feild patten
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Zach,
Your best bet for an affordable used shotgun is a local gun show. I looked around on the web for you and discovered that there is one in Atlanta this coming weekend.
The Info is Below:
Gunshows of the South
State Farmers Market 16 Forest Pkwy
http://www.gunshows-usa.com/rkshows.htmI dislike pumps. Like Jim said, a Remington 1187 would be a great choice for an affordable dependable gun that you can always count on.
Take a look around, maybe you can find a used Benelli or Beretta at a bargain price. My brother bought a Benelli Super Black eagle at a gun show a couple of years ago for about $490 (its an $1200 dollar gun).
Good Luck!
Zach, since I am sure you are quite busy at work, and I am having a slow day, I will post the images Ian sent me so that everyone can be jealous throughout the hectic monday workday!
Any of these should work Matt:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/range.htm?id=10033
I have the in 500 gig:
http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=10894
They work great!
Tempting Carter, tempting….
Ian and Matt are in AK finishing up guiding and I have been delegated as the “information gatherer” for this adventure since they have limited internet access, and basically zero phone privileges….
I will pass on your offer in my next email…it sure sounds fun!
-Feild
Cameron,
I guided up in AK last summer with Ian Crabtree at Unalakleet River Lodge, and after I finished around September 10th, I headed down south to actually do a little fishing of my own.
I am notoriously rough on waders. I don’t treat them with care. I have no problem hiking 5 miles through bramble in them or sliding down muddy escarpments to the rivers edge. I never hang them up, and rarely clean them. To me, waders are a utility tool, not a dainty pair of business slacks, and I treat them as such.
Last summer guiding in Unalakleet AK I completely destroyed my second pair of Patagonia Watermaster waders (the seams ripped out, the knees leaked profusely, and the gravel guards frittered away to nothing). I had already destroyed one pair of Watermasters in the Appalachians the previous year fishing every other day with Ian Crabtree. When my Watermasters failed (I spent a week or so experimenting with super glue…), I called Cloudveil up, told them my predicament, and within 7 days I had a pair of 8X’s in hand. What a customer service feat!
I treated the new 8X’s no different than I had the destroyed Patagonia’s. I wore them every day 6am to 7:30pm. I kneeled in the dirt and rocks to clean fish, I hiked through bushes, etc. etc. etc. I think I purposely tried to make them spring a leak….After I finished guiding, I took them to Southern AK with me and hiked all around the streams north of Anchorage and then on to the Kenai penninsula. They never failed, and believe you me, I certainly fell/slid/jumped over many an obstacle! Zach, after Ian saw how they held up
I use Photobucket to post all of my images onto this site. It is free and incredibly simple to use.
Zach and Mat..thanks. Mat, I was shooting a Nikon D70s, Ian was shooting a D50, and I believe Matt was shooting a Canon 30D. All of the images I posted are from my D70s. Basically, all the images are unedited.
Zach, per your request, here are a few more images. It’s too bad we don’t have any more fish pictures, but at least Matt caught the giant rooster and I was behind the lens to capture that moment.
I know all of you have been clamoring for more pictures for weeks now, and yes, it’s all my fault! Posted below are six pictures that encapsulate
Simon,
I fished the Kenai, the Russian, quartz creek, etc. in the middle of September after I finished up guiding. There were a few silvers around. They were mostly spawned out, but they would occasionally chase a fly. Most of the silvers I saw were up high (near the falls) in the Russian. I also saw quite a few strangler silvers north of Anchorage. Check out Ptarmigan Creek.
Forget about the silvers and chase the thirty inch bows that prowl the waters that you will be fishing.
September is the prime time for rainbow fishing in Alaska. The crowds are mostly gone, and more importantly, the rainbows are gourging themselves on the millions of sockeye eggs prevalent in the rivers.
Feild
My primary trout rod is my 9′ 6wt BIIX. I completely agree with the comments made by Peddler. Whether high stick nymphing with 6x on the Davidson, or stripping 1/0 streamers on 12lb Maxima for silvers, the rod handles beautifully at any distance. You inquired about a rod that can pull double duty; this rod will certainly have no problems. As I stated above, I use it for trout, silvers, chum, bass, and pretty much everything in between. Also as Peddler stated, you will be shocked by how light the rod is! I have mine rigged up with a Ross Evolution #3 and barely notice it in my hand on a full day of tromping through rhododendrons
Chalk up another vote for Smith Action Optics.
Mavericks with Amber lens for low light conditions.
Riptides with SCBrown lens for the sunny days on the water.
Interesting Jaguar link, which documents the jaguar sightings in the southwest, primarily Arizona.
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2005/december/phenomena.php
In respect to Texas (my home state), it is common knowledge that there are Mountain lions, which have on occasion, been shot and killed by deer hunters. A friend of mine took at shot at one at over 400 yards last November while deer hunting on leased property only 3 hours west of Dallas.
http://www.countryworldnews.com/Editorial/CTX/2005/ct0818cats.htm
As for the ‘released/escaped’ pet theory, there are some truly bizarre stories coming from Texas hunters who lease and own property in Northern Mexico. More than one hunter has claimed to have seen a full grown African lion! The Mexican workers which maintain the hunter’s property year-round (i.e. cooks, ranch hands) state that Mexican drug lords purchased the animals as pets, and then released them into the wild when they got to be too much to handle! Of course these are only undocumented rumors, but fairly interesting anyways.
I purchased a Nikon D70s from beachcamera.com and everything arrived as expected and in perfect condition.
I know someone told Zach to check out http://www.resellerratings.com/ in an old thread about searching for his D200. This site provided me with a wealth of information concerning online stores. Check it out if you haven’t already.
Report 1/27/07:
I left Dallas at around 5:30am and arrived in Broken Bow Oklahoma at around 9am. I ventured into the Three Rivers Fly shop on Hwy 259 before you enter Beavers Bend State Park. The nice woman working there told me that the generators were running, and that I would basically be limited to fishing Zone 1. She said that my best bet was to fish the newly created ‘Evening Hole area,’ and ‘Spillway Creek.’ My plan was to try Spillway Creek first, but when I pulled into the pull off access area, I quickly changed my mind. Ten to fifteen trucks were crammed in the tiny designated parking area, and men, women, and children in full camo regalia were piling out of the trucks with two to three spinning rods in each hand. I have nothing against hardware fishing. I regularly fish for bass with a bait caster and a heavy jug, but I am usually not really up for fighting crowds the likes of those I saw in this parking lot when out trout fishing. As I was debating where to head next, and how to get there, five guys came hooting and hollering up the trail each toting a stringer full of the daily limit (six rainbows). Each bow was about 10-12 inches…lol.
After leaving Spillway Creek, I ventured down to Evening Hole and started to explore. I started to fish upstream, but the crowds, at least 20+ people, really started to wear on me. I switched tactics and hiked about .5 mile downstream and started to fish back up. After noticing that my nymph rig (size 18 blood midge with a size 22 zebra midge dropper on 6X) was not eliciting any action, I reverted to my tried and true method for catching Alaska rainbows. I am sure some of you may disagree with bead fishing, and many may have even read Richard Chiappone’s ‘Rant’ column in the November/December 2006 American Angler, but I am of that mindset that if you are using a fly rod and it catches fish, I will probably try it. Anyhow, I rigged up a bead rig, and on my first high stick drift through a fast riffle I hooked up a nice 14 inch bow. I proceeded to land another 10 stocker size bows out of that one riffle. The rest of the day was more of the same. I would hook up or miss a strike on a stocker bow on pretty much every drift. It was borderline ridiculous. Just for experimentation, I rigged up with an egg pattern of the same color as the successful bead I had been using, and I had no problem catching just as many fish. In total, I caught and released well over 60 fish. The biggest going was in the 18-20 inch range caught in a small pool right below Lost Creek.
At around 3pm it started to rain a bit. I decided that this would thin the crowds a bit, and that it would be a good time to explore Spillway Creek. As you said Matt, it was a very interesting small stream. I pulled out tons of stocker size bows on the bead rig.
I am heading back to the river this coming weekend with fellow board member Matt_Jones. Since I didn’t get to explore or fish Zone 2&3, I am really hoping that they won’t be generating. Even if they are, I still plan on swinging some heavily weighted streamers through the deep water just for the hell of it. I mean you can only catch so many stockers.
-Feild
another…(sorry…I can’t figure out how to post two pics in the same message…is it not possible without creating a collage, or in effect one jpg, in photoshop????)
Zach,
I believe the fly below is the one you are referring to? It is called a wog. It is a top water fly for silvers. It floats on the top of the water, and as you strip it in, it makes quite a disturbance in the water, which in turn, elicites violent strikes from the silvers.
Thanks for the info. LH, those boards are proving to be helpful. Matt, I wonder if that side stream could have been Lick or Copper Creek? Both seem to dump into the main river by the looks of the river map I have been checking out. After I do some exploring this Saturday, I will report back on what I caught, as well as post some pics.
Feild
