Summer Soltice 2011

Went to Yankee Meadow tonight. The first couple of hours of fishing were slow. The road to the Yankee has been closed and just opened Saturday because they were fixing a bridge. Usually I like to go earlier in the spring. At about 8 o'clock, the fish starting jumping and biting. I switched to a sink tip line and was able to catch fish on that and some dry flies. I love when that works. The fishing was good for about an hour and then when it got dark, they stopped feeding. It was a picture perfect night. I love the Yankee because it is a such a pretty place. I caught 6 and brought home 2 of the bigger ones. I did catch one little cut, but no brookies. I thought this picture would turn out better, but oh well. A good night of fishing.

Paragonah in June

I was able to go to Paragonah Resevoir on a Saturday night and then again on Monday. On Saturday I had success on a wooly bugger/scud combo. I was using a full sinking line. I caught about 20 fish. I brought home 6 of the bigger ones and wish I could have brought home 2 more since the limit at Paragonah is 8 and could use some harvesting. I thought I would catch 2 more bigger ones, but when the fish stop biting, they stop fast. On Monday I tried my sink tip line. I used many different flies, but did not have the same success. I think the full moon might have had something to do with it too. I brought home 2 nice rainbows (for 'Gonah) and .................

A pretty tiger trout.......................................................................................

Snow Goose Hunt?

On the last day of the snow goose hunt we decided to take our float tubes in case the birds were gone. It is a good thing we did. I had caught a couple of smaller fish a couple of days earlier. It was freezing cold but we lasted long enough to each haul in a big rainbow. Check out the nice red spring spawning colors.

SUCCESSFUL DUCK HUNT!

Not only did we bag some birds, this day was Orvis' first retrieve. He is only 9 months old and has a lot learn, but so do I. He makes duck hunting more enjoyable. We had birds coming at us all day. I shot a few and missed a few, but a fun day in the mud.

Deer Hunt 2010

I finally drew a southern unit deer hunt. I was fornunate to have access to some private land to hunt on. It was the first time in a long time I had gone camping and done the deer hunt thing like the old times. My brothers and dad camped and myself, my brother, his son, and some other family went hunting. It snowed a couple of inches the evening before and that was a good thing. We woke up early, waited for some daylight and started pushing. We we all met up, bucks were all around us. We all saw some good deer and I was able to get two shots off at a nice four point. The first shot the deer was on the run, so I didn't feel to bad about that one. The second shot I just missed. I was so mad that I had missed that opportunity. We planned some more and started hunting. After an hour I was certain I had missed my opportunity for that day. Just before we met up again, I saw some horns on the horizion. It was a two point. I asked my cousins if any of them wanted to shoot it and they didn't (They both ended up shooting bigger bucks). I let one fly and I thought I saw it drop to its knees. When we got up there, the deer was gone. I started walking around saying I hit it. My brother and cousin were behind me and the deer was circling. They saw it and it was hobbling around. We finished it off and I had my buck.

I shot the deer a long ways from a road, so me and my cousin drug him about an hour and a half to a road. It was a lot of work, but definately worth it. The next day my cousin shot a deer in the same area and drug it on the same trail I had drug my buck. While he was dragging it he noticed lion tracks in the snow. The lion was tracking my deer's blood trail from the day before.

Yankee Meadow Rainbows

A couple of nice Yankee Meadow rainbows.

Kents Lake 2010

I love float tubing small lakes. There are several on the Beaver Mountains. One of my favorites is Kents Lake. It is a beautiful little lake. It is so shallow that there are few places where you cannot see the bottom of the lake. Trout grow big here. Also, there are a variety. You never know if you have hooked into a brookie, rainbow, cut, or tiger trout. I caught a couple of nice cuts and rainbows on this trip. The first rainbow I hooked into dove straight back down in the weeds and it took about 5 minutes to land. I love fighting fish on a fly rod. It is also fun because you can use floating or in my case sink tip line. Fun day.