Hobby Sports

Canyon Lake is an affluent gated community located in Riverside County. Since high school I have had access to this lake as one of my best childhood friends has a residence here. Back in college when I started fly fishing it was here I cut my teeth fishing for bass on the fly. Also I believe it was here I caught some of my first species on the fly. Throughout the first part of this century I fished quite a bit as my buddy would come to his home here several times a year inviting me almost every time. In 2004 or so he stopped coming here regularly as work and family obligations took more of his time. That was the last time I fished here until today my new buddy Luc who invited me to fish.  All it cost me were a few flies which I was more than happy to give away.
I met Luc at 5am at his house. We loaded his boat with my gear and headed to the launch ramp. Saturday there was a bass tournament so Luc was preparing me for a tough day. Topwater was first on the agenda. Luc likes fishing big flies and he started with a 10 weight and a big hard bodied popper. Armed with my 8 weight XP, I started with a hard bodied frog pattern that Luc suggested. It proved to big for my rod and later switched to a diver Luc suggested. After a few drifts past several banks it too proved to cumbersome for the 8 weight so I moved to Webbs Folded Foamhead. Several hours past without any takes.

Luc gets the skunk off the boat with a topwater take

Luc finally managed a topwater rise. It was a 2 or 2.5 pound bass. Finally the skunk was off the boat. Now with the sun out in full force we moved to subsurface presentations.  Hours past and I was constantly changing flies looking for the right presentation.

It took what seemed like eternity to get any bites. I kept missing fish. Luc was shocked that we were having such a hard time. Each cove, according to him, should have produced at least one bass many times more. I told him my bad luck just rubbed off on him and he shouldnt have invited me.   He just laughed it off but I was serious. Its not been my week. We were fishing some deep areas so I borrowed one for his rigs.  A 7 weight Sage RPL+  with a Airflow Depthfinder fast sinking line and his favorite fly an unweighted olive woolly bugger.  Luc likes fishing unweighted flies and letting the line take the fly down.

An average Canyon Lake bass 3 pounds.

I must have switched flies more than a dozen times.  As we started moving toward the shallower portion of the lake and a deep sinking line was not needed I moved from one side of the boat to the other.  In the process, with all the line stripped to the floor, I tangled Lucs line badly.  I spent the next 30 minutes or so trying to untangle the line.  Luc told me to just forget it and fish my other rig.  Not knowing Luc well enough, I didnt want to leave it for him to fix.  Eventually I just gave up and left it in frustration.  I picked up my favorite 5 weight and tried several flies before tying my Fugly S.O.B. in purple.  Soon enough I was on.  My first bass was a 3 pounder.  Luc let me know this is about an average fish here.  Back in my day, I would have given my left nut for a 3 pounder.  Ten years ago or so my personal best was maybe one and half.  Of course then I was just an novice/intermediate fly fisherman but I never saw a bass like that here.  If this is the average the lake has definitely gotten better from when I was fishing it.  It must be the fact that shad is everywhere.  You can see them swimming and Luc was showing me how to read his fish finder and sure enough they were everywhere.

A nice Canyon Lake representative.

My first Catfish on a fly

Taking flight.

This area is loaded with fish, mostly shad with crappie and bass mixed in.

I had an absolutely great time despite what Luc called disappointing.  No matter, I have a special place in my heart for this lake as it was where my fly fishing path started.  Fishing today brought back a lot of fond memories some of which I shared with Luc.  One story was back in those days, the lakehouse was party central for my buddies and since most of us were either just out of college or in college most of them came just to drink and party.  I didnt care for that I came for the fishing and one of the rules of the house, my buddy set, was to prove your party animal status was you couldnt go to sleep until I woke up to go fishing at 5 or 6 in the morning.  Only then would you have proven your worth.  I remember numerous times fishing on my buddys dock looking up after hearing the sliding door open only to see one of my buddies leaning over the balcony puking his guts out.  Good times.

Kaiser remembers and wants nothing to do with this baby rattler.

Rattlesnake avoidance training is, in my opinion, essential for any serious gundog or any dog that spends time off leash) here in Southern California.  The late Patrick Callaghan, the pioneer of this type of training, once told me that on average a dog need a yearly refresher for the four years in a row before the training really took hold.  Patrick performed Kaisers first two avoidance trainings, and Erick Briggs of Natural Solutions performed his other refreshers once we lost Patrick.


Ericks associate puts a Mojave Green in place.

Kaiser wants no part of it.

Today I had Erick come out to a local park, that I felt simulated the likely terrain I usually hunt, to give Kaisers fourth refresher.  I did not have Kaiser trained last year for whatever reason and with all this warm weather I felt it was a good ideal to do another refresher.  Kaiser, once he scented the reptile, he remembered instantly that was not a good smell.  It seemed that the last few trainings have took and I was glad to see that.  Even though Kaiser seems to properly rattlesnake broke, I will likely do another refresher next year as well as I like its cheap insurance.  Erick had several types of California rattlers with him and let Kaiser scent each of them to let him know that they are to be avoided.   Not only are dogs trained on scent but on sound and sight as well.  Looks like we are ready to head out.

For a long time Ive been interested in finding a good video camera for all the activities I enjoy. Unfortunately typical cameras require, for the most part, the use of one hand. Fly fishing, hunting, shooting, and off roading, all require two hands to safely and accurately perform those tasks so Ive never really had a desire to spend money on a video camera. That was the case until I found out about the Contour Roam. These simple video camera is designed for action and with the proper mount it requires no hands to operate (other than turning it on).

I intend on purchasing a head mount soon so I can now record my fishing and hunting trips. Im trying to figure out a way to mount it to my dog so I can see his perspective when looking for birds.

This Roam was purchased from Grey Group during their 12 days of Christmas sale. The regular price is $200, I purchased mine for $150. Thats not bad. Ill be trying it out soon as I plan on a waterfowl hunt and a pheasant hunt in the coming weeks. Ill review it once I get a chance to ply with it. Depending on how much I like this, future posts may contain only videos for now on but I doubt it as I actually like taking still photos.

For the longest time I have wanted this book Les fusils de chasse de Regis Darne by Jean-Claude Mournetas.  I have known about it for over 6 years now.  Unfortunately it has never, at least not to my knowledge, been stocked on this side of the pond.  There are many reasons for this,of course, one Darnes are not too popular or even common Stateside, and two, this book is only available in French.  Although I havent a clue how to read French; I wanted this book solely for the photos.  Im weird like that and notorious for buying books in languages I cant read.

Years ago I found this Darne book and wanted so badly to buy it but only bookstores in France sold it.  None of the websites had were bilingual.  Recently I began my search for this book again and noticed that a seller on Abe Books was selling it in Quebec.  I got all excited and order it.  A day later I received an email from Abe stating that the seller no longer had it in stock.  Bummed, I started surfing for it again.  I found a site that actually was bilingual, well sort of.  It was half way translated to English.  When I was placing my order, most of it was in French though.  Most of the ordering process was pretty self explanatory and straightforward but for all I know I could have order some gay porn without even knowing it.  Well see when I finally receive it.

While looking for the Darne book I found Le Laguiole Eloge du Coutea by Daniel Crozes.  I actually was able to order this book from Amazon so it was much easier to order.  I didnt need to pull out the translator.   The seller though was still in France. I recieved an email the other day stating that is was shipped and expected to make it to my door by the 3rd of May.  So Ill be waiting patiently for it to arrive.
From these pages I pulled from the website it looks like a good one.

Both should make some nice coffee table books even though I wouldnt have a single clue as to what the heck the text is talking about. Maybe I should start learning French among other languages.

Here is a recipe I like to use when you have access to live shrimp.  Its easy and good.  Although, if you are on cholesterol meds, you may need to double up on them if you eat this. 

Unfortunately the pictures did not come out as well as the dish.

Ingredients:
Whole live shrimp
Uni
salt
Mayo

One of my greatest fears while outdoors is being stuck out in the woods without the ability to make fire.  I have tried unsuccessfully rubbing hardwood together and it is not only difficult but energy and time consuming.  I hope I never have to make fire that way or any primitive way for that matter.   That said when I go deep into the woods I usually carry redundant systems to make fire or I make sure my partner has a fire making tool with him.