My First Fishing Derby Win!

​As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, the Colorado State Parks are near and dear to my heart. And especially camping, fishing, hiking, photographing, snowshoeing and wandering around in them hither and yon. Lugging my A-frame camper over mountain passes and for hours on end isn’t my favorite pastime. So I tend to camp in the state park, national park (RMNP, woot!), and county campgrounds within a few hours of me here in Northern Colorado. 

But I’ve been well aware that four state parks are located in the general vicinity of each other in Southern Colorado. So, once I would get down there, I could do a tour of all four with little additional driving. And so 6 months out (since campsite reservations open up 6 months prior to arrival date), I mapped out the May/June 2022 adventure and secured choice campsites at each of the 4 parks:

• 2 nights at John Martin Reservoir State Park
• 3 nights at Trinidad Lake State Park
• 3 nights at Lathrop Park
• 2 nights at Lake Pueblo State Park 

In preparation, as always, I studied each park’s trail maps, birdwatching lists, and the potential wildlife I might see. And since all 4 of these state parks have lakes, I investigated the fishing situation.

​I’ve been a trout angler here in Colorado for years, but more recently, I’ve set my sights on other species as well. These lakes offered me a fun opportunity to land a few new ones. And… since I planned to get my kayak out on all 4 lakes, I established Sue’s Solo Fishing Derby, with the winner landing at least one fish in each of the lakes. 

​Well, guess what? I won! Not only that, I ended up catching 6 different species of fish, including rainbow trout, brown trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, walleye, and black crappie. Here are few of the many fish I caught...

​Besides winning my inaugural fishing derby, I hiked many miles of amazing trails, photographed a wide variety of beautiful wildlife, sat at the edges of lakes doing absolutely nothing, and enjoyed a cozy time in my camper.
 

This makes 26 state parks visited of Colorado’s 43 state parks. I’m over halfway through my state park bucket list, folks. I’m also a winner. ​