HARTSEL — Jeff Skinner knows a thing or two about tradition. With Bill Carey of Eagle, the Colorado Springs angler was first in line Saturday morning when the gate to Spinney Mountain Reservoir opened for the season.
“It’s the first time I’ve been first in line, but I’ve been coming up here for years,” said Skinner, who arrived at 6:17 p.m. Friday. And while visions of leaping rainbows danced in his head, he spent the night fitfully sleeping in a parked car, waiting for the magic hour to arrive.
“It’s the anticipation of being first on the water and of getting that first big fish,” Skinner said. “And, of course, it’s become a tradition.”
Others soon began arriving — from Gypsum, from Denver, from scattered points along the Front Range, sharing in the camaraderie of the wait. Fish stories were told, preliminary strategies laid out and tackle readied as the sun began to set.
Sixteen cars — down a little from some years but more than last year, when opening day and a raging blizzard arrived at about the same time — were waiting when the lock came off the gate. Skinner arrived at his favorite spot just ahead of another fisherman and, indeed, believes he caught and released the first fish of the day.
Other fishermen continued to arrive. A little before noon, 120 vehicles had passed though the main gate, as counted by Darlene O’Brien, a staff assistant at Elevenmile/Spinney Mountain State Park. One by one, they still were trickling in.
“Normally, we open sometime in mid-April,” O’Brien said. “This year, it’s been cold and the ice was thick. That might have kept the number down a little, but even so, we’ve been pretty busy.”
After the initial activity, fishing hit a lull. Soon enough, almost everyone up and down the shoreline was catching fish. While the tubes produced for spin-casters, fly-rod fishermen began scoring on scud patterns and Woolly Buggers.
“The fish came in about the time the waves kicked up,” Skinner said. “The wave action must have stirred up some moss and scuds. That’s why the fly fishermen started getting into fish.”
Early-departing fishermen who stopped by the gate on their way out reported good action for mostly rainbow trout in the 16- to 17-inch range, though some were running up to 24 inches, above the reservoir’s 20-inch minimum size restriction. One angler reported catching more than 20 trout, and a rumor of a 29-inch brown trout, caught and released, also was making the rounds.
Fishing later in the season could be as good as or better than on the opener, but other days just don’t have the same magic.
Opening-day traditions fulfilled, Skinner prepared to leave. He will return.
