The club got a great opportunity to help out Parks & Wildlife with some fish surveys. These surveys help to determine if work is needed in terms of sustaining healthy fish populations in the area. The surveys we helped with were mostly on different parts of South Boulder Creek. Below are some photos.

High Lake Stocking

For the first time since the 2013 floods, the club got to stock the high lakes for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Again, we would like to thank them for the opportunity to help and hopefully we can stock more next year! Head over to the news post on stocking here for more info.

Club News Late Spring/ Early Summer 2019

Hope everyone has had a great spring thus far and made some time to get out fishing!

The Kid’s Ponds on the morning of the stocking before the derby.

Kids Derby

We hope everyone had a great time at the kid’s fishing derby. We had great turnout and lots of kids getting into fish. As a side note, we also saw some great fish handling techniques, a big part of learning the art of angling. The winning trout came in at 20.5 inches. Again a big thank you to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, our sponsors (check out the sponsor page for the full list), and the community that comes out, supports the derby, and has fun.

Farm Update

Everything is business as usual at the farm. The fish are happy and healthy and with the stocking for the kid’s derby, there’s plenty of room for the remaining fish. The next big event is the biology test in July and should we pass, the next batch of fish will be delivered after that.

Kid’s Ponds

Despite the cold winter, a good population of the fish in the ponds made it through the winter. These fish along with the fish stocked for the kid’s derby should make for a great summer of fishing. The abundant snow pack this year should keep cold, fresh water flowing into the ponds keeping the fish happy. Stocking will happen intermittently through the summer as well.

Helping Out

As a reminder, we can always use help down at the farm. Check out the Help Out tab in the upper left for more information.

2019 Kids Fishing Derby

The 2019 kids fishing derby is on Saturday, May 25th from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Evert Pierson Kids Ponds as part of the Boulder Creek Festival. Rods (and tackle) will be provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and prizes will be awarded every hour and also at the end of the derby. The derby is open to all kids 12 and under. Both live bait and lures are allowed, but we recommend bending the barb down on the hooks, especially for those looking to fish catch-and-release.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife and The Boulder Fish and Game Club will be stocking the ponds especially for the derby, so their will be plenty of fish to catch. In addition, there will be club members and volunteers there to help and give helpful tips. If you have any questions please use the “Contact Us” link under the About tab at the top of the page. 

Club News Late Winter 2019

The kids’ ponds fully frozen over (early March).

Hope Everyone has had a great winter! Here’s the club news for the past couple of months.

Fish Farm

It’s been business as usual at the fish farm. Nothing of note to report other than the fish are happy and healthy and we’ll have some incredible fish ready for the derby this May.

Kids Derby

The kids fishing derby will once again be held the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Look for the official announcement here on the site in the next few weeks.

Kids Ponds

With a good, cold winter. The kids ponds both froze over almost completely. What this means for the fish in there at the moment is unclear at this point. However, as a reminder, it’s not a great idea to venture out onto the ice.

Extra Help

We’ve been fortunate enough to have some extra help from some local school groups this winter. Both the Boulder High Fly Fishing Club and a group of fifth graders from Whittier Elementary helped out at the farm this winter. We’re very grateful for the extra help and as a reminder are always looking for more help down at the farm. Check out the “Help Out” button at the top for more info.

Owl visitor

Finally, we did have one more visitor at the farm this winter. A Great Horned Owl graced us with it’s presence for a week or so. We believe it was having a lot of success hunting for food in the area (don’t worry, it wasn’t bothering the fish).

The owl kept watch over our progress during a Saturday run cleaning.

Boulder Central Park Fish Salvage

At the end of November, Boulder Fish and Game Club got the opportunity to help out with fish salvage in a seasonal irrigation ditch. The ditch diverts from Boulder Creek at Boulder Central Park. Every early November, the ditch is closed off leaving fish that may have made their way into the ditch cutoff from being able to get back into the creek. As the water evaporates or dissipates into the ground, the fish get stranded into smaller pools which makes survival difficult during the winter months.

Pool that had formed at the head gate. Believe it or not, we rescued about 200 fish from this pool.

The Club along with Boulder Flycasters, local business RepYourWater, and Boulder City Employees were able to rescue around 200 fish in the small pool that had formed right at the gate in Boulder Central Park. Using nets and buckets, the fish were quickly rounded up and released back into Boulder Creek.

We’d like to thank Boulder city for the opportunity to help give these fish a fighting chance and Boulder Flycasters and RepYourWater for helping out as well.

Fish being caught and put into buckets where they were run over to Boulder Creek (about 100ft to the right of this photo).

Some of the fish being relocated. We saw most of the species typically found in Boulder Creek; Rainbow Trout, Brown Trout, Sucker Fish, and possibly a few Dace. Sizes ranged from 2-3in. all the way up to over a foot.

Club News Late Fall 2018

Hope everyone had a great fall fishing season! Here’s the club news for the end of fall 2018.

First Run at the Farm.

Farm Update

As we move into winter, the farm goes into a bit of low maintenance mode. The runs are still cleaned every other week, but other “side-duties” are held off until springtime. The water flow from Crystal Spring has been more than adequate through the fall and shouldn’t be an issue into winter.

Kids Ponds

Due to lower than normal creek flows, the gate at the kids ponds were closed off for a month in late August into September. We believe this didn’t do much harm to the fish population. With a wetter fall, the gates were back open and things were back to normal. Situations like this will occur very infrequently in situations where other irrigation and water rights take precedent. The good news here is that Parks and Wildlife did stock the ponds in late September.

Biology Report

Each year. the farm must complete a biology test to make sure the fish we’re raising are healthy as is the farm’s water quality. As always, we passed with flying colors. 65 fish were harvested and tested. Luckily only internals get tested, so the rest of the fish made for a delicious meal for one of the local senior centers. As always, we thank our caretaker, Michael Thompson, for all the work he does to keep the fish happy and healthy.

Irrigation Ditch Salvage

In late November, we were asked by the city to help in the salvage of fish who had gotten trapped in a seasonal irrigation ditch that was getting shut down. Head over to the full article here to read more.