Happy Thanksgiving

Eat bunches of turkey, watch hours of football, but most of all, be safe.

Mark

Comments Section

For some reason the comments section is missing from the last post. If you want to leave one, here you go.

Thanks, Mark

The Storm - Tuesday Morning

Well, the weather guessers said we would be getting 4" to 8" of snow overnight. HUH, wrong again. This is the front porch at 0700. Nothing but snow dust.




So, I volunteered to take the wife to work (this time at 0800 instead of 0300) because she still couldn't get her car out. On the way home, I grabbed the camera and did a dash-cam video for you. It's a little long, but only covers about 3 1/2 miles. Oh, did I mention it started to really snow as we were leaving.

Just about Noon time, as I was uploading this to YouTube (Man, this upload took a long time. A little over 3 hours), it started to rain. When that happens, four or five inches of snow turns to slush and the snow blower I use to clear the turn around, becomes usless. So I ran out, fired it up, and cleared most of the turn around. By then the upload was done and here you go.

I hope you enjoy it. Oh Yeh, we're supposed to be done with the storm, that is until Saturday, but just so we don't forget winter (which is not here yet), the temperature is supposed to drop into the teens tonight. Ice skating rink in the front yard.

Mark

The Storm - Monday Morning

Drove the wife to work at 0300 this morning. She can drive in snow, but doesn't like to. It was raining when we left, but ran into snow at 3000' marker coming back. By 0700 (the time for the 24 hour storm update) we had accumulated another 1 1/2 inches for a total, so far, of 8 1/2 inches and it was still snowing lightly.

A quick snap shot of the pond and you'll notice it's frozen over. We're expecting, according to the weather guessers and you know how accurate they are, a lot more snow tonight and then a wrap up of the storm, tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to hit the trout pond on Wednesday. The wife will be doing Thanksgiving dinner prep and it's best I'm out of the way any how.

If there's anything to report, I'll post in the morning.

Mark

The Storm - Sunday Morning

Blake, how right you are. All the hullabaloo about low snow levels and massive amounts of snow in the higher elevations, Booooooo. When we hit the sack last night it was raining. This morning at 0700, 2 1/2 inches of new snow. That was it.

The temperature was still at 32 degrees and a very fine sprinkling of snow was still falling, but nothing like they predicted yesterday.

So, the weather guessers were wrong again. But hey, they still get paid. Supposed to continue snowing off and on through out the day and into tomorrow. Wife has to be at work at 0300 tomorrow morning for a software upgrade. That should be fun getting her out.

If it gets really exciting, I'll post, but if not, my next run to the trout pond will probably be Wednesday. Certainly can't get upcountry for a while. I tied a couple of odd color Wooly Buggers to try at the pond and If they work, I'll post some pictures.

Till then.

Mark

The Storm Begins

The weather guessers said we were not supposed to get any snow today.

7:00 am, 4 1/2 inches.

Stay tuned, tonight is supposed to be worse.

Mark

Take A Friend Fishing

From sometime last year.

This is what happens when you take a friend fishing.

Mine



Roy's



A little humor for your Friday morning.

Mark

An Apology And The Golf Ball Update

Last Friday I put a link to Janice's site where she posts her photos and didn't realize I put the California Dreaming link instead of her's. So without further ado, here is the the correct link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/soshacat

Since then, Janice has also created her own blog and I'd like to post that link also. I took a look at it yesterday and I think you'll like this one also. Pssst, told her she should join OBN and get more contacts. Here you go. Her blog is "Shoot Me Now While I'm Happy". In case you didn't notice, she's all about birds.

http://shootmenowwhileimhappy.blogspot.com/


On to the golf ball thing. I'll take the comments as they are listed on Yesterdays post.

Clif - Not on the bumper of the truck. All golf balls I come across are thrown into the pond. I hate golf.

Mike - Could have been the bear, but no bear poo attached.

Blake - No kids in the neighborhood, except my cats, and the girls down the street (Llama's).

Casey - I have something in mind right along those lines.

Biggr - No cats loose in the neighborhood.

Lunker - Could be Chupacabra. Who knows.

Ryan - Nobody messes with the Shoreman. Wouldn't be prudent.

Cofisher - Could the fishing gods be playing golf. Ya think?

Mel - OK, you're forgiven.

Callan - Hmmmmm.

Here is what I think. Given the information that the ball probably came from Roy's yard (Bob says while they are up, they hit them with a ball bat), it could have gotten down field aways. I think a crow, and we have a bunch of big ones, picked it up thinking it would be lunch and landed on the driveway. Finding it wasn't edible, just left it for me to find and speculate how it got there.

Might not be prudent for the crow to be in slingshot range.

Ya'll have a good day.

Mark

The Mysterious Golf Ball

I generally do the grocery shopping on Saturday morning. Gives the wife some time alone and she doesn't have to rush, get dressed , and run out of the house to spend 3 hours driving, shopping, and driving back home.

Just as I entered the property on the way in, I noticed a golf ball in the middle of the driveway. Remember, the drive way is 900 ft from the house to the property line. The picture below shows where it was sitting. I know for sure it wasn't there when I left a few hours earlier.




Where could it have come from? Below is a shot up the road toward Bob and Roy's house. Can you see them? That's part of the mystery. Their houses are quite a ways from where the ball was. Roy (on the right of the road), I know for a fact, was not up (he lives in San Mateo, over on the coast, most of the time). Bob (on the left of the road), I don't think he golfs.




So the question remains. "Where did the golf ball come from"? Sitting perfectly in the center of the road. Must be one of those Twilight Zone things.

Mark

Red Lake Video

Let's try this again.

Mark

Pathetic, I Tell Ya

We have a good sized storm coming in on Friday afternoon and I wanted to take one more shot at Red Lake. I suspect there will be Mucho snow up there this weekend. Good for the skiers, bad for fishermen. it is already showing at 5500 ft.

I took a video, but can not get Blogger to upload it. If I can figure it out, I'll post it it another time.

I got there at 0845. Put one rod out with Rainbow PB and started tossing Kastmasters. I threw every color I had in my tackle box. I think there are 8 or 9 colors in there. I also threw gold & silver PM's, black/yellow Mepps, rainbow & brown Rapala's, and I even threw Power Worms under a clear bobber. I was desperate. I got NOTHING. No fish, no bumps, NADA. That went on for 3 hours.

Finally I tossed in the hat and went down to Bear River. Both Caples and Silver Lakes had whitecaps on them, the wind was blowing so hard. Got to Bear (sunshine, blue skies, & warm)and checked with a couple of guys fishing. Couple of small ones, was all they'd caught. I put both rods out with PB and found a comfortable rock to park on. Hour later, I landed one the size of your palm. That was it. I did notice that when the breeze died down, some were breaking the surface.

To the truck and out with the fly rod. Probably could have used floating line, but all I brought was the Intermediate. Put on a Tungsten Beadhead Black Wooly Bugger and put it out there as far as I could. Using a 3" to 5" strip, I got one good bump and that was it. Changed to an Olive BH and continued. Saw a swirl and tossed the Bugger just beyond. Got an immediate bump and then nothing. Shortly there after, a Coot surfaced about 4 feet from where I got the bump. I think I almost caught a Coot.

That was it. One small Rainbow about the length of your hand. Pathetic, I tell ya. I think I know what the problem was, though. Remember back on September 14th, Cook's was out of cream for coffee and I got badly skunked? Well this morning I stopped for a cup and didn't even think about putting cream in the coffee. Must have been the problem.

Till next time.

Mark

The First Video

Got to the Trout Pond at about 1000 yesterday after a quick visit to my Cardiologist and a couple of other stops in town. Aired up the Float Tube Cumberland and flippered out along the far side of the pond. Started with a black tungsten beadhead Wooly Bugger and the fun began. Not nearly as good as the trip back on November 1st, but fun none the less.

On one fish, I got out my camera and put the dial on Movie (which I didn't even know it had until about two weeks ago). I've had this camera for about 3 years. Pretty observant don't you think. I did practice RTDM (Read the damn manual) when I got it and again a month ago, but there is nothing in the manual about movie spot on the dial.

So here goes video number 1. Remember, no helmet cam, no ball cap cam, just me holding the rod in one hand and the camera in the other. No booing, hissing, or throwing things at the screen.

Ended up catching and releasing 7 and missing 5 or 6 bump and runs. One was pretty close to 2 pounds. I did catch one and a second one got off on a Wooly Bugger I put together on a whim. It was black Marabou tail, pink Chenille body and black palmered hackle. No copper wire. All the fish caught today were on flies I tied. Must be getting better at it.

Hope this works. I had to load QuickTime 6.1 to get it to work. FYI.

Till next time.

Mark

Friday

Item 1 - I got an email from a blog follower that lives in a near by town called Galt, California. Her name is Janice and she is an excellent photographer. What prompted her to email me was the post about the bear stomping on my trash can. Janice called it "playing drums on your garbage can". Janice has a site where she posts pictures she takes in Northern California. I've posted some of my extra shotson California Dreaming, but trust me, mine are nothing like hers. Take a minute, wander over and take a look at her work. Here's the link.
http://californiadreaming-shoreman.blogspot.com/ I know you'll like them.

Item 2 - The kid is again a contributor to the local newspaper. This article is not related to any post I've done, so worth the reading.

http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/sports/sportsview.asp?c=275492

Item 3 - Went to a follow-up Cardiologist appointment this morning. For the past week or so, I've been going through a bunch of tests just to establish a baseline with him. The report is all good. He sent me on to Item 4 with an "I'll see you in 6 months".

Item 4 - The Trout Pond at Camanche Lake. I'm going to save this for the next post because I did a short video, but I don't know how the hell to get it to play, let alone get it on Blogger. So you're just going to have to wait. Hopefully tomorrow when the wife can help. She's the IT Babe, remember.

That's it. Short & Sweet. Till next time.

Mark

The Inner Ear Infection

Hi, I’m still here.

Last year just about this time, I came down with an inner ear infection. If you’ve had one, you know what I’m talking about. It’s kind of like a party without the alcohol. Your head swims when you stand up and your body doesn’t.

It arrived again on Monday afternoon right about 2:00pm. A little after the Fed-Ex guy would have been here, but before the UPS guy gets here. I’m not sure who brought it, but when I do find out, he’s toast.

I think it’s a conspiracy to keep me from the Trout Pond just when they are stocking the hell out of it. In fact, I already had the truck loaded with the Float Tube Cumberland and all my gear for a Tuesday launch at the pond.

This is where the problem comes in. You see, with an inner ear infection, you have to be really careful how you move. Quick turns of the head put you flat on the floor. Your mind is goes left and your body goes right. Most times you have to have a three point stance. That being, both feet on the floor and one hand holding something solid. Most things work. A table, kitchen counter, dresser if you’re in the bedroom, or a cane. Last night, in the dark, I found out that the VCR on top of the TV, downstairs, was not one of the things that works well. Scratch one VCR. About all you can do is hang out at the house and hope that one of the things you use for the third point isn’t the wood stove.

These things last about a week. There is nothing you can do except let it pass. While it’s passing, you are OK sitting in the truck and probably driving (you notice I said probably), but as soon as you have to get out, the wobble returns. Weebles wobble, so do you. If you've had kids, you know about Weebles. If you would manage to get past the police driving somewhere, once you get out of the truck, everyone is looking at you, as you wobble into where ever you are, and thinking “poor guy must have had a stroke” and they get all sympathetic and want to hold the door for you, stop cars and trains so you can pass, and stuff like that. So it’s best just to stay home.

Which brings me back to fishing. I think I could have gotten to the Trout Pond, launched the float tube, but probably would have flippered around in circles. Wouldn’t have been a good showing for the Shoreman. Had I fished from the shore, it would have been a little hard to reel in a fish with one hand on the cane and the other on the rod. I sure as hell wouldn’t give the rod to someone else to reel in a two pound Rainbow. I know there are probably alternatives like sitting in a chair, leaning against the rock wall, or getting one of those things the people on the Rose Bowl Floats use to stand up, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

So I guess I’ll stay home for a few more days and read your blogs, drooling at the trout you guys are catching and the fun you all are having.

I will be back shortly. My friend Rich and his son Mark were at the pond yesterday. Rich caught one 2 ½ pounds. Mark, on the other hand, caught one 5.2 pounds. Rich on the shore, Mark in a float tube. Here I sit missing all the fun.

Till next time.

Mark

The Ghost Of Carbon Canyon Part 2

Two years later we slipped up and accidentally told the girls the real story of the Ghost of Carbon Canyon.

The parking spot was set in an area where car lights coming over a distant hill made the light appear at the top of the hill in front of the car. Half way down, the car would dip and the light would disappear. As the car came back over the next rise, the light would reappear and disappear just as it hit the fence at the bottom.

OK, you ask, what about the apparition? Seems we had a fourth roommate. He drove out there before us and walked to the top of the hill dressed in white tee-shirt, white Levi's, and white sneakers.

When he knew we were parked and the light shone on the hill, he started running down the hill. Half way down, when the light went out, he tripped on a stick and according to legend, disappeared. He jumped up just as the light came back and ran the rest of the way down the hill to the fence.

When he tripped on the stick, he picked it up and carried it with him to the bottom and as soon as he hit the fence, swung it at a big metal pipe (part of the gate), thus the gong sound. Then he started to climb over the gate. You know our part of it.

His part in it was not without problems. He was chased by a bunch of dogs, stopped by the Police wanting to know what he was doing out there, and ended up with some very dirty clothes.

The girls after they found out? We paid big time. I personally had a sauce pan rearranged by my head. I'm not sure what happened to the other guys, but I'm sure they paid in some painful way.

And as Paul Harvey would have said, "And that is the rest of the story. Good day".

Mark

The Trout Pond

Hit the Camanche Trout Pond at 0815. Sunshine, blue skies, and no wind. Looks to be a perfect day. I hinted back on the 28th that there was a rumor that the Trout Pond had been planted with 10,000 lbs of trout. Well, that just goes to show that you can't believe rumors. It was only 6800 lbs.

A little pond shot before I got serious about fishing.

Geared up and set out right in front of that bench by the walkway. Another rumor, they are hitting beadhead black Wooly Buggers. Who am I not to follow a rumor? Put one on and started to let out line (I was fishing with my fly rod with the lake set up. Intermediate line and 9', 4x leader and 24" of 6lb fluorocarbon tippet). Got about 30 feet of line out and no sooner was I starting a 3" to 5" strip and I had the first one on. A 13" Rainbow. That set the mood for the day.

It didn't matter what I fly I had on, I either had a bump, fish on and off (I was using barbless hooks), or one landed. As well as the BHWB, I used a beadhead Blood Worm pattern size 8, A WB in black/burgandysize 8, Tungsten BH Thinmint size 8, and I can't remember what else I threw at them. They hit everything.

There were a couple of other tubers (some friends I haven't seen since last year), one toon, and a couple of guys in an aluminum boat. Everybody was catching. As I flippered by the guys on shore, I noticed they weren't catching in the volume we were, out on the water. I had one of those moments where I felt bad we were hauling them in, one after another and they were struggling. Oh hell, no I didn't. I was having a blast. Fly rodders paradise. Dropped off a couple of flys that were working for me, to a couple of the friends from last year and they partook of the feast.

At 1000 I flippered in to where my truck was parked and got a couple of PB&J's out of the cooler. Figured I'd eat while fishing. Nope, had to stop fishing to wolf down the sandwiches. That's how good it was. Even ended up fishing in a tee-shirt it was so nice.

I figure I landed, maybe 30, hooked and lost maybe 30, and got maybe 30 bumps. I was getting two and three hits on a retrieve. What a day.

Note to self: Need to get some kind of fish counter.

I was getting hits that made the line snap on the rod. That's the only way I can describe how hard they were hitting. Around Noon, I started to get cramps in my legs from lack of flippering exercise, so I started (slowly) back across the lake toward the truck. Took me more than a half an hour to get across. Had to stop and keep releasing fish.

After I got the tube loaded, I thought I'd better get get couple for Bob since it was such a good day. Went over to the spot where we usually shore fish and put out one rod with Rainbow Power Bait (and a dab of Anise) and was going to use the other with a Kastmaster. Never got the second rod out. The PB barely hit the bottom and a fish was on. The five below were from a 20 minute period.

You just don't find days like this one. I think I'm getting Carpal Tunnel in my right wrist. Too much holding the fly rod. Just kidding.

Till next time.

Mark