(CO) JohnFinney
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Posts posted by (CO) JohnFinney
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Overview:
Willow Springs Ponds are located south of Colorado Springs near Fort Carson and on the edge of the Fountain Creek Regional Park. The ponds were originally gravel pits in the 1970’s. In the late 1980’s the county acquired them and with grant monies the ponds were stocked with both warm and cold water species in 1988. These ponds were once the most popular fishing spot in South East Colorado. Pond 1 to the North is about 7 acres in size, Pond 2 to the South, by the car park, is much smaller. Pond 1 has a depth of perhaps 14’ out in the middle and is generally shaped like a bathtub with fairly steep drop off from the bank. Pond 2 appeared to be certainly shallow on the north side, as it was iced over to the south I have yet to determine just how deep it goes.The venue has reasonable parking and restrooms that are open during the spring/summer/fall months. Bank access to both ponds is good with some shade from overhanging trees scattered around the edges of the water.
This location is also infamously known as the “Stink Ponds” – due to the proximity of a sewage treatment plant nearby and the direction of any prevailing winds, especially during the summer.
I do not believe boating of any type is allowed on either pond.
In 1997 PCE (Perchloroethylene) was detected in the ponds and they were closed to the public for fishing. Schlage Lock installed aerators on pond 1 (basically they look like a pair of large water fountains) in 1998 and the ponds were re-opened to the public with a Fish Consumption Advisory.More information on PCE and the advisory for Willow Springs Ponds can be found here:
http://adm.elpasoco.com/Parks/Documents/41207WSPHCfactsheet_v2.pdf
Stocking:I managed to obtain an update from the DoW on stocking and plans for Willow Springs Ponds. They note that a combination of rainbow trout, bluegill and channel catfish were stocked in 2012. In addition to those species they plan to stock largemouth bass in 2013. Common Carp have been reported to be in both ponds from a variety of web articles – and there are rumors of Grass Carp being introduced before 2012. Work continues to ensure water quality is improved and the DoW plans to keep improving this fishery in future to hopefully return the venue to it's former glory.
Willow Springs Ponds have hosted a number of “Fishing is Fun” for children events over the past few years. This will continue to be another "put and take" fishery for the locals.
Map:
Current Conditions & Trip Reports
3/3/2013
For my second session of the 2013 season I chose to fish Willow Springs Ponds on March 3rd. I had previously scouted them on the 2nd to ensure they were open - pond 2 was half iced over, pond 1 (with the aerators) was fully open. There was some snow on the ground surrounding both ponds and the ground was a little muddy - but at least the sun was out and for Colorado, start of March, it was a surprisingly pleasant day. The ponds were busy on both the 2nd and the 3rd with many families with children fishing the lake.
8am I setup on the west side of pond 1 – this gave me casting access to almost the whole body of water – though given the volume of people I would have been casting across their lines and decided to just fish out towards the aerator ahead of me. I had spent some time beforehand walking around the whole pond looking for signs of carp breaching, showing, bubbling, or swimming about in the shallows – water clarity was poor and the water had a slight greenish hue. After the whole circuit I had seen no signs of anything, carp or otherwise!I decided to go ahead and fish with both rods out, “ye old faithful” pineapple flavored sweet corn with panko pack bait, fixed rig, 9” leader to a size 6. I had the most success with this during 2012 and for a new venue thought it was worth a try. After a couple of hours working the area around the aerators I hadn’t even had a nibble, not a beep from the alarms – nada – none of the other fishermen around the lake had any action either, trout or otherwise.
The “quiet” time did give me a change to practice with my camera and tri-pod (for self-portrait) as I had just signed up for TOKS this year and needed to be able to photograph my slabs of gold with the accompanying pose of holding up the fish with team number card in view. After many attempts to work on correct positioning, and timing function on the camera, think I had it sorted out. Here’s a picture finally managed to take. I do confess to not including earlier efforts, especially the one when I thought I had it nailed, went back to review, and ended up with a great picture of the rods but with me nowhere in sight! Oops!
I also brought along my old Sony Handycam DV camera. I wanted to give video blogging a try and it was time to get some footage. I must say it was way harder than imagined, taking film, commenting into the mic and trying not to be “boring”. I think my commentary ended up like someone watching a cricket match – oh well, I am sure it can only improve with time.I switched up before lunch to fishing further to the right of the aerator and towards one end of the lake, I stuck it out with the same baits but to no avail. I also tried some pop-up flavored fake corn and a white squid boilie – neither of those had any better success and by lunch I was starting to think that perhaps the “Stink Ponds” were starting to stink!
Just after lunch my fortunes changed, albeit not in a carpy way. The trout appeared, in droves. Nudging, pulling, biting, eating and otherwise hammering my swim. I can only imagine that a large school of them were in the area as for perhaps an hour I was hounded with their action. I hauled in 3 rainbows, each perhaps 10-12” and I cannot count the number that took the bait and got away – my size 6 hook perhaps deterring more captures. They obviously enjoyed the corn and pack bait greatly. I did notice that my DIY pvc Rod Pod had a wee bit of a stability issue – being yanked around and wobbling precariously with but a small rainbow on the end of a line. I can only wait to see what happens when a nice 10lb’er carp takes the bait – the whole darn pod may go swimming with rods attached (reminds me, I am going to have to anchor it down for the next session!).
The trout finally left me in peace and headed on down the bank, I could see the anglers to my left starting to haul them out. The last 90 minutes or so were uneventful and having consumed all my coffee and almost all my nicotine sticks decided it was time to call it a day and head home.Alas, for my 1st session on Willow Springs I was defeated but I shall certainly return and give it a few more tries to see if the reports are true and some golden monsters lurk in those green depths.
On returning home I finished up my endeavors in putting together the 1st CarpQuest Colorado 2013 video – it’s not great, but hey, got to start somewhere. Here’s a link if you are so inclined to watch, sadly, the most action you will see is a friendly duck and a C130 cargo plane flying out of Fort Carson.
I don’t think I am a Spielberg yet for sure – if I can keep at them this year hopefully the quality and content will improve. As my brother noted, when he watched the video, I now owe him 6mins of his life
back for watching a fishing video with NO fish! Ouch, family is a harsh critic!Fin’s up!
John
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Badges printed (probably need to laminate them) and looking forwards to my first season in TOKS, getting out there the beginning of March and getting some fish on the bank!
John
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I have used Wacker, BCT and Resistance - and so far, fingers crossed, have not been hit (though i'm now checking on a daily basis) ! I would highly suspect that the root cause of this activity is coming from another source, be that a virus, screen scraper, trojan, a re-directed URL that wasn't noticed, etc. Of course, now I will have cursed myself and be beaten to death with fraudulent charges!
I would highly recommend that you ensure your virus definitions are up to date with whatever s/w you use, be that Windows Defender, Norton, McAfee et, that the s/w is actually enabled if you have it, that you do not click on "links" in emails, even from people you know, and that you are diligent in checking URL's on websites you visit. Always manually type in a website URL, rather than click on a link - especially for any site that requires you to enter credentials for identification.
My 2 pennies worth on this. It used to be 5 pennies, but with inflation, I need to cut costs by 60% !
John
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Congratulations... perseverance pays off!
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Congrats on the brace of buffs, hard work and deserved!
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I can only imagine that water skiing on this lake is as frightening for the participants as it is for everyone else around the lake ! Usually when i've been fishing there, and the skiers come out, it's time to packup and just go home!
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Overview:
Prospect Lake is located in downtown Colorado Spring’s Memorial Park. The lake has been there for a century and a new liner was installed in 2005 to alleviate issues with seepage. When the lake was drained to install the new liner a truck was found in the middle (not sure if they removed it or not!).
The lake has car parks and restrooms nearby and shore access is very good. There are children’s playgrounds on both the NE side, by the Veteran’s memorial and the SW side. The restrooms do appear to be closed during the winter months though there is a porta toilet over near the Memorial on the NE side of the lake.
Boats are allowed on the lake, jet skiers are common during the summer. Fishing is allowed from boats. Wakeless days are on Tuesday and Thursdays. The Lake is closed on Wednesday’s during the summer for the City Water-ski program during 8am-4pm.
Reported species include Black Bullhead, Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Cutthroat Trout, Grass Garp, Hybrid Striped Bass (wiper), Rainbow Trout, Saugeye and Walleye. Given the local “bucket” biologist’s just about anything could be caught from this lake, especially during the summer months. 2012 there was a report of a girl catching a piranha out of this lake, what’s next, jaws ?
The lake is "heavily" stocked by the DoW with stocker rainbows every year and is basically your typically Colorado put & take trout fishery.
Map:
Current Conditions & Trip Reports
I must have fished this lake half a dozen or more times during 2012. The locations I blanked out on Carp are marked with the red-dot. I did get a few small 2-3 lb’ers and finally a 12-14lb common from the green dot spot in the south east corner of the lake, fall of 2012. This seems so far to be a hard venue for me to fish, especially when the water skiers are out in force with little respect for anglers. I have caught the usual plethora of stocker rainbows and some small channel cats from along the south shore. Given this lake is stocked with grass carp, and the state record Grasser came from here a few years ago I will likely continue with a limited 2013 campaign at this lake.
2/23/2013
Finally, after too many months away from the fishing this winter, and with rumors that ice was off this lake, I braved the arctic weather and headed down to Prospect Lake on a very cold (7-10F) Saturday 8am morning. I had planned to meet up with my usual fishing buddy from work later during the day.Upon arrival at the lake I almost turned around and went home. The lake was frozen! However I could see a small slither of melt half-way up the NE side just down from the Veteran's Memorial. With the sun making an appearance, the wind picking up and being of course desperate to get some lines out, I decided to go for a walk around the lake and give the sun some time to hopefully thaw it out.
By 10am the small channel had opened up about 6’ wide and the ice out from the bank was pretty thin/skim - I reckoned a few good whacks with a long branch would break it up. The channel led out about 10 yards to a small open patch or water perhaps 30x10 yards. It was enough for me. The rods came out, the chair was unpacked and the DIY pod setup. 15 minutes later the lines were in the water and my 2013 carp campaign was begun. I checked my phone and it was a brisk 20F – perfect carping weather! Time for some coffee!
Though the day warmed up a little, 30F by lunchtime and highs into the 30s in the afternoon. The small area I was fishing continued to increase in size to perhaps an acre and the bank access thawed out for about a hundred yards – which of course meant every person in the State with a rod and reel decided to show up for their trout winter fest. I do admit the trout were all but flying from the lake onto the bank – was a darn good day for at least some fisherman.My hard-core fishing award so far this year goes to the fly-fisherman that waded out from the shore, into the skim ice and fished away. He even caught a few rainbows. That's what I truly call, dedicated, even with his waders on I bet he was darn freezing out there !
My work colleague did appear that afternoon and we had a few good hours fishing and chatting together. I tried a variety of baits, corn, flavored corn, pop-up fake corn, some bright red pop-up boilies all in vain – each with my previously successful panko pack-bait. Sadly the carp were having none of it. My first 2013 session ended with a blank but it was still darn good to get out and see the lines in the water. We were forced to pack up by 4pm as a blizzard was rolling in from the West over the mountains.
I shall return!John
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Only problem I see with the ATC event is that it obviously needed more Brits taking part. Hopefully 2014 we ex-pats can change that ! To my fellow Brits, in 2014, lets invade Texas and take that trophy away for Queen and Country !
John
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I am on board with Skeet, would be happy to fish with anyone here in Colorado (y'all seem to keep leaving this glorious State for other pastures new!). I managed to get a great days fishing in with our State chair, Andrew, last year. I hope this year to fish with some more CAG members, even if I do have to drive 600+ miles to finally to fish with some of you!
Everyone has something to learn, experiences to share and stories to tell. There's more to fishing for Carp than just the fish, there is the community, the camaraderie and the friendships you make over the years.
Fish-on !
John
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Looks like a stellar ATC so far...some great fish, PB's. Well done everyone!
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For sue, Chatfield is high on my to do list for 2013 ! Water levels were down drastically there last year... hoping this year will be better. We need some rain here!
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Colorado - DoW State Records - Released Carp
Source: http://wildlife.state.co.us/Fishing/AwardsRecords/RecordsbyLength/Pages/ReleasedFishRecords.aspx
As of "end of year, 2012"
Common Carp 42" Denver Pond David Torri
Common Carp 42" Chatfield Reservoir David Dashnaw
Grass Carp 46 1/2" Rock Creek Ponds Rory ChinattiSadly the State of CO does not allow for submissions for fish by weight. The fish in question must be weighed on a state-certified scale, and there must be a weight receipt signed by a person who witnessed the weighing. The fish, not frozen, gutted, or altered in any way, must be examined and identified by a Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) biologist or wildlife manager before an application is submitted. For the morbid for common carp this stands at 35 lbs 5 oz, 38 3/4" and for grass carp 51 lbs, 42". It is a darn shame you cannot submit by weight without killing the fish. On the plus side, I would guess that the current State Record fish (by length) may have exceeded the by weight fish and hopefully are still swimming in our waters today!
John
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Colorado 2011 - Master Angler Awards (Carp) Catch & Release
Source: http://wildlife.stat...terAnglers.aspx
Jackson Walker common carp 30" Lon Hagler Reservoir
Adam Beede common carp 30" Clement Park
Benjamin Wurster common carp 30" Pueblo Res.-North Shore
Adam Beede common carp 30 1/4" Clement Park
Chris DeFebio common carp 30 1/2" Jackson Lake
Kim Murphy common carp 31" Chatfield Reservoir
Jonathon Kleis common carp 31 1/2" Pikeview Reservoir
Lynn Powis common carp 32 1/2" Cherry Creek Reservoir
Jeremy Hillman common carp 32" Chatfield Reservoir
Chris Davis common carp 32" Jackson Lake
Jeff Solverson common carp 32" Pueblo Reservoir
John Chrestensen common carp 32 1/2" Douglas Co.
Terri Bridges-Hale common carp 33" Chatfield Reservoir
Marlee Davis common carp 34" Jackson Lake
Shane DuBois common carp 34" Cherry Creek Reservoir
Scott Parton common carp 35" Valco Ponds
David Dashnaw common carp 42" Chatfield ReservoirChuck Bellaire grass carp 31 1/2" Hatcher Reservoir
Forrest Hatch grass carp 32" Waneka Lake
Rory Chinatti grass carp 46 1/2" Rock Creek PondsNote: - Data did include "kept" specimens but I will not list that here.
John
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Colorado 2012 - Master Angler Awards (Carp) Catch & Release
For those interested in the rich bounty of Carp available here in the State of Colorado I have listed the DoW MA awards issued for 2012. Obviously this only notes those who submitted their Carp for the award, I am sure there were many many more. I will post the historical data I can find for previous years, so we can see the capture rate of specimen carp in this State. Is it trending up/down, are more/less anglers submitting their Carp for MA awards ? could this be a sign that Carp are slowly gaining popularity as a sportsfish here ? we shall see...
Source: http://wildlife.state.co.us/Fishing/AwardsRecords/MasterAnglers/Pages/MasterAnglers.aspx
James Kiefer common carp 30" Lake Merideth
Steven Sweatland common carp 30" Morgan Co.
Ian Christensen common carp 30 1/4" Lake Loveland
Nathan Ondik common carp 30 1/4" Public waters
Richard Sweatland common carp 30 1/2" Jackson Lake
Jeremy Hillman common carp 31" South Platte River
Jacob Hardy common carp 31 1/2" Cherry Creek Reservoir
Jonathon Kleis common carp 31 1/2" Pikeview Reservoir
August Hendrickson common carp 32" Idaho Creek
Craig Francies common carp 32" Pueblo Reservoir
John Chrestensen common carp 32 1/2" Douglas Co.
Terri Bridges-Hale common carp 33" Chatfield Reservoir
Charles Reese common carp 33 1/2" Pueblo Reservoir
Edward Ortiz c common carp 34" Poudre River
John Finney common carp 34" Pikeview Reservoir
Brian Koprowski common carp 34 1/2" Private PondKrystal Dalrymple grass carp 30" South Platte River
Brian Koprowski grass carp 32" Private PondNote: - Data did include "kept" specimens but I will not list that here.
Missed by 1/2" the award for best Carp caught, released and submitted in 2012. Oh well, what's 1/2" between friends eh ? 2013 - the award shall be taken for CAG members in Colorado !
John
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Inphamous - If you are still in the Colorado Springs area, drop me a email (merydian@msn.com) /or message here, would love to "hook" up this year for some Carp hunting in our local springs areas. Now, if the ice would just melt life would be good - at present would need dynamite to get a bait out and into the waters here! grrrrrrrrrrrrr..............
John
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Lots of great info and you have put a great deal of thought into it... nice work!
Only real observation i would have are:
You can start out carp fishing with just about any rod, reel combo, i would personally say medium action would be a good start, 6' or longer. Spinning reels with half decent drag would be an ideal base. 8lb+ line, thought great fights can be had on less. Bank sticks or something to hold onto your rod with to prevent seeing is float away! Hooks agreed, size 6-10, wide gape. Basic rigging could be a simple run rig with a plain 1oz egg sinker, 4-9" leader. Bait, just stuff hook full of corn and toss it out! Chumming darn works though need to check regs. Bite indication, can simply ledger with rod 90 deg to bait and watch tip.. wait for drag to sing or as most seem to do here stick rod tip up and wait for it to be yanked down with a bite!
The goal should be to get people into the sport, their first fish on, feel the rush of these golden monsters pulling and the exhilaration or catching their first carp! One of the things we want to dispel is the myth that to fish for carp you need 1000s in gear and tackle. Carp care tips certainly well worthwhile.
Hopefully you can highlight to the bass crew the joys and challenges of carp fishing and attract more people to the sport.
John
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Nice 1st fish of the year - congrats !
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Nice work - truly dedicated out in that snow !
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Great story...im sure you will catch one soon!
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The bottom of Pikeview does have some gravel, rocks, silt and weeds - I say weeds given the slew of them i reel back in attached to my leads at times. I've never seen a juvenille trout out of pikeview though so doubt if they do spawn the fry survive for long - then again, i've yet to see a juvenille carp either. If memory serves, only juvenille carp i've caught last year was a 1lb little baby from Adams Country Fairgrounds - so the carp certainy are spawning and surviving up there at least. Pikeview has saugeye, trout, northern pike, bass, blue-gills and other small fish I honestly don't recognise (no, not minnows!). Given the small size of the water, the general lack of cover, i'd suspect most fry would become fodder for larger fish darn quickly. Pikeview really is classified as a "put & take" fishery for trout with the other fish being a "bonus". Someone did pull at 24" northern out last year - there really cannot be many northerns left in there now.
"Honest, officer, you have to get the mix just right for it to stay together!"
Yeah, well, I need to figure out a new "line" for that this year. I was in the Circle Feed & Seed earlier today drooling over a nice 50lb bag of trout/bass pellets and some bags of field corn and maize. Not quite sure how I can work those into my pack (perhaps mix down the pellets fine and incorporate) and still have a hope to use the excuse of "it accidentally flew of the hook sir, and honest those darn carp & catfish, they have huge mouths and can eat down that pack ball in a single gulp and then get hooked!" I can somewhat get away with the catfish excuse as folks use some pretty huge size doughballs etc, when fishing for those.
2013 shall be a fun year ahead !
John
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Stunning fish and a well deserved winner. Well Done!,
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As if 2/2/2013, Pikeview Reservoir is still frozen over. Given the warm weather the past few weeks I had hoped it may be thawed out a bit - alas not. Spoke to a few folks I noticed Ice Fishing and they noted given the history and current weather conditions it will likely be thawed by end of Feb (same as last year). Of course another cold snap for a few weeks could push this out. Note: Ice Fishing is not actually allowed on Pikeview Reservoir, and with the local DoW office being within a few hundred yards, I was a little surprised to see people there.
John
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Holy Carp ! Just got to get myself out to this wonderful venue this year !
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Nicely done Willem!
Carp of the Month - February Winner
in 2013
Posted
Congrats Brendan, that's one fine looking slab there!