Fishing Some More

We went to Parker Canyon Lake again this Saturday. The fishing wasn't quite as good if you talk to the ladies. I kind of liked my four trout and the one bluegill that I actually kept. We left the lake early so as to not fry in the sun. This gets the boat a new record for 5 times in the water this year. We are still planning on improving on that but will have to start watching the weather soon. Monsoon season is coming shortly and really don't like being out on the lake during lightning events. I would say that we will have to limit our time to morning only and get off the lakes by 11 AM or so.

We have caught a few sunfish that were decent sized but had a lot bigger mouth than a bluegill and little more greenish. I new that all the sunfish in the lake were legal with no size or number limit so we kept a two. I looked them up and they are the Green Sunfish.

Native to the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay and the Mississippi River basin. Introduced into Arizona in 1926. Large mouth with blue-green striations on the cheeks. Opercle flap is black with reddish or orange border. Bodies olive-green in color, dark vertical bars are faintly seen on sides. Pectoral fin short and rounded. Caudal fin and lower fin margins are white or yellowish with dusky spots at rear of dorsal and anal fins. Length: 3 to 12 inches. Weight: 3 ounces to 1 pound 8 ounces. May live to nine years.

I would love to find one of these that is 12" long. That would be a fun fight. Most sunfish put up more fight than a trout ever thought of. You even get to the point that you think that you have a medium sized bluegill on when it turns out to be a 13" trout.

Run for the Hills!!!!!

Is it time to panic?

Is the sky falling?

Should we scream and shout?

Are we to run in decreasing radius circles until you can only rotate? (its an engineer thing)

Daughter #2 has her temp driving permit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!













I do so love Ed Roth's Rat Fink images!

Just a bit of followup. We have gone driving twice so far and all goes well. Saturday afternoon was sith the RAV. Sunday morning was out with the mighty Bronco to play on some dirt trails. One of the first comments was that the Bronce sure was a lot different than the RAV. We had to stop and clean the Bronco windows as it is not a daily driver and sit collecting dust when it isn't hunting season. She said that her hands were getting sore from the death grip on the wheel trying to figure out a path through the ruts. Woohoo!

More Fishing

We have gone two more Saturdays since the last post. These times we left the dog behind as it is getting too hot for him. I do believe that we will set a new record this year for the number of times the Lion Paw (boat) gets wet this year. The previous Saturday we had 1 trout, 1 bass and a ton of bluegill. This time we had 3 trout and even more bluegill.

The Forest Service required that we move from our secrete fishing spot as choppers were coming in to pick up water to fight a fire. We could see the smoke about ten miles off. It was interesting to see the choppers hover to snorkel up water and watch them drop it on the fire. They kind of looked like this one.

We watched them from about 200 yards away. I would have been willing to be closer if the authorities would have complied. Heck - you just get blasted from the air and water spray. Refreshing!

We continued our fishing in another spot that turned out good, also. I must go again this Saturday. The bass should be lighting up any time now.

Fishing Time!

Daughter #2 and I went to Big Lake the weekend after Memorial Day. Can you say gale force winds? Normally it would be nice and calm at daybreak. Not this time! It was gusting to 10-15 MPH already. I would estimate that when we got off the lake we were have gusts to 40 MPH. Too much. The wind could take you off your feet when on land.

We went out in the morning but could not troll as you had to put too much into the speed to control direction. The wind could turn you right around at low speeds. Anchored off in a couple of more protected areas and had some bites. We got off the lake about 10:30. I was glad that I had the gas motor as you weren't going anywhere against the wind with an electric. There were more boats on trailers than on the water. I only saw two other souls braving the whitecaps.

My daughter had experienced enough adventure for the day so we called it good. The boat did well and we enjoyed ourselves so it was a successful trip. She is now talking about the next fishing event. Maybe a day run to Parker or Roosevelt.

So......
the 5th found us (wife, daughter, dog and me) on Parker Canyon Lake. Weather was hot but with just a little wind. They had a blast! We went out looking for panfish. The bluegills did not disappoint us. I have no idea how many we threw back in. We kept 8 of them along with 2 trout and a nice bass. It was calm enough out that I was even able to smoke a nice cigar in between releasing fish and baiting hooks.

I had fun too, so we will head out again this next weekend.