Stone steps to nowhere

Five, maybe six years ago Tom and I started building a set of stone stairs from the top of the dock stairs to the next level up the hill. We made a lot progress, but just didn't have the stones to complete the job. It has been under an attractive blue tarp since to protect it from the elements. In the mean time we collected a few more stones and made one more failed attempt to complete it. Well now I declare it 99% complete, it just needs some vegetation stuffed into the nooks and grannies and around the edges to dress it up and prevent wash out. For now they kind of go nowhere until more steps are added to the next level.

Well a little more work and some time for things to settle have produced the following results.

Snook shark

The last day of our Sanibel Island vacation was spent with cocktails and a line out in the trough. Bait was the heads and some attached entrails of a gulf kingfish I caught earlier in the day. A few cocktails passed and no action so I got up to check my line. I was setup with an 8/0 Gam octopus hook, about 2 feet of 26 lb. 7 strand knottable wire. As soon as I touched the rod a little line payed out. I cranked down the drag and the fish started to run. A couple of good hooks sets to be sure and the fight was on. There was enough surf to make it hard to see, I was expecting a shark but was surprised by the biggest snook I have ever hooked. It was exciting to have an audience and not screw up. I landed the 32" fish, lots of good pics and a video. Here is my favorite.

Here is a pic of a typical fly rod fish from the trip. This is one of a few pics taken by a random beach walker. On the first evening of fishing not much was happening until another random beach walker pointed out a couple of snook that were practically beaching themselves while chasing minnows about a cast and half away. Two casts and I had my first snook of 2013!

Carp Adventure 2013

First carp fishing outing of the year. Too much rain, lots of gardens to set up, and a garage sale to prep have detracted from the more important but less critical aspect of life, Fishing! I also may have missed the best part of the morel season. While fishing for carp which involves sneaking through the underbrush, I found a few shrooms, so I was torn between looking for fish and looking for mushrooms, either one is good. I only had a couple of hours before school got out so I hurried down to the MN river by car with my bike on the back and a pack full of wading gear. I rode about a mile from the parking lot to a channel between two back water lakes. Turned out the water was so low in this particular backwater channel that waders were not required. Seemed odd since the river was pretty high, flowing about 12000 cfs. The first fish I cast to came along the shore from the right and paused to feed about ten feet away. Water clarity was marginal, I expected a carp, turned out to be my first shortnose gar on a fly, a crawfish like thing. It was no match for an 8 wt. I beached it when I set the hook, but he quickly rolled back in and made a couple of good runs. The carp were cruising the channel and not obviously feeding. I cast to a few and got one to chase the fly. Time was short so I started to blind cast and hooked this 25" fish. A few cast later another fish broke me off. Lesson forgotten, check your leader after you catch a fish, or maybe it was another gar?