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Annual Eagle Claw In Fisherman Trip
Posted on: May 18, 2009
Posted in: Hooks, News From Chris
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This week the boys from In-Fisherman were in Denver. We met at the factory for a meeting about advertising, promotions and all the “work” stuff pretty boring – right? Well, after a couple hours of that, we decided we had better things to do like catching some fish. We packed up and headed for the mountains west of town and Lake Granby. The nice folks at YMCA of the Rockies provided a great cabin for us so we settled in.
Now, over the years this trip has become an annual tradition and since competition is part of the fun, we have added a BBQ cook off between Denver and Brainerd, between Pork and Beef, between Ribs and Brisket. All I can tell you is Steve Hoffman from In- Fisherman and I always win. You see a couple of the other guys, Doug and Jim, started this BBQ competition (actually a feud) and ever since our whole job is to eat and see which one is best. As long as it is a draw every year the BBQ keeps on coming. As you can imagine there was never a clear winner. Each one has its own special flavor and strong points. Oh well, maybe next year I can decide………
Anyway off to fishing; early the next morning we met up with two of our favorite guides, Bernie Keefe and Steve Gerber sg2no@hotmail.com. These guys have been going on this trip with us for the last several years and always seem to know how to find some good Lake Trout out on Granby. This year was no exception. With the threat of strong winds later in the day, we got up early and started casting Swimbaits and bumping bottom with tube jigs. Matt Straw, a writer from In-Fisherman and nicknamed “Trout”, because of his knack for catching trout all across the country and his love for Steelhead, hooked up first. It was a good fish and its strong run deep across a rock pile accounted for a short-lived battle.
We all took turns hooking up for a better part of the morning with tube jigs or Bunny jigs until the wind drove us off the lake by mid afternoon. Steve Hoffman ended up with big fish honors for the morning with a fish of about 25 lbs. or so swimming a Bunny Jig over a deep hump.
Bernie and Steve had a plan for the evening bite so we recharged the boat batteries and our own before heading out at about 5:30, hoping for a little less wind. The evening started out tough with me missing more than my share of chances. We made the switch to crankbaits and I hooked up first thing with a fish close to 20 lbs. Two minutes later Doug finds a big fish with a crankbait and not to be out-done, pushes over the 20 lb. mark.
The other boat with Steve and Matt in it claims to have caught a fish of 25 lbs. but without a picture, who’s to say?
The next morning we were back on the lake early and it looked like we were finding just the little guys, 2-5 lbs. The winds were strong out of the north but we held in and Doug finally got a bite from a big fish. After a tough battle he was able to boat a nice Laker of about 28 lbs. and after a quick photo, we released it back to the depths. With an airline check-in time looming, we called it a day and headed back down the mountain to Denver.
Steve, Matt and Jim from In-Fisherman said their goodbyes with the promise of more BBQ and big Lake Trout on the calendar for next May.