SOUTH PARK — Sometimes it’s simply a test of will.
On a day when you could almost actually see the barometric pressure falling through the tunnel formed by your hood, the first Saturday of the season at Spinney Mountain Reservoir posed such a challenge.
Braced against the gale, knee-deep in sub-50 degree water with whitecaps lapping their thighs, the dedicated and resilient South Park anglers returned to the bountiful fishery in search of spring rainbows to make it all worthwhile.
The fish, for the most part, cooperated.
“I caught a 20-inch rainbow on my second cast,” Alfredo Arguelles of Colorado Springs said after releasing the first of several plump trout. “That’s the biggest one I’ve caught here, but it isn’t big enough.”
Longtime Spinney anglers can take some consolation in the achievements of Arguelles and others lining the wind-whipped banks of the stark reservoir last weekend. For years, the talk of trout “not big enough” was a disheartening reminder of rip-the-rod-from-your-hands, pre-whirling disease rainbows that were replaced by stocks of trout well below the 20-inch mark that qualifies as a keeper under Spinney’s strict creel limit.
Fishermen were left to reminisce about the glory days of the majestic fishery, debating the results of the Division of Wildlife’s continuing program to stifle northern pike numbers against the introduction of a new strain of fast-growing and whirling disease-resistant trout known as the Hofer-Harrison hybrid.
Whether those efforts would work and how long it might take seem to have been answered as fishermen and biologists reported increasing numbers of trout nosing beyond that 20-inch cutoff. The big lake that opened to fishing for the 2011 season last Wednesday still remains one of the most productive fisheries in the region.
“I come here because I want to get a big fish. There’s big fish here,” said Arguelles, accompanied by his son, Alfredo Jr., and regular fishing partner, Joshua Mandragon. “I want something to get a (Colorado Master Angler) patch. Like 25 inches, that’s what we strive for.”
Fishermen may not have to wait much longer to find such specimens, thanks to the rapid-growing Hofer-Harrison trout in Spinney.
The attributes of the hefty Hofer rainbows brought over from Germany because of their resistance to whirling disease are combined with the Harrison Lake rainbow in order to reduce the amount of domesticated Hofer genes in the new broodstock. The introduction of “wild” genes theoretically creates a hybrid better adapted to reproduction and survival in natural systems.
Anglers in search of the trout that have made their way to Spinney’s shallows in a futile effort to spawn outside of a stream could benefit from some of those hardy genetics as well.
Denver native Scott Thompson has traveled to Spinney on opening day for more than 20 years, showing up Saturday with his boss at the Minturn Anglers fly-fishing shop, Matt Sprecher, to test the waters. With spring runoff looming for nearby rivers, the reservoir offers well-rounded fishing guides such as Thompson () an opportunity to put clients onto the big fish he grew up catching alongside his father.
Thompson’s Spinney-specific tackle included three flies strung beneath a strike indicator, split shot and swivel on 3X fluorocarbon tippet, typically consisting of a size 10 halfback, size 14 red egg pattern or San Juan worm, trailed by a copper John or small scud derivative. While it takes some skill to cast in a stiff breeze, the proven reservoir rig attracts its share of healthy prespawn rainbows.
Still, it isn’t quite like the good old days, Thompson admits. At least not yet.
“Fifteen years ago, I can remember catching 10-pound cutthroats and rainbows over 30 inches long,” Thompson said. “It’s kind of like a failed marriage that you keep coming back to. You remember the good times, so you keep coming back, trying to rekindle the magic.
“We’ll just have to love it back to life for another 15 years, I guess.”
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
