No Snow

As Porky Pig would say, that, that, that's all folks.

Mark

Remodel Update

Just a quick note to let everyone know I've caught up on all the posts, but I'm not (for some Blogger reason) able to comment. When I try to comment, Blogger sends me to Google to sign in and then I try to post the comment and Blogger sends me back to Google to sign in again and so on and so on. Catch 22 in a big way.

I want to especially thank Ed at http://thewanderingfisherman.blogspot.com/ for the trip back to the 60's with the link for the Loving Spoonful and Daydream. I couldn't comment, but thanks man.

I know you don't care how it's coming, hell no body should. Remodeling is a pain in the ass, so here I go. Removed all the fixtures and all the dry wall (remember the wall paper was pulling off the paper on the sheet rock). The plumber updated the plumbing for the shower and installed the new fiberglass shower. In the following week, I had to put up the sheetrock around the shower. If you've never done this, the sheetrock comes from the ceiling down to the lip on the new shower. That's when the problems occured. To correctly install the shower door, it needed to be plumb. This required shims behind the shower making it 1/4 inch from the wall. That in turn required installing Hardie Board on the walls to make it even, then sheetrock. Then, of course, I had to install Hardie board on the rest of the wall to make it all even. Shower door got installed a week ago last Tuesday.

OK, sheetrock is installed on all the walls, taped and mudded, and now I'm spraying the skip trowel (spray on mud and let partially dry, then run the trowel over and create the texture on the wall). Once it's painted, all I have to do is reinstall the toilet, and all the new fixtures and it's done. I did take half a day off, today to catch up on all my reading.

Pictures to follow once it's finished.

Finally, it's raining again and there's a chance of snow tonight. Will winter ever go away?????? Maybe I'll take a day next week and run up the hill. See if any of the lakes are open. If I go, I'll let you know. Still more work in the bathroom.

Mark

Off The Radar

I apologise to all for my lack of everything. I've been butt deep in this remodel and haven't had time to post, read other posts, or fish.

I will be back.

Mark

Take A Friend Fishing

Back on November 19th, last year I did a post

http://shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com/2010/11/take-friend-fishing.html

of Roy (my neighbor ) and I fishing. It was a humorous writing because the photo's were done on different days, but I thought it would brighten your Friday.

Yesterday our plan was to head upcountry and try a lake or two up there. When we got up, it was still snowing at 4000 ft which made it a waste of time to go up there. So we drove down to town, stopped at the donut shop for coffee (and donuts) and headed for Angels Creek. DFG was supposed to plant again this week.

I aimed for the usual hole, only to find 3 guys already taking up the good spots. One, in fact, was Casey who caught the 3lb 4oz one (was probably the one I lost) on opening day. He already had 4 on his stringer. This was about 0830. The outlook was good.

Roy and I wandered down stream looking for a hole that we could fish. Came across one with only one guy and asked if we could join him. He was fishing in one spot and there was a few other places we could put in some Power Bait. We fished for about a half hour and didn't get anything and then the stock truck arrived. He dumped 4 buckets of fish right into our hole.

Nothing happened for about an hour. Then Roy landed the first one and the second one. He was making me look bad. You know me better than that. I was there for Roy to catch fish and catch fish he did. I did catch the next one. Between 0930 and 1130 we each landed 5 (a limit). Take a look.

You have to remember that as old and grizzled as he looks, he's still in training. I guess his training paid off since all I did was set up his rod with a #18 gold treble hook, a little split shot sinker, and off he went. I know there are only 9 on the stringer, but I gave him credit for his 5th because I should have gotten the net, but just old him to yank it up on the bank. Hook came loose on the yank.

I put some more pictures of the creek over on California Dreaming (http://californiadreaming-shoreman.blogspot.com/) so take a look.

The day was sunny with some clouds moving through. Maybe low 70's and t-shirt weather. Just as we were leaving, it started to sprinkle and by the time we got home, it was raining, so we hit it just right. Roy's happy with fish for dinner that he caught and Bob's happy because he got some for his freezer. I'm happy because of both.

That's it for this adventure. Will try again next week and maybe take a run upcountry.

Till then.

Mark

Noodling, The Rest Of The Story

As you know, my wife had her foot operated on last Friday. While I was in the ICU waiting room, a young man was waiting with his Sister? Wife’s Sister?, not sure, but he was waiting for his Wife to get out of surgery. I had been talking with the volunteer lady about fishing. You know me, once I get into talking about fishing, it could go on for hours.


The four of us continued chatting and then Daniel asked if I’ve ever been noodling? I think you know my reply. I’m not going into dirty water and sticking my hand in a hole to grab, what? A Catfish, Snapping turtle, Rattlesnake? I don’t think so.


Seems Daniel had done some when he was back in Kansas. He sent me this photo of his 45 pound Flathead Catfish he caught in the Arkansas River.




Daniel said his Dad was noodling out at Lake Amador and when he stuck his hand into a hole, he got bitten by a rattlesnake. See.......


There you have it, my friends. A noodler in the flesh.

Tomorrow, take a friend fishing.

Mark

Noodling

I met a real live Noodler.

Story to follow.

Mark

May 15th Snow Storm

First, thank you all for your kind words. I have to tell you, it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

Yesterday we woke up to this.





Mind you, it's the 15th of May. Only 12 days to go until Memorial Day Weekend. It's also the first snow on the wife's new car.



But, on a positive note, the Dogwoods are in bloom. I took a picture so you could see the blooms. You can see them, can't you?




Of course you can't. Whole damn tree is covered in snow. You'll just have to take my word for it. That should do it though. One snow on the blooming Dogwoods and Winter is over. Yeh............

OK, trying to get a day fishing this week. The Wife's foot operation went well and she's recovering, so I should be able to get out, maybe Wednesday or Friday.

I'll let you know.

Mark

A Sad Ending To A Crappy Week

Just a quick post to let you know of sad tidings in Volcano. Late last week, we lost one of the girls next store (from a post on California Dreaming) to a Mountain Lion. I don't know all the details so I can't pass anything on. A sad day. She'll be missed.





Last Sunday I posted about our little boy Smudge going to the vet emergency room and being diagnosed with asthma. it turned out to be more than just asthma. Thursday afternoon I had to take him again to the Vet with breathing problems. I had left to run over to the hardware store in Pine Grove (about an hour round trip). When I left, he was fine. When I returned, he was laying in the hall barely breathing. I got him to the Vet and she was concerned that the strong doses of medication he was getting should been enough to stop any asthma problems leaving her to think that he was much sicker than we thought. We had the option of taking him to Sacramento to get an EKG, but the Vet didn't think he would be strong enough to make the trip. If the EKG came out that he had heart trouble, he would have had a short life on many medications. If he didn't, he would have had a slightly longer life, again on many medications. The only diagnosis the Vet could give us was that he was a very sick boy and would probably not get better. It would not have been a very good life. We decided that it would be best to end his suffering. We miss him very much.




Tomorrow I'll tell you about the May 15th snow storm.

Mark

What A Blast

As you all know, I'm in the middle of a bathroom remodel. Monday was the bug guys. Yesterday, the plumber put in the new fiberglass shower. Today, I went fishing. What? I can't remodel all the time.


Right out front, I want to remind everyone that I'm entomology stupid, so when I explain my methods, you'll know that there is no rhyme or reason for them.


I looked at the DFG stocking chart and it shows that Angels Creek in Angels Camp was to be stocked again this week. You'll remember that the DFG stocked the week before opening day and the kind gentleman from Angels Camp paid for, and dumped a load of 16" to 20" Rainbows in the creek. Well, the DFG stocked again the next week, this week, and will again next week. How could I pass that up?

I got out to the creek at 0830 and walked from my parking spot downstream to the bridge which is about 3 blocks and back again. Didn't see fish any holding in any of the pools. I went back to the spot I fished on opening day and there were two guys soaking power bait and hauling in one fish after another. I went back to the truck and rigged up my fly rod with floating line and a 9' - 6X leader with 6X tippet.

I started with a fly I got from FlyDeals called a Caddis Pupa Brown. First two to hit it, snapped the tippet. Oh, did I tell you that I could see about 50 fish holding in the pool? I added an indicator about 8 inches above the fly because I kept missing hits. The next fish took the fly and the indicator both. Then what I did then was snip off the 6X tippet and replace it with 5X. I managed to land two on that fly. When the bite stopped on that one, I switched to the Black Gnat I got from Bill Trussel (Fishing Through Life), but couldn't get any interest. Sorry Bill.

Tied on another one I got from FlyDeals called a Kistone Brown. No interest in that one. Then I tied on a Red Copper John. Landed one fish and then lost it in a tree. Tried a Red Naked Lady (love the name). Nothing. Zugbug, nothing. Put on a Beadhead Red Fox Squirrel Nymph and landed one. Total at this point was Shoreman 4 and trout about a dozen. Everything I caught today was catch and release. I had several errands to run afterward and didn't want to mess with bringing any back.

Next was a red San Juan Worm. Hey, I'm experimenting, OK. That was all the plan for today was, experimenting. Nothing on the SJW. Now I was going to get serious. On goes a Black Wooly Bugger. HA, Stuck their noses up at it. Water turned from somewhat cloudy to almost pure brown. Ok, Olive Wooly Bugger. That's the trick, landed one and then nothing. Goes to show you, you can't depend on anything any more. If a black or olive Wooly Bugger doesn't produce, might as well pack up and go home. I did try two of the flies that David Swart (up in Oregon) sent me. I'm not sure what he calls them, but they look like a Wooly Bugger with some kind of wiggly legs. I tried one in a brown and landed one fish and the other in purple, but it wasn't a color they were interested in. Thanks David for the flies.

So, I put on a size 8 tungsten beadhead Thinmint and away I went. Five fish later, one completely trashed fly, a couple of flies in the trees, and I called it a day. The count was now, Shoreman 11, fish about 15.

While I was there, I met a couple of young ladies from Southern California, up on vacation and gave them the key to catching. They soaked Power Bait and took 5 home for dinner tonight. I think they'll be back tomorrow.

That was sure a welcome respite from remodeling, but back to it tomorrow and Friday, the wife goes in for foot surgery, so I'll be grounded for a few days or until she gets tired of me and throws me out the door. Hey, then I can go fishing again.


I looked at the stats the other day and I'm truely amazed at the number of people that stop by. Thanks to everyone that takes a look at what I write.

Till next time.

Mark

Never Forgive A Traitor Part Deux

As I said yesterday, I received this in an email a couple of days ago and just wanted to pass it along. Apparently it's not the whole story or the complete true story. The part about her sitting on an anti-aircraft gun, was true. The fact that she should be considered a traitor, is true. The fact that she was there at all, is true.

But based on the link I got on the first comment, you can decide for yourself how you feel.

Here's the link again.

http//www.factcheck.org/2010/11/blame-jane-falsehoods/

I've held this inside me for a lot of years and I mean a lot of years. That is all I have to say on the matter. Back to fishing, but not until tomorrow.

Mark

Never Forgive A Traitor

I'm not normally a political person when it comes to my personality or this blog, but the other day I received an email and thought I'd put a copy on this post.

I'm 64 years old. The Army tried to draft me in 1965 when I was 19, in fact they tried 5 times, but couldn't because I have a kidney out of place and posed too much of a risk of permanent retirement, should I have gotten hurt. Had I been drafted, I would have gone and it would have been to Vietnam and I feel in my heart that I would have returned in a box, but I supported our guys there as I support our troops around the world today.

There was one thing that pissed me off then and still does to this day. I can vividly recall Jane Fonda sitting on an anti-aircraft gun in Hanoi, seemly aiming it at American planes.

So here is the email and think of it as you will.

Never Forgive A Traitor

For those of you too young to remember, Hanoi Jane is a bad person and did some terrible things during the Vietnam war. Things that cannot be forgiven!

and now President OBAMA wants to honor her......

In Memory of LT. C. Thomsen Wieland who spent 100 days at the Hanoi Hilton She really is a traitor. A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED.

This is for all the kids born in the 70's and after who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear. Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the '100 Women of the Century.

'BARBARA WALTERS WRITES:
"Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam ".

The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, "a River Rat".

In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison the ' Hanoi Hilton.' Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American 'Peace Activist' the 'lenient and humane treatment' he'd received.

He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp commandant's feet, which sent that officer berserk.

In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton. From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the 'Hanoi Hilton', the first three of which his family only knew he was 'missing in action'. His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a 'peace delegation' visit.

They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it , in the palm of his hand. When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: 'Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?' and 'Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?'

Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper. She took them all without missing a beat. At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper. Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.

I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years. I spent 27 months in solitary confinement, one year in a cage in Cambodia, and one year in a 'black box' in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot , South Vietnam , whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs). We were Jane Fonda's 'war criminals....' When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as 'humane and lenient.'

Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane. I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me. These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of '100 Years of Great Women.' Lest we forget....' 100 Years of Great Women' should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots. There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in blatant treason, is one of them.

She needs to know that we will never forget.

RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF 716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of Maintenance DSN: 875-6431 COMM: 883-6343

OK, It's Been A Crappy Week

I haven't been making comments on a lot of blogs this week, but rest assured, I'm reading as fast as I can. I've also not been out fishing since last Saturday because of circumstances beyond my control.

I started a remodel project on our downstairs bathroom. OK, simple enough project. Remove a little sheetrock, have a plumber replace the fiberglass shower, and install a shower head higher than the one that's in there, put a little sheet rock back and good to go. Here comes the formula! Time expected to complete the project x two, times 3. That should do it. Cost, same formula.

Part two was to repaint the ceiling that was dark blue. About the same color as the top strip of the blog. Then paint the rest of the bathroom.

Part three of the remodel was removing the wall paper. That ugly tropical fish junk. Getting the picture? Dark blue ceiling (water), Tropical fish wall paper (fish,OK I know you got that one), Brownish-orange tile on the floor (sand), and last but not least, a shell shaped sink and toilet seat cover. I think I'm going to puke.

Here is how it went. Remove the sheetrock behind the shower. Oh look, termite trails. Ever seen them? little dirt tubes that the termites run through, to the studs in the wall, which they eat. Remove the sheetrock at the end wall and wow, live termites. As Martha Stewart would say "I'm so excited". You have to hear that in her monotone to really appreciate it. Now, I remove the sheetrock on the wall behind the left side of the shower. Guess what? You got it, more termite trails. What else? Part of the 2x4 studs are eaten away. This just gets better and better. I spent part of Friday replacing the six 2x4 studs in that short wall.

Called the termite guy, he came out and inspected the damage, and let me know they would be here Monday (that's tomorrow) to take care of it, to the tune of $1200.00. There goes my new fly rod.

Back to the wall paper. Most of the time, you can wet the paper with a solution of vinegar & water and peel it right off. That's if there is only one layer of wall paper. Not here. Not one, not two, but three layers and the third layer is some heavy glued, brown striped crap that when you pull it off, it also takes the paper off the sheetrock. So now I'm removing all the sheetrock in the bathroom and will be replacing it with a new and improved sheetrock designed for bathrooms.

On the bright side, removing and replacing the new sheetrock will help in several ways. It'll make it easier for the contractor to install a new fart fan. and a new window. The old window is aluminum and I'm having him put in one of the new dual pane vinyl jobs. It will also let me install the medicine chest in the wall instead of on the wall. I'm also insulating all the walls, interior and exterior. It also gives the plumber plenty of space when he puts in the new shower.

Then to add another element into the mix, Smudge (our little gray 19 1/2 pound kitty) got sick yesterday. Started to have trouble breathing in the morning and by dinner time we had to run him to the vet emergency clinic. As of this morning, he's doing better. Had we not taken him last night, we probably would have been burying him this morning. Seems he has asthma. Yes, he will have an inhaler for any future episodes. He'll be home this afternoon.

So maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to get out to do a little fishing, maybe as soon as Tuesday. I'll let you know. Just wanted to let you know I'm still here.

Mark