Fishing, and hunting reports (share yours)

Lunker alert! LOL
Took my 4yr old to wet a line in the canal running behind my property this AM, and the panfish were biting for her. Might have to get this one mounted

 

As a child, when one catches and hauls in his or her first fish, that moment gets etched in one's memory

 

So true!!

 

I might be going for Elk in the next couple of days; anyone use an EDC2 to field dress? I seen more than a few reports of individuals using the FK or UFK, but was curious if anyone used the smaller blade.

 

Awesome!

I bet she had a hoot.

 

I would definitely bring your EDC 2 along.

Used my EDC1 in D2 and EDC 2 in D3V to breakdown several Javelina’s. Not even close to anything Elk size, but they both worked fantastic. I hope to get on an Elk bow hunt someday, and when/if that happens, my EDC’s, D2 HDFK and UFK will all come along. I’m curious how each will do in that role. Good luck and keep us posted on how you do.

 

Love it brother

 

I don’t know about you guys but it seems like I spend the spring and summer thinking about fishing trips and the fall planning for bow hunting trips.

This time of year it’s all about fishing, so here’s a few pics of our third annual Bluefin 2.5 day charter off of San Clemente Island. Every year has been great fishing and the Bluefin seem to be getting bigger each year. Figured I needed some heavier gear this year because we got into a ripper bite of 150-227 pound Bluefin last year. I burned the midnight oil after work to finish up several heavier United Composites rail rods for the trip. Here’s one of them on the rod wrapping lathe.



The first day started off slow And is typical Bluefin fishing. The fish were everywhere, jumpers, breezers and everywhere on the meter, but we could only convince two to bite.

Day two was more of the same. Intel was that the fish were biting in the afternoon and you had to find the right school that wanted to bite. At about noon, the captain decided to make a move and it paid off. We found a group willing to play and each of our 11 anglers caught Bluefin up to 265 pounds.

Bluefin are notoriously boat shy and the majority of the fish we caught we using a kite to drag a frozen flying fish up to a 100 plus yards away from the boat. The best part was watching 200 plus pound Bluefin explode on the bait like a Largemouth Bass on a surface plug. Occasionally the fish would come completely out of the water and sometimes it would take 3-4 Strikes to connect with a fish. Each time a fish took a swipe at a bait, everyone on the boat went nuts. Good times!

We each took a turn on the kite and rotated every 20 minutes. It was a hero or zero proposition. I got my turn and Five minutes into my rotation, a huge Bluefin exploded on my bait, but missed. ☹️

Two more Bluefin tried to make a meal of my bait and on the third attempt we connected to a big one.

Once connected, you have to reel in 100 plus yards of slack line to come tight on the fish. I reeled in the slack and the fish burned off about 300 yards of line before settling down. About 45 minutes later, I got the fish to the boat. You know it’s a good day when it takes four or more guys to bring your fish over the rail! It ended up weighing 257 pounds. Happy day!

 

Woohoo!!!! I'd love to see them hit that bait. Envious of you guys on the big water!!

 

Touché, I’m envious of you and the beautiful country you live in!

#livingvicariously

 

Bluefin can be a love/hate thing. So many times I have been surrounded by them while they are feeding/boiling around the boat, but can’t get them to bite a bait or lure.

There’s no guarantee, but the 3-5 days leading up to a full moon seem to be the best time for the Bluefin to bite, followed by 3-5 days prior to a new moon. Lemme know if u ever make it out to the so cal area.

 

Went out goose hunting for the first time ever this morning. It was opening day, 7 of us went out, 2x Canada geese was the limit and we brought 12 down. A buddy at work is a waterfowl freak, I didn't know the first thing about it except the shooting part.

We put up 60 silhouettes and a dozen full size decoys next to a stand of corn waiting to be cut for silage at about 5:30 and they started rolling in at about 7:30.

We got busted early, took a pair that came in but before we could grab the dead ones a couple bigger groups came in and flared out. Then a group of about 50 came in and landed about 60-100 yards out and honked and bitched, seemed to be walking towards us then flapped around then we just went out and ran them off. We took another pair and settled back in.

After we took the 2nd pair we shifted the silhouettes and my buddy's dad yelled out and one of our 'dead' geese came booking out of the corn. They're mated pairs so that was a bit disturbing thinking about what was going through its head but I caught up to it and finished it off, had my CPK EDC on my belt.

The morning got clear and warm and after sitting with our thumbs up our butts for a couple hours we shifted east down the field and some other shooters flushed a group out and we took 8 more. 5 of them went down into some scummy water and before anyone could say that the new guy should get them I dumped my pockets and went after them. I grabbed 3 and it was rough going, the mud was knee high and the water was shoulder high. 2 of the other guys were smarter than me and stripped down before they went in and grabbed the others.

If we would've gotten that first pair out of the field right away we would've limited out and been gone by 8:30 but I'm glad it worked out how it did.

I've only hunted with 1 other person tagging along for deer and squirrel and that was over 20 years ago, this group hunting thing was a new experience. 5/5, would go again.

 

Great write up @grogimus! Outings like that make some lasting memories.

 

Challenge: can you pick Grog in the line up? (hint: he hasn't grown a beak, yet!)

 

He’s the badass looking dude on the left.

 

Got a good day/overnight trip in this weekend. No game but good views and warm fires. MC on point; the perfect camp knife for me to date.

High country views:


Camp location and fire going:





Frosty morning:

 

Outstanding!

Thanks for sharing your adventures. I always look forward to seeing them.