6.27.11 FHE Silver Lake

We got out of Dodge again, tired of spending great evenings inside we ventured to the mountains up AF Canyon this time and went to Silver Flat Lake.  A nice little lake/res above Tibble fork.  It was High!  And the have shut off access to the Island now, or perhaps just for the high water marks period, we will see.  It think once they have closed access we will not see it again.  Easy enough though to just walk out there.  We stopped on the road side and went down to the edge of the water and set up and had a subs.  I fished for a couple hours and Sally read.  It was another fantastic evening and pretty quiet evening considering we were at Silver usually loaded with ATV's racing up and down the road.  I got a couple planters and one pretty native Brook.  It had great colors to it.  Sally was running the camera tonight and got a couple for prosperity.  til next time keep smilin'!

6.26.11 Weeny roast and SMORES!

Took off for the canyon today.  Picked up the parents and had the in-laws in tow.  The kids met us there and Issac Hilary's bro was with them as well.  We met up at the Big Springs picnic area in South Fork.  We found it to be very crowded, but I went searching for us a spot and found a most awesome area just off the Big Springs trail secluded in the Aspens with a pit.  It made it feel like no one else was around.  We set up camp and got the fire goin' for the dogs and broke all the other goodies everyone had brought.  It was quite a feast!  KFC even showed up, can't beat that.  After a good bit of story sharing the fire was ready to cook.  We all got our sticks and burned a few dogs and ate til we were tired.  The grandkids, especially Max was having a blast.  The great gpa's were enjoying themselves to the cheeto's, Sally got them for the boys thinking they would like not knowing Jim and dad would be eating them....LOL.  Max kept everyone entertained and loved the fire!  We shared stories all afternoon and into the evening then we had SMORE'S.  The kids love them and everyone had some.  I'm not a huge fan so I let everyone eat mine ;)  It was absolute blast to have everyone together and hope to have many of them this summer.  I got to feel the briskness of the creek first hand as I took unexpected dip while trying to retrieve water to dowse the fire with.....it was quite comical, sorry no pics of that thank goodness :)  til next time keep smilin'!

6.25.11 Wolf Creek Pass

After a very stressful morning Sally and I got out of the house and away form it.  Landscaping and contractors are pains in the A.  We took off actually for Mill Hollow and got turned back due to road closure, Soapstone the same thing .  We continued on up the canyon and topped out at the pass.  Still quite a bit of snow!  We headed back but not before we went frog hunting in a little pull off on the road where they had created a number of diversion ponds to reduce erosion, frogs were croaking like mad.  We stepped out the truck and starting the mad search for the elusive little things.  They were on to us before we got 10 feet away from the truck.  They went silent and buried themselves in the mud.  Pretty area still.  We went on down and drove Bench Creek and went up Bench Creek road to the bridge at the creek.  It was running very high and hard.  On the way in and out we had to go through some mud holes and that made Sally quite nervous, but no worried the mule went through with out problem one a little deeper than I expected.  We left Bench Creek and went into Heber and got dinner at the Hub, good family style meal.  Headed to ward home but I had to stop and try DC for a minute and nothing  threw a few different lures but not even a sniff!  Good afternoon and evening far better than morning.  OH yeah got a new camera quite nice actually at the pawn shop.  Takes nice pics!  see them below.   Til next time keep smilin"!

Round Valley 6.23

This morning I met up with long time friend and classmate Mark Allen.  He took me to one of his favorite streams located outside of Wallsburg.  We met at Will's pit stop and I hopped in his TLC, of course I was late, not meaning to be but still.  We took off at 7am for Wallsburg and went up as far as the road would let us and then started hiking from there.  Have I mentioned that I haven't hiked in years due to injuries and back pain....ya it showed but with the recent back surgery the pain in the legs were gone but not in the lungs!!!  We put in about 7 miles total.  We fished this little stream using attractors and drop flies most of the day.   Mark landed the first few fish then I put on my renegade and caught a couple myself making a good day a great day.  Yep still no camera!!  But can I tell you how beautiful this area is, no because I am not that gifted with words.  It was beautiful however.  The stream had been worked hard by the forest service, blasting out about 10 beaver ponds in the distance of the stream that we hiked.  Kinda sad, there were places where the holes would have been up to 6 feet in depth, but due to their activity that is why the road is washed out and made it really kinda nice to be the only ones in the canyon that morning.  We caught a number of little brooks, they had bright colors!  Mark needed to be home early so we headed back, not without stopping at one whole where one fish had eluded both of us, I tossed in and no more than the fly hitting the water he came after it hard and in my surprise and enthusiasm I missed him.....but it was fun to see him flash that hard and quick.  We traded stories all the way down the canyon, I could this direction I wasn't huffin' and puffin' so much but I did start to cramp up a little, I think Mark was fearful he was going to have carry me out.  We made plans to hit Fish Creek at which time he said "maybe a couple more hikes between now and then might help you" I giggled and thought to myself no doubt you fat beast!!  It was a great morning with Mark in one of his fav's.  We got back to the TLC and headed down the road only stopping for a burger at Jose's in Wallsburg, if you haven't stopped and talked with Jose you are missing out on good food and a good man.  Til next time keep smilin'!

Rock Port 6.22

This evening I hooked up with good friend and long time neighbor Gary Schlenker and we went to Rock Port.  We chose RP due to the reports saying "Red Hot".  Ya not so much the attendant at the gate told us a couple places to try, and one guy just off the lake with a couple, which should have clued us in, told us where he was.  We got on the water by 5pm and lines in by 5:10.  We headed toward the spots the people talked to us about and trolled rainbow pop gear and brassy/nickel with worms.  Played around that area for about an hour and nothing.  So, I told Gary I know where they are and that is where we headed to Parker's and I's spot by the fingers.  On the way down we seen more and more debris coming at us from the run off from the river, tons of driftwood and other garbage.  We made our destination and began dragging again.  I told Gary the pattern and where we would see the most action in the pattern, he was skeptical.  We got in the pattern and sure enough we hit the spot where I told him we would catch them and he hooked up a nice bow, remember last night I dropped the camera right, plus I forgot to mention that I broke my trolling pole tip as well!!  So tonight I have a brand new pole :)  Back to the fishing, we trolled until dusk.  Gary landed 4 bows on a prism flasher pop gear the only we had, I had some nice hits but lost them, doh!  It was another great evening and relaxing. Gary shared adventures of his youth and adventures in upper Minnesota.  Talking about putting together a trip to lakes there, on my bucket list.  Til next time keep smilin'!

Deer Creek 6.21

Howdy, hit DC again this time with long time friend Kevin Fox.  He and I have done a few adventures together.  Always a treat to join up with the Foxman.  We got on the lake around 4pm and dragging lines around 4:15.  The reports were all coming in "HOT" DC is Hot!  So we thought what better place to go....not so much!  We trolled until night fall and caught 2 fish trying many different pop gear and lures.  We stayed on the water until 10pm and got off.  Before we left the water though Kevin got a bucket list fish of his, he caught his first Walleye and 2nd, he also landed a small mouth.  We were on the North side of the island and throwing big rattling stick lures and Kevin landed a nice 1.5 lb Walleye, he was so excited and surprised by the catch.  Although the fishing was slow due I think to a bit of a breeze, that actually made us use the gas motor most of the evening.  The time was relaxing and Kevin shared more stories of his uncle and his fishing adventures.  The evening ended at the dock at which point I got up to get out of the boat and proceeded to drop my camera in the lake!!!  DOH!!!!  It went deep too we couldn't reach bottom after about 8' of reach.....Kevin continued to look for it while I went and got the truck and he dropped his flashlight.....ya so anyways that means no pictures of this trip!  I was saddened to loose my camera many memories were taken with it, luckily the only pics on were from that evening, 2 pics of me with my rainbows and 3-4 pics of Kevin with Wally's and smally, sorry Kev.  I did get a couple of him with his camera which didn't get dropped.  He uploaded a couple to FB.  The fillets of Walleye were tasty!  Nice white flaky, light tasting fish.  Til next time keep smilin'!

Deer Creek 6.18

Hit Deer Creek this morning with long time family friend Rick Fowler aka "uttrout".  He is an avid fisher mainly fly but works the spin rod quite well also.  We went for trout on the troll, I think maybe one of his first times ever doing it.  We got on the lake around 6am and had lines in the water by 6:15.  It was the first voyage for the yacht this year and with some new equipment aboard, electric trolling motor and lights, although we did not need the lights this trip.  We started out kinda slow going toward the island as we left the dock both of us dragging rainbow pop and a worm.  Rick had Parker's old rod and reel, seemed to be working until pressure was put on it.  It stopped winding correctly at that point, but Rick just persevered and kept fishing.  I was the first to catch and land one we each had hits kept missing them.  I changed to a brassy/nickel diamond and Rick continued with the rainbow.  We each caught our limit and had a great time on the lake.  Rick shared stories of his fishing adventures with his son that is in CO. and a veteran of the Iraq war with some very severe injuries from burns caused by an IED that exploded on there Humvee.  He had great stories.  We each took pictures of one another and our fish, Rick has pics of me so you will see pics of Rick in this report.  Some nice sized rainbows and they came quick.  We loaded and on the road again by 10am.  Went to the main state ramp and filleted them quickly.  Passers by kept commenting been fishing heh....I so wanted to say, Nope flying kites.....here's your sign.  But I refrained and just said sure.  A great morning with great company hopefully we will get together often and share the water.  Til next time keep smiling!