By Phil Moy
We had high winds last night with storms. There were even tornadoes in nearby communities. While Pueblo did not suffer any significant damage, today the wind was quite blustery with sustained wind speeds around 30 mph and higher gusts.
I was at the marina at 5:30 am for the boat inspection cue and launch. There are 37 boats (teams) registered. Most of the anglers are from Colorado and for the majority, this is their first MWC tournament. The primary purposes of this morning’s inspections is safety and cheating prevention, because the boats had already undergone invasive species inspection during pre-tournament fishing. Anglers must open their live wells to prove they don’t have a fish hiding in the compartment. Each boat must have a throwable flotation device, the horn must work (or they need a sound-making device) and they need to have a fire extinguisher on board. At the end of the inspection each team is provided a “boat board” that they must return at the end of the day to ensure they return safely.
The park Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) inspectors ensured that each boat had a yellow tag wired between the bow eye and the trailer. The yellow tags are unique to the state park. This ensures that the boat has not been launched elsewhere since being pulled from the water yesterday. This way the inspectors know the boat left the lake clean and is returning clean. It saves a lot of inspection time and effort.
I was invited to sit in on the boat inspection/decontamination class again today. Participants were learning about the decontamination equipment and how to use it properly. It was interesting watching the would-be inspectors try out the large stationary unit located about a half mile north of the reservoir in the middle of a prairie dog village. Colorado inspectors use 120- to 140-degree water to first kill the ANS on or in the boat, then high-pressure spray to remove the organisms from the surface of the hull and trailer.
The first day weigh-in will take place at 5 this afternoon. It’ll be interesting to see how the fishing was with the wind. At noon, there were white caps near the dam on the open body of the reservoir.
Maybe tonight I’ll track down a “slopper,” a local specialty. It’s an open-face burger topped with green chili sauce. I heard there’s a good place for them down the road a bit. If there’s time, I might also check out Shamrock Brewing Company, the local brew pub.
