HARTSEL — Every fisherman worth his Wooly Buggers understands the importance of timing.
Get it right and he has a story worthy of re-telling for months to come. Miss and he encounters the bizarre situation that unfolded last week for the surprise opening of Spinney Mountain Reservoir — an event that, for reasons of sheer strangeness warrants recounting for months to come.
Among the curious circumstances that conspired to make this so:
• Friday’s official opening day, prompted by a stunning early thaw, was the second earliest since Colorado State Parks officials began keeping track of such things, only the second during March.
• The blizzard that blasted the lake Thursday and continued through opening morning made mockery of this early flirtation with spring.
“We had maybe 40 fishermen at the most,” a parks attendant said, describing what ranks as the lowest total ever. “It was below zero and snowing. Cold, just bitter cold.”
Veteran parks manager Kevin Tobey had a slightly different take on the shift in circumstances. “We were given a prediction of 30 percent chance of snow. Obviously, if I had it to do over again, I’d try to work with a different date.”
What evolved was not one opener, but two. More than three times as many anglers appeared early Saturday, when the thermometer vaulted to a balmy 9 degrees, bright sunshine appeared and — much to the detriment of the bite — the wind lay dead calm through the middle of the day.
None of this mattered one whit to Spinney’s prize rainbow trout, finicky creatures that keep a timetable totally apart from the wishes of fishermen.
In addition to the infatuation with an early opener, anglers tingled at the prospect of eager large trout, driven by spawning urges to the shallow shoreline. When this occurs, a remarkable fish-catching orgy typically ensues, replete with leaping lunkers and happy shouts all around.
The hardy few who braved Friday’s blow were rewarded with a solid bite, particularly those who threw small tube jigs. These fortunates caught trout pushing 20 inches; a high fish count also helped alleviate their suffering.
Most Saturday anglers had much less to cheer. What they found were pint-sized substitutes planted at 12 inches last fall, now grown plump at 13 or 14 inches. Few bragging-size fish were landed, prompting speculation that the best action is yet to come.
“I think it will be another week or two before the big spawners come in. You know they’re still are out there,” said Marc Wyman of Greenwood Village, an opening-day regular.
“Nothing but a bunch of dinks,” complained Katy Warner, a Breckenridge native who rarely misses an opener. Warner braved the Friday cold with marginal success. “We kept running back to the car to get warm. You were smart to wait a day.”
Steve Lewis of Colorado Springs made his appearance just past noon on Friday, landing eight trout, three that touched the magic 20-inch mark. A day later, his catch had shrunk both in size and number.
A boating ban that won’t be lifted until the inspection stations for invasive nuisance species are made operative on Saturday kept anglers from exploring the depths. Relatively few frost-footed pontoon boaters chose to challenge the cold.
This 2009 Spinney opener will be remembered for many things: discomfort, disappointment, confusion, sporadic success, camaraderie. Whether it yet produces tales of success that echo through the years remains to be seen.
