Day after Christmas hunt and shoot!

The day started at 5:30 as I got up and tried to find my way through the house, quarter to 6 got Parker on his feet and moving, in the truck packed and rolling to Joe's house by 6.  Loaded and the road by 6:10 and off to Cracker Barrel where we were meeting up with the rest of the group.  Danny Adams put this together, a bunny hunt and game of clay pigeon blasting, he called Annie Oakley, I felt it more appropriately called Wild Bill since there weren't any girls among us.  Met up with the group, 15 total, all friends, team mates, and OHS Grads.  It was great seeing all of them again I hadn't seen most of them since they graduated and I was there coach.  Re-introductions took place for me since I had forgotten a couple names, damned old age....LOL.  Sat down had a bite to eat and told stories and listened to stories for about an hour.  We took off and headed south ending up about a mile past the Painted Rocks turn off to Yuba.  On the way down we noticed the temperature kept dropping finally bottoming out at -12 degrees, by the time we unloaded and got ready to shoot it was a BALMY -4 instant nose hair freeze.  We took off in search for bunnies kicked one up within 5 minutes we thought alright a day of shooting and maybe some cottons for the smoker later.  Well that was just a tease we hiked and saw a couple more with highways of trails in the sagebrush.  Colin got into one and didn't let it go till he got it down.  We had 22's, AR 15's, 223's, and 12 gauge in the field with us any rabbit that moved was in trouble.  We pushed the one section for about an hour and got back to the trucks and went up the road a little farther, where my grocery getter got a little hung up, not to worried with all the vehicles we had, a quick tug and free I was....one more reason for bigger tires and more clearance.  We got out and pushed a deep gully and and kicked up a few there and put them down, but no cottons :(.  After that push legs were spent, especially mine, so we set up for our shooting game.  What a blast that was, two hand throwers and 4-6 boxes of clay plus that and more shells for 12 gauges a plenty!  We stayed and shot for 2 hours, it was incredible fun!  Those in attendance were all good shots and everyone got a chance to win at least one round.  Everyone was a little surprised at Parker and his shooting abilities, especially when he put the top 3 shooters out in 2 of the first rounds with one shot.  Parker was elated.  We ended the day with good byes and a promise to make it an annual event. Check out the slide show below.

Christmas Eve bunny hunt....

We called it a hunt because that is really all we did was hunt for them for 2 hours.  Parker and Jimmy accompanied me on the nice hike through the sage brush.  I think Jim forgot about his allergies cause he was stuffed up by the end of it.  We seen a couple running fast away from us.  We went out to Faust and turned south went about a half mile stopped and started hunting for the elusive bunnies.  No luck but it was great getting out with my boys.

First Ski day of the season at Sundance

Saturday morning we woke up to a cloudy kinda rainy day.  We had breakfast at the church for our annual Christmas social got our belly's full and came home after getting pics with Santa.  We then loaded up and headed for the mountain.  We arrived and met up with Dana in the parking lot.  We then loaded up on the shuttle and headed for the base and up the chair.  The snow was decent with a fresh layer of 6 inches.  Boots hurt like haties the first run, legs and lungs were burning and I was realizing what a year of sitting in front the puter had done to me.  Got on for a second ride up had the boots unbuckled and loose the coat unzipped.  Unloaded buckled up and went for another run, legs burning lungs killing me but loving every second of it, Parker laughing at me....LOL.  Parker was enjoying the whole show.  We loaded up for 3rd ride, again everything loosened and then tightened, but a great run I was feeling better legs loosened up feet not hurting so bad lungs still on fire!  Parker came down and said last run, he had a date with his grandma we both almost forgot about.  So we loaded the shuttle to the truck and rode home with smiles on our faces.  First day! Good Day!  Got a short video trying to get it loaded, give me a minute it will be there.

Last Boat trip of 2009, and for 2 years with the "Babe"

We hit a late fall early winter boat trip this season since the water was still open.  Dec. 5th Deer Creek, Parker and I decided since Sundance hadn't opened yet and the snow hadn't really set in on the west desert yet we would try our luck on the pond.  We got on the water a little later than usual and started running pop gear with a triple teaser, it worked on Thanksgiving.  So we started out, it was a beautiful morning, Blue Bird day and no one else really on the pond with us.  We got a few hits, got a couple to take them, but they all quick released themselves that morning.  The boat was struggling with the cold and didn't want to run to well kept dying on us and then we decided that it was probably due to the lack of fuel in the tank ;).  Parker didn't have his "RED" shorts on that morning so we thought once we got it going with the tank tilted just right to get fuel in the lines we better head in.  Parker stated on the way, how fitting it would be if we ran out on his last trip for a couple years ;-) LOL.  Long but very funny story behind this....any ways we spent a good couple hours just chillin' in the yacht and reflecting.  Gonna miss him for a couple years on the boat but I know he is doing the best thing ever!
Love you Babe!!!!

Thanksgiving Morning on Deer Creek

I have started a new Thanksgiving Day tradition.  Went out the Fox today, Kevin Fox that is.  We have been meaning to get out on the pond all summer, finally made it out today.  It was a great morning, fog was heavy! Awesome way to start out, definitely like one of those horror movies where you roll into the fog bank and the creature comes out of the water and gets you, LOL. The ice on the ramp had me spooked but the mule did well coming out.  Set Kevin up with 7 blade willow brass/nickle diamond pop gear and he started us off good.  We ran a worm for a while Kevin got 2 relatively quick, first one quick released which was okay it wasn't that large the 2nd was a nice Brown, yes I said Brown, just off the highway side.  We started to turn around and got turned around, I was trying to cut across the bay to the Island and run the dead sea stretch to pick up a couple but it was so thick and the GPS was set to take us to the rabbit hunting ground...any ways we ended up listening for the cars and found the highway again.  Kevin traded out for a brassy triple teaser and knocked them dead, if you notice most of the pics with fish are with him holding them ;-).  He let me use the triple teaser and I got one in the boat and then lost the teaser in the rocks DOH!  So then we went to perch rapala and flat fish pattern, still on the pop gear and Bang a big Bow hit Kevin largest of the morning, he caught another Brown on the perch pattern, very nice.  I had a hit and a couple reels and lost one on the way in.  We were only on the water for a couple hours and ended up with 7 decent fish, 2 nice Browns, yes I said Browns.  What a morning, my new Thanksgiving Day tradition catching nice fish with good friends.  Made it home around noon and started the turkey breast on the smoker it is still smoking, hickory/cherry with a special dry rub I came up with, hope it turns out good....  To everyone Happy Thanksgiving, Mr. Fox thank you for a great morning, memories and your friendship.
Kevin got us published!  Check it out http://www.redrockadventure.com/fishing_report/fishing-report.php

Deer Hunt 09

Well we gave it a valiant effort.  But no such luck.  We set off opening morning and went up to Little Baldy and looked around for the morning.  Then we went to Sheep Creek and look all over there, continued on into Strawberry valley.  While there went to the lake and tried our luck at fishing in Indian Springs same luck there.  We  headed off in search of Deer again got up on top of Main Canyon headed back toward sheep creek then went down into Diamond Fork and went through Hobble Creek rt fork, and ended up going over Squaw Peak connection.  We ran into Danny Adams and his group it was good to see him and the Drury's they had got a small 2x3 opening day and were looking for the monster bucks in the blue cliffs on Provo Peak.  They target shot to check range of a couple of there rifles, 1035 yards dead on it was crazy distance to see them hit the target at that distance.  Danny sent me a pic of his 4x4 he got later in the week 651 yards one shot he is a great shot, but puts in the time to be good.  We packed it in for the weekend and went out a couple times during the week.  Closing weekend we tried a couple of stand by areas but didn't see even does in those areas.  Only seen 3 buck taken all season, I'm sure there were more but still not great productivity.  Had fun with Parker his last hunt for a couple years, he will be Birmingham, England for a couple years, so good memories.  During the week Parker's girlfriend lost her brother, he gave a valiant battle against Cancer, losing it courageously.

A good week!

Took Thursday off, vacay day, went fishing with my father-in-law and Parker.  Of course we hit Deer Creek and limited out on some nice Bows and caught a couple perch they are hitting more often now kinda fun.  It was absolute perfect day for me Jim drove and I fished without worrying about pattern or direction all day it was truly a perfect day for me! We spent the morning on the water and then headed home and smoked them over Pecan they are delicious.

Saturday went out again with Bob and got our limit he actually caught couple we had fun it was a great morning on both days.  The colors in the mountains are great if you haven't been out you need to get out take in the beauty!  Looking forward, hope to get out with Gary this week, if times and weather cooperate.

A morning on Deer Creek with Bob!

Start off with Parker and I did hit DC last week and caught a couple it just wasn't real productive for us and I had forgotten my license and didn't fish until about 10.  But it was still good to get out.

This weekend we got out earlier and took our friend Bob with us.  He hasn't been around much this summer so we haven't got out much together.  It was a good time on the pond.  We were off the water by noon, between launch and load we had a blast laughing, catching, and losing fish.  We limited but the last 3 took a while to find.  We were fishing a nice hole and then got run out by all the other boats coming in and taking over our spot...go figure.  We headed to another spot and finally got into the last of the days catches.  Bob being from the south was used to have to "SET" the hook each time he did he would lose the hit and it just got funnier as we went on.  There were some nice bows caught and a few perch, once again.  It was a beautiful day out and fun was had by all.  I videoed some of our trip with a flip camera enjoy, we DID!

Another fine morning on DC

Parker and I headed to Deer Creek Thursday morning for some easy fishing (trolling). We got on the water about 6:30 and hooked the first by 6:50, Parker got the first in the boat and was quite happy, it was small by the end of the day. We caught over 20 bows and one PERCH, first in many years especially trolling, but it was a blast. Parker was hooking up about every 20 minutes or so keeping only the larger of the fish we landed. We got off the water around 11:30 after our limit the last fish caught by Parker was in the 3 lb range he was quite excited as was I.

Pass Lake, Uintahs

Last weekend we went to the Uintahs and had a picnic. We stayed on the highway cause Sally doesn't like venturing off road too much, so we made our way up to Pass Lake on mirror Lake Highway. We got to Mirror Lake and pulled in to see it loaded with people and quite a bit cooler than we had planned. We went on to Pass Lake and found a place not to crowded still a bunch of people around the lake but still half way quiet. We broke out our KFC and sat and relaxed. I broke out my truck pole and threw a few lures got some hits but nothing that would hook up. It was nice get away by ourselves and relax and just take in some clean air. It was quite cool as you can see in the pics.

Good week!

This week I took off Thursday to go fishing. Got up late and hung out had breakfast seen Parker off to work and did a couple things. Took off with my tube and gear in the truck with really no specific area in mind, just started driving south. Went past SF turn off and kept going thought about Palisades and then looked to the East seen Payson Canyon. It had been a while since I ventured up that canyon. By the time I made the decision to go there I missed the first exit and went to the 2nd. Traveled up the canyon heading for Payson Lakes. Arrived around 11 am and got ready to go in the upper lake and talked to a couple locals up there and they talked me into going back down to the lower lake, good choice and advice. Got in the water and started with a Kastmaster with orange highlights and 2nd cast caught the first of what turned out to be many that afternoon. Nothing large mainly planters, kept none took a couple pics (just to prove i caught something, you know the rule no pic, no fish...lol). Stayed on the water for few hours and then got hungry and the fish turned off, changed up lures a few times and got nothing so I headed in. The girls camped showed and had lines in all over the lake, it was fun watching them catch their first fish of their lives!

Got up this morning and headed for Rockport Res. Parker and I got to the lake about 7:30 and had lines in by 8am had our first hit by 8:15 it was hit after hit but couldn't get them to hook up or they would and then the jumping bows would throw the hook. It was fun fighting them and watching them jump. We finally ended up boating 2 decent bows in the cooler. Fished until noon, and then it was like fighting gale wind forces with all the wake action from all the boats on the water so we headed in. We headed home after cleaning them, and stopped off in Oakley to eat at the Road Island Diner not bad, but go for something other than just burgers. We had burgers and they were okay but better choices on the menu for sure. The fish grilled up nicely this evening!

Tubing Silver Lake

We took off again after work and headed up to Silver lake. We had Bob and Bruce with us. Bruce and I have fished together for years, but in recent times haven't been able to get out, so it was nice to get out with him again. He hadn't been out much at all for a while, but hadn't lost his touch, he easily landed over 50 fish that evening and he stayed after we took off. We got on the water and started casting our lucky lures me with my DD and Parker with his Jakes. I changed over to the Black fury and got some takers. Bruce was running woolly buggers and slaying them making us wish we had our fly poles. Bob was running his Jakes and getting hits as well, it wasn't as good as the night before when we went (forgot the camera) but it was still nice. We seen deer, Osprey fishing and little ones jumping everywhere as well. Parker and Bob got cold and got out early and Bruce and I stayed on the water til dusk, could have stayed all night it was a great evening. We had a great time and it was great getting back on the water with Bruce.

Evening at the "Creek"

Parker and I hadn't been out in over a month due to circumstances we couldn't control. Itching to get out we took off after work and headed to DC. Got on the water about 5pm and started fishing caught our first within a few minutes a small rainbow just off the buoys. We fished until night fall. Seen am Osprey flying and fishing all evening it was a great sight. The evening went on and we caught a few more fish and the later it got the bigger the fish got by the end Parker landed a very nice Rainbow, 26 inches and great color to it. They were very tasty as well!

Full Moon Ride

My sweetheart and I went to Sundance for the evening and rode the chairlift to view the full moon at the top of Sundance. We got there a little early and went for a ride to burn time. When we got to the bottom we met up with our friend Dana, he is assistant mtn mngr at Sundance and has the greatest office! We visited for a bit had a hot coco and cookie and headed back up the lift in time to see the moon rising over Wallsburg ridge. It was a great evening! Will do it again this coming month, come and join us, we are thinking BBQ at the bottom before the ride.

The Bear Den

Wow hadn't realized it had been so long since I updated here. This report is about taking my dad to one of our very good friends escape areas. We started the trip with the ride to the property taking a couple hours half on dirt. We topped out at Cat Peak and then down to his ridge. We arrived and got things set up. Layne took care of us like kings! We had dinner out on his canyon overlook firepit, watched a couple vids and hit the bed. The next morning we had breakfast and spotted Elk on the other side of the canyon, one very nice Bull! We then went for a ride on the 4 wheelers around the north end of the property and seen some great views. Got back to home base had lunch and got a lesson in archery shooting, Layne tuning his bow for the hunt, he hit bulls eyes at 80 yards with wind. Dad had never seen anyone shoot a compound bow and was delighted with his accuracy. We had dinner and went out for an evening ride to the south end of the area and again the views were amazing we hit a spring and it was freezing. Did I mention this was late June. We settled in for another great sunset and a little shower to knock down any dust. Saturday morning we had biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon, hung out for a few and then went for a ride to the East ridges and seen more animals, checked out more springs. Headed back to base and had a little lunch and then went to a secret viewing area where you could see the panoramic view the San Rafael Swell and many other canyons. Then we went to the top of Cat Peak and seen a 360 view of castle country including the books, uintahs, wasatch, and swell. All the time there we had little friends coming around and eating seeds, Layne had them eating out of his hands and dad was trying. Dad finally got them to come to him but I had left by then. He and Layne stayed on through Sunday evening. Layne almost couldn't get dad to leave. We had a blast! The country and solitude was refreshing and relaxing.

First run of the boat, Deer Creek

This morning we were going to hit it early, on the road by 5 am, we were headed to Electric Lake. 6:30 the eyes popped open, Deer Creek it is...lol. We got on the lake around 8. The boat started up on the 2nd pull, Parker pulled it to the dock and I parked the truck. We picked a new tour of the lake today we went south of the ramp and trolled the roadside bank. Parker got the first couple hits running jack-o-diamonds, then we seen a boat pulling in a couple quickly and they were running J-O-D's as well. Parker hooked up the first fish of the boating season, a nice Rainbow fun to catch it jumped and played for a couple minutes. I quickly re-rigged to J-O-D's as well had a few hits and Parker brought in another he was quite pleased with himself by now....lol. We trolled back and forth found the hot spot then everyone pulled in around us and we pulled out for a minute to let them all go by, it was all good, one of the little kids on the other boat pulled a nice Bow in, he was ecstatic, it was fun watching and hearing his excitement. I finally got one to take the hook, they were short hitting me most of the morning, but this one took in to the gills, as you can see in the pic. Parker pulled another and was really ribbing me then, we had a blast. We continued to run the route and got hits, got our worms stripped, then on the last pass I got hit and lost the entire pop gear rig, must have been a nice one to break off 18 lb lead core line....ya I know, no pic no fish...lol. We took off blew the carbon out of the engine back to the dock. With intentions of going later this evening but other plans came into play. We headed home, seen Mom and Dad for minute went home and cooked them up for lunch around 2pm. Good first outing for the season. Monday another adventure.....Yuba, Currant Creek, ??? we'll have to see where the mule takes us. Until then enjoy the pics, sorry about my fish he has added colors.

Antelope Island

Went with our Honors Biology class on a field trip to Antelope Island. The class took off Wed. Morning and went to the Farmington Bay wildlife park and then did a service project for the DNR and removed Dyers Woad a noxious weed that will take over the area if not taken out. They then went to Antelope Island and went on a tour with a DNR ranger around the Island where I met up with them after spending the morning at school. We set camp at White Rocks Group Campground a remote area on the West bank. We had hobo dinners and I made cobbler in the D.O. the kids ate it I don't know how it really was no one said anything....(I used pears on accident), but they cleaned the pot. That evening 2 members of the Ogden Astronomical Club came and set up their telescopes for us. They were very nice scopes on home made with a 16" reflector and the other with a 12" reflector. The 12" was all computerized and tracked the object you were looking at. We looked at Saturn through both and it was amazing. The 12" you could see 5 of it's moons it was awesome they stayed with us until 11 pm and then had to go they both had 4 am wake up calls for work. We were very appreciative of their time and equipment.



We woke up and got breakfast. We woke up with visitors around the camp.

Spent the night in my new tent it was nice and comfy. Lots of room and up off the ground.



We broke camp after Janniece Leis made us French Toast yummy!




The kids went on a hike on Lakeside Trail and met up with us at Bridger Bay campground where they did a little more work on the Dyers Woad weed. I was on lunch detail which meant I went to town and picked up Subway for them. After lunch was play time in the lake, some of the kids had never been there. Then they met up with a biologist from Westminster College and learned about the Brine Shrimp in the lake. Bird logs were kept by everyone and reflection notes were written. Mine was about the amount of bugs!!! Great trip and fun thanks folks for letting me go.

Highway 31 tour and then some...

We took off for Fairview canyon to see what was a available. When we got to the top it still has plenty of snow. All the lake are still pretty well capped but I bet by the end of this week they will be pretty well open. Electric was very near breaking up, Cleveland actually had some open on the banks and some folks were giving it a shot. I don't know the lake just north of Cleveland but it was capped. We headed south down the canyon tried the stream for a while needed our fly rods for the upper stretch where you could actually see them, we just watched and thought DUMBA**** should of packed the flies. Anyhow ended up on Huntington Res. fished for probably 3-4 hours with no luck threw everything at them. A guy in a boat pulled up close and asked if we had had any luck? Nope. He then told us he hadn't seen a fish on his finder all the way around the res. but said the water was 57*. We fished for a short time more and figured we had reached maximum insanity....you know when you do the same again and again hoping hoping for different result.....yep we had maxed it out. We took off went back up 31 and turned off onto 264 and went to Scofield, all the small lakes and ponds were still capped Fairview Lakes were still capped as well as being snowed in yet, seen the upper end of Electric and seen a little open water there and again a few hardy souls had walked into it and were fishing the 20' hole at the creek. Went by Scofield the wind was whipping pretty good seen a few out trying their best we kept going. No fish, good idea when water will be open now, so a half way productive day.

Day at Palisades

Today's Lunch!

I took the day off work in hopes of getting in some fishing. I took advantage of it and went to Palisades for the day. Got there around 9:30 and the park was sealed up, they were working on the asphalt, I went into the golf parking lot and met up with Ranger Bird. We talked for a minute but he was loading a trailer to haul out. He wanted a report how i did so here it is. Went to the dam and got in my tube, wind was blowing enough to make it interesting to move along but okay. Worked my way north along the dam and tried to stay in the channel and threw a number of lures at them. Started off with my Daredevil, went to the Kastmaster; chrome orange, gold, chrome blue, chrome, threw out some blue foxes notta. Went all the way around to the rocky point and broke out the Jakes gold w/red dots. Started getting hits, then hooked up a few tigers nothing of real size but fun to play in. A couple of them thought they were Marlins and through my lure it was fun to watch them tail dance and catch air. Kicked around until 3 pm and then got out. One poor soul sacrificed himself for lunch, nothing better than fresh fish on the grill, cooked at lake side. All in all a great day a little slow but beautiful. Next time remember the sun block!

Fishing Trip to the Green

We started our adventure in not the most desirable weather, you can see the slide show below. We headed out to Apollo's (where else) to get lunch, seen Dad on the way there he joined us for lunch and just visited. We got on our way and it snowed on us until we got past Currant Creek headed toward Starvation Reservoir. The sun was peeking through and it actually got warm. Stopped in Duchesne to load up on caffeine and seeds, where Parker asked where the students parked at the high school seeing only a handful of cars, I said they were all parked right there.....LOL. Onward down the road we stopped at Wally World to pick some fishing stuff we neglected to bring with us for fishing the Dam and then got on our way. We pulled into Dutch John around 4 and got checked into our "cabin" and then went fishing. We went to Cedar Springs Marina, on the way in ran into a few deer at Deer Run campground. We pulled in and parked and got to fishing. Parker used his trusted Jake's and I threw a few things, we moved around and Parker got into one it was a nice 3-4 pound rainbow, I video taped him bringing it in. It was getting close to closing time for the cafe up there so we headed in, got a bite to eat and then headed back out. This time we went north to Sun Bay and fished until the sun went down and it got COLDer. We caught quite a few fish in the bay it was a fun start to our fishing adventure. We headed back to the cabin and we were thankful we were not in the tent, the wind blew hard all night and it was bitter cold and it snowed a little that night as well. We woke and got ready for the day, we packed every piece of warm clothing we brought. We met our guide Rob at the station and got acquainted with him. He turned out to be a very fun individual to be around. We headed to the river and were the first boat on the river. Rob set us up with his gear putting Parker in the front and me in the back of the boat. He taught Parker how to fly fish it was awesome watching and listening to him instruct Parker. He set us up with nymph's to begin the trip and taught us how to use the strike indicator and what to watch for. Before too long Parker landed the first fish of the day, his first fish on a fly rod on a nymph, and his first fish on the Green River. We traveled a section of the river a few times until Rob felt we had hit the most active of fish in that stretch. I watched and listened and Parker was learning and catching fish it was great! I also watched the other boats to see what they were doing, we were literally the only boat bringing in fish. I caught a couple and picked up some great hints and secrets I had not heard before and got okay with the nymph's myself. We fished and fished then Rob asked anyone hungry? Parker of course was hungry we pulled over and Rob set up a picnic like no other. We fished from the bank while Rob cooked us a burger and set up for us. We visited for a little bit and got to know Rob a little more, he is a retired paramedic and fishes full time and guides during the summer months, in the winter he travels the southern hemisphere and enjoys life. He then took the fly rod and proceeded to show us the true art of casting, it was enjoyable watching him work the line, he got a couple, then decided we better move on. I told him not be in a big rush we were enjoying the demonstration. We took off, we still weren't half way down. He set us up with dry flies and pointed out all the things to watch for and where to run our flies. It was awesome, we both learned tons! Parker again caught the first fish of the afternoon, his first fish on a dry fly, he was all grins! We got into them for about an hour not noticing the snow coming down around us all day and forgetting about time. Our fingers were frozen, pretty sure I got a little frost bite on a finger, but it was all good. Rob started the heater up for us and we got the feeling back in few and back at it we went. Catching more fish on the dry flies, we tried to keep track of the number we were catching, we quit counting after 80 something! We made it past halfway point and Rob looked at his watch stating it was 4:30 we still had 3.5 miles of fishing. He guided us through hole after hole and kept our minds off the cold and snow that was falling on us all day. We ended the day floating down with our hands in front of the heater and sharing jokes and stories, Rob worked his A off for us, he was awesome. We were the first on the river in the morning and the last off in the evening, 10 hours of fishing. Our shoulders and forearms were spent. I couldn't imagine how Rob's arms were feeling he would take us through a hole and then paddle up stream and run it again and again until he felt we had caught all the active ones, again watching others float past us and not getting anything. We made it back the station at 7:30 and said our goodbyes and hit the road for home, spent and happy with perma grins as wide as we could smile. We counted deer all the way out and reflected on our adventure, conclusion AWESOME!! Thanks Rob.

Palisades II

We went to Palisades again on Saturday. Bob, Parker and myself we pulled into the park about noon. Ran into the Ranger of the lake. I noticed his name was B. Bird, I asked if he was related to Bill Bird. He responded that's my father, I was blown away, hadn't seen him in 25+ years. We visited for quite a while and Bob and Parker got to fishing. Bob landed the first of the day with his reliable Jake's gold w/red dots. While Brad and I visited he told us that the record Tiger Trout had been pulled out the lake and was 30 inches and 12+lbs. As we shared stories and secrets he gave me the areas to set up in and what to run, you will have to come with us on a trip and we will share secrets. The fishing was very slow and we threw everything at them and even hit one of the holes Brad pointed us to, Bob did catch his in the hole. We will return there with our tubes from now on. We ended the day around 5pm, Parker was HUNGRY. We headed into Manti for a bite to eat and stopped at a local shop, can't remember the name it was a green building, not the best burger joint we have hit on our adventures. Got home at dusk and was sunburned form the beautiful day that it was. We had a great day on the pond. Come join us if you can.

Vacation Day

Today I took a vacation day so I didn't loose any I will still loose some vacation time but oh well. Started the day a little slow, but did pick up a couple nice Buck Bag float tubes, for cheap they will be nice to get into the Uintahs with this summer. I finally got up to the river just about noonish. The weather was not the best, my fingers froze pretty quickly. Fished a stretch just at the mouth of the canyon, it was snowing, yes I said snowing up the canyon. I threw out a couple spinners just to see if the leach pattern would work, no luck. Seen some rolling lower down stream so I put on a dare devil, remember I'm seeing how many I can catch on the old spoon. Bingo 2nd cast I pulled in a decent brown. Couple more cast and hooked up another nice brown, it quick released. Fished for a few more minutes and then called it a day. Fingers froze. I took dad to Cabellas he had never been there. I know I'm a bad boy, but he loved it. He looked over the signage more than anything else but he did enjoy looking around. He thought the aquarium was very cool.

Day of Firsts

Today we took a trip south headed to 9 mile reservoir and spent an hour or so there. Threw out a number of things to get a bite but nothing was hitting. No one around us was getting anything either. We were there pretty much on our own for an hour then all of the sudden we were overrun with people. They came in right on top of us I mean literally. So we cast a few more times and we took off. We headed North, and took the road to Palisades, I have never been there so I knew Parker or Bob had never been there. So that was the first of the first for us all. We arrived and drove through the park and checked things out couldn't get anywhere out of the wind, oh forgot to mention the wind was blowing hard so we had to find a spot with a little barrier. We ended up on the dam and started casting. Parker was throwing his trusted Super Duper and got one on in about 20 minutes, his first of the season, he was happy to get that one behind him. Bob was wandering all over but when he seen Parker land his he came back over and started casting his super duper and caught one in about 5 minutes, his first of the season as well. I am working Dare Devils this season to see how many fish I can catch with the old trusted lure, My first came with the red white standby. It was fun to catch it, not my first of the season though. So then I started working a perch pattern DD and within 5 cast I had another hooked up with this pattern, he made a quick release just as I was pulling him out of the water. They said it didn't count, I didn't have it in hand. We stayed for a few more casts and then called it a day and headed for home. We went home via 89 and seen the sights Bob had not been through that valley and wanted to see it. We will return to Palisades what a great looking area. The water is a turquoise blue and clear. It was quite and not as many people around. The fish were clean looking and healthy. Check out the slide show below.
Til our next venture........Keep Smilin'

Just an update

Parker and I went to the Sportsmen Expo this weekend and gathered information on Alaska. Hope we can pull something off they are very expensive. We re-supplied our garlic tray, yummmm. We also got information for the Green River, thinking maybe over Spring Break.
Rick (a friend) taught me how to work my GPS tonight and signed me up on the Geocaching sight and showed me where his two caches are located. They are hid pretty good. This will definitely be a good experience and reason to get out and search for these little caches. They are located all over the place.
Later

Adventure to Eureka

Today Bob and I went on a ride down to Eureka and went looking for mines and caves. We found a couple bedding caves for some animal, they were at the top of the mountain. Nothing deep was found. We then took a ride down Dividend Road to the mine found there. We spent a couple hours looking around there and checking out the old mine buildings and machinery. It was cool, took some pics check out the slide show below. Then we went to try and get over Homansville Pass Road. We got just pass the rock quarry only to find some really deep snow. After getting our temporarily dislodged truck moving again we went back into Eureka and picked up a drink. We ventured on and went to Mammoth an old mining town that is still working. Some cool old buildings in there. We then went out on highway 36 to Vernon. There was still a bunch of snow out there. We picked up the railroad road and went toward one of rabbit hunting holes picked up Vernon hills road and went east heading toward home. The roads in the area were very dry considering what we just went through. Fun day exploring. Til next time Keep Smilin'

Skiing Day ?

Sally and I went up today the snow was hard and fast. The day was nice light cloud cover, mostly sunny. We skied for most of the morning. Sally's foot took about 6 runs to cramp beyond relaxing. The corduroy was knocked off and it became icy by the time we left. Still a great day on the mountain especially with my girl.

Skiing Day 7

I headed up to the slopes today on my own. The trip up to the resort was interesting. The canyon was blocked by a delivery truck and a couple cars that had no right being up there during a snow storm. We had to wait in the canyon for them to clear the road. It was dumping! The road was covered and the snow plow couldn't keep up with it. It came blasting past us on the left side and took off a mirror of a vehicle 2 behind me and I thought for sure mine was gone, but no, it missed me by a fraction. We finally got moving again about 30 minutes later. Got to the lot and the lower lot was already full. Up to the top lot and down in the bus. Got on the lift and instantly was covered in dendrites. It was still coming down good. Topped out and the wind picked up but really not too bad. Slid over to Arrowhead and up again the wind was steady at about 15-20mph and filling in the turns from previous lines. First run in POW for a while, it was nice and tiring. My Bolles have given up the ghost however, I couldn't see squat out of them, so I was basically skiing in braille. Run 2 went about the same legs burning at this point, trying to ride as lose as possible so I could ride the bumps and ruts since I couldn't see anything. Remember to wear new Smith's from now on. Run 3 getting loser in the legs but wind picking up. Stopped in at Bear Claw and warmed up for a minute seen Casia with her ski team kids, they always look like they are having a blast, they were out digging caves in the spindrifts on the lodge porch, they were having a blast. Got out did a few more runs and the legs were fried, goggles were fogging from the sweat pouring out the body. Road Ray's back to the top and skied out on Cottonmouth and called it a day. Saw Brad picking up some demo's. It was Demo day at the Dance they had some nice sticks but I was too hammered to think about going back up. What a great day on the mountain, fresh POW every run and some even up to the thighs. Oh ya must get new gator, old one STINKS! LOL YA Shoulda been there!

SKIING Day 6 I think

Parker and I headed to the Dance this morning got there and the lot was empty, we thought awesome! Listened to some Zep and relaxed waiting for the lift to open. The lot filled quickly. The snow was good, some soft crud and soft bumps. The Corduroy was excellent, speed was the game of the day. We made probably 10 runs before the ant hill was in full swing! We then went into Bishop's Bowl and that was the end of the day Parker caught a tip and tweaked his hip, I felt bad I thought we would be OK but he buried a tip in the soft crud. We wrapped up the day with that run out. It was blue bird day! We looked down the inversion and couldn't even see the reservoir or Heber it was totally buried under fog. We headed home after a last run down Cottonmouth and ended pretty good. Met up with Dad and had lunch together. Then I went on ride looking for wild horses found about 200 head just roaming the west desert they cool looking horses. Seen probably 2-300 head of Antelopes as well, couple Bald Eagles.

Butterfly Trail, Snow Canyon

This week Sally and I headed to St. George for our annual winter convention. We started out Sunday afternoon. The weather was threatening but we lead the storm all the way down. Those behind us weren't as lucky they said the roads were bad. We pulled in Sunday evening and stayed at the Hampton it is a nice place. We woke to a storm and snow in S.G. not common but it cleared off by noon. We started out toward Veyo but ran into 4-5 inches of snow on the road, the folks that were with us didn't have 4WD so we turned back and went to the dinosaur tracks museum. Save your money and time, in fact go out searching for your own much funner. We left our friends there with there baby to look around and play inside. We went to Snow Canyon for a hike. We chose Butterfly trail an easy 2 miler with some great views and a lava tube that was cool. It took us a couple hours just meandering along and climbing around to go out and back. There was no one around absolute silence for the most part, it was nice. The breeze was chilling but when it didn't blow the sun felt great. We climb to the top of a "petrified sand dune" and sat and took in the views and took a couple pics. Then we saw the lava tube it was deep but not very long. We headed back after playing around there for a little bit and headed to the book store in the park not much there camp host was nice. Til next time Keep Smilin'

Yuba 1.19.09

Well we started out with high hopes of bringing home a bucket load of Perch slabs. All week long I had been reading about the slabs they were taking out of Yuba. They even had pictures of them, I think they bought'em and took pics at the reservoir ;). We headed out at 6am stopped and topped off the Tundra and got some provisions. We were loaded with all the baits minnows, waxies, meals you name it we had it. I had bought a slew of lures that were guaranteed to bring home the big ones, nope not quite. We pulled on to the lake about 7:30 and had our first hole cut by 7:35 we had jigs tipped with meals, sonars, paddle bugs with waxies, we were going to slay them! Half hour passed 3 changes of lures later I went and found John and his boys in their 6 man tent, it is a sweet set up, I need one! They had 2 on the deck but nothing else was hitting. Went back to our camp set our tent and crawled in, did I mention it was ZERO you could see your breath crystallize. Gary toughed it out for a bit longer then he joined Parker and I in the tent, not near as spacious as the 6 man. We stayed in the tent until the sun broke through then we started sweating and decided to get outside. It was nice, still cold but clear and you could see crystals still floating. We fished for 5-6 hours moving around a little, changing baits and lures often, no one was catching any. Talked to a number of people they hadn't done any better. We decided to call it a day when a guy came by on his 4 wheeler and said he had been to every camp on the lake and no one had really landed any numbers. We then headed for home and stopped in Nephi at "Reed's" to get a burger it was good should have gotten some pics but I didn't, sorry. Got home around 3 pm fishless but with smiles on our faces. Good day on the deck! Til next time Keep Smilin'

Day 5 Skiing

Good day on the mtn. Snow was surprisingly good! Parker and I put in 12 runs before our legs played out us. We hit hit mostly blacks as fast and hard as we could in a couple hours. No lines everyone must have thought with the film festival going on it would be crowded, ski down get on, rest, ski down get on, rest. Yep good day! Going fishing Monday, hopefully catch a load of Perch!

DOUBLE DAY

Skiing Day 4; Parker and I went to the Dance and got in 10 runs this morning before the ant farm got out of control. Snow was good we were in clouds all morning and snow some of the morning. We even found some untracked pow. the reports that have been given for totals however are misleading they are still very shallow in depth. Good day on the mountain.

Second half of the day we went to Scofield and cut a couple a holes in the hard deck and fished the rest of the day we got off the ice at sunset. It was a BLUE BIRD day on the ice. Now if we can figure out to get those dirty little fish to eat our offerings....LOL. No luck again today but it was still better than sitting in building. Next time, my friend let me know what to take up there he caught 13 in a couple hours this morning we just missed him.