FORT COLLINS — By nearly every measure, it was a tough day for fishing. But it proved to be a great day for kayaking.
Such is the allure of kayak fishing and the newfound appeal of the Colorado Kayak Fishing Club. When the fish aren’t biting, as was the case at the club’s second tournament this season at Horsetooth Reservoir on Saturday, there is solace found in a sleek vessel gliding across the water.
“Yeah, it’s a little exercise, a little sightseeing,” said Chris Lee, who co-founded the club alongside CKFC president Johnny Wegienka. “But mostly it’s not working. That’s what we’re getting today.”
Humor aside, some 30 participating kayak anglers made their way to Horsetooth for the 6 a.m. launch of the competition to see who could land the largest cumulative tally of three bass, trout or walleye from their self-propelled watercraft. When the smoke cleared, only Mark Farmer of Jefferson County managed to land three fish of any breed, eventually tripling that tally with nine smallmouths to win the tournament — the first he had ever entered.
“You know what that means: I’ll never get anything in any other tournament again,” Farmer said. “I just joined the club two or three weeks ago, just to meet some people and expand my social circle. If they don’t hate me know, it might work out pretty well.”
Respect, rather than ire, tended to be the consensus among the competitors eager to learn Farmer’s secrets. But the former Colorado Division of Wildlife creel census surveyor was the first to admit that he pretty much got lucky this time around. After paddling several miles and coming up short at an anticipated hot spot, he got hungry and returned to camp for lunch. After lunch, he stumbled into the schooling fish less than 150 feet from where he slept the night before.
Farmer is a convert of the powerboat culture who took up kayak fishing five years ago when the big boat simply proved too much for one man.
“In a kayak, it’s easy, it’s quiet and you get your exercise,” Farmer said. “And I have caught more fish out of that kayak than I ever did out of my powerboat. You fish slower and you fish more carefully because you don’t have the whole lake at your disposal. You have an area, so you pick apart that area more carefully and more thoroughly, and with more precise presentations.”
Thanks to the Colorado Kayak Fishing Club, which officially launched in 2012 but only recently began gathering steam, the number of uninitiated is shrinking. The club has grown to more than 300 members registered on its and is scheduled to host four more tournaments through Aug. 22, including a bass/walleye tournament at Pueblo Reservoir on May 16, bass/trout/walleye/wiper tournament at Aurora Reservoir on June 13, a trout/pike tournament at Eleven Mile Reservoir on July 25 and the final trout/pike event at Spinney.
Clearly not all club members are interested in competing, although many who try competing quickly discover they enjoy it.
“The competition kind of drives me a bit,” said Aaron Kerchner of Littleton.
Yet, as any kayak angler will tell you, the effort is countered by its simplicity.
“I just got a kayak 2½ months ago, so this is my first tournament,” said Jeff Reising of Colorado Springs. “I just got tired of sitting on the shore. The kayak is pretty simple, straightforward. Plus, it’s good exercise. That’s the way I look at it.”
And tournament fishing from such an intimate vessel offers its own set of rewards, Lee added.
“I’ve been competitive my whole life, but never with fishing, so I didn’t know if I wanted to go there. But then I settled in with it, and it’s awesome,” Lee said. “Plus it gives us a reason to get like 40 people together and kayak. Man, it’s really fun.”
Scott Willoughby: swilloughby@denverpost.com or twitter.com/swilloughby
