Ricks Review: Native Water Craft Manta Ray 11 Kayak

Patagonia Lake, Arizona at sun set.

Fishing in the deserts of Southern Arizona is extremely limited. There just aren't that many lakes or rivers large enough to hold fish. Within a two hour drive there is one small river that is mostly surrounded by private land and Indian reservations, and the few lakes we have are smaller canyon reservoirs. This means they are narrow, long, deep, and surrounded by cliffs. Anywhere there is relatively flat space the vegetation is so thick that shore fishing becomes nearly impossible. These issues make a boat of some kind almost a necessity for fishing. There are five such lakes within 100 miles (close enough for a day trip) of my house. One is a tiny over-fished trout lake up in the Catalina mountains that doesn't allow boats at all, three have a 5 mph no wake speed limit or are limited to trolling motors, and one is large enough for a large boat to make about a 1/4 mile circle on one end for water skiing. This is bad for a fisherman stuck on the shore, but the limited number of people with smaller boats means this is great for fish populations in all of these lakes. and for the few fishermen who have a boat small enough to get to them. I want in on this action, so I need a small boat.

Fishing Gear Overload? Four Ways To Cut The Clutter On A Family Fishing Trip.

Family Picnic

Every once in a while I am able to talk the wife and kids into going to the lake with me for a picnic and some fishing. we do not own a boat and none of them particularly like to go fishing, but they are a good family and go from time to time just to make me happy. When this happens I get excited because this is the time I am going to show them how much fun fishing really is. In my excitement, I start gathering up my equipment and loading it into the truck. I usually load up what I would normally bring on a fishing trip with a buddy. A couple of bait casters for bass fishing, two or three spinning rods for bait fishing, a couple of fly rods for bluegill and trout, four or five other poles of varying purpose and usefulness just in case. then I add in four or five large tackle boxes chock full of all kinds of baits, lures, and terminal tackle to cover any situation I might come across. I will also grab a couple of folding chairs and a small ice chest for sandwich stuff and throw that stuff in the truck. After I get every piece of tackle and gear I own, and every type of bait I can think of sorted, organised, and loaded, I turn around and see the large ice chest and several dozen plastic grocery bags containing a wide variety of picnic foods along with paper plates, plastic cups, a large bag of charcoal, and various other assorted necessities for a family picnic piled up and waiting to be loaded into the, now full, truck.

Gun Control And The Second Amendment

Before deciding on being pro or against gun control legislation, read this one sentence slowly and carefully.

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." -The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States-

The Second amendment is as profound as it is ambiguous. It is the only constitutional amendment that states a specific and undeniable purpose for it's existence. That complex jumble of letters and punctuation alludes, but does not outwardly state, that there is a need of the people to have the weapons necessary to form or join an organised military for the purpose of securing or protecting the freedoms of the people. It also assumes that it is already lawful and even expected that the people are already allowed to own, keep, and carry weapons sufficient enough to form a military strong enough to protect the nation as a whole from another military power. It then states that owning and bearing arms is a right that can not be limited.

Shotguns And Fishing Poles Turns One Year Old!

April 14 will mark the one year anniversary of publishing my first post The Urban Fishing Addiction and bringing Shotguns and Fishing Poles to life. I want to thank all of you guys who read this blog on a regular basis, and especially those of you who have given me a helping hand along the way.  When I started doing this I was looking for an outlet for my overwhelming need to talk about fishing and hunting with anybody I could get to sit still and listen to me. I also wanted to learn from people more experienced than myself, but didn't really have access to the few local clubs due to time constraints. When I went looking on the internet for more information on hunting and fishing I found tons of information in the form of blogs. Some were good, some were bad, but nearly all of them were written by regular people living regular lives.

As I searched through hundreds of blogs, I found a few from the west and even one or two from Arizona, but the vast majority are centered on the eastern half of the country. That inspired me to start writing about what does and doesn't work here in southern Arizona through my own adventures and experiences. Since then I have been having a blast writing about my passions, and learning new hunting and fishing techniques. In the coming year I have a ton more stuff I would like to learn about, and I already have a new kayak on the way to try out. I hope you will all enjoy reading my stories in the up coming year as much as I plan to enjoy writing about it.

Two Lakes On Ruby Road, A Fly Fishing Odyssey Entry

For the first time this year I had a whole day to go fishing! I have been looking forward to doing this for over a week now, and I was about as excited as I get. I mainly wanted to get out and test my newly acquired fly fishing skills on the giant bluegill that always seemed so plentiful in Arivaca Lake, but fishing of any kind would do. I was out of bed a full half hour before the time I had set my alarm clock for. I started a pot of coffee and made some toast for breakfast before I went to work loading up the truck. I packed my brand new fly rod and tackle bag into the cab of the truck, and loaded my bait casters and a spinning rig in the bed with a folding chair and my large bass fishing tackle box. Arivaca is a bass lake after all, and being stuck on the shore I wanted to be prepared for any situation I might come across.  Then with the previous nights rain still falling in the form of a slight mist I pointed my old pick up truck south on interstate 19.

A Fly Fishing Odyssey Begins, Rumors Of Rainbows and Browns

An Urban Rainbow From Last Winter

One of my fly fishing goals for this summer is to catch all five species of trout that live in Arizona waters. This will require me to do some exploration of places that are a bit off the beaten path. The Three non-native trout species; Rainbow, Brown, and Brook are prolific well established and easy to find in most of the highland streams and lakes, but the two native species of Gila Trout and Apache Trout are only found in certain streams in the larger mountain ranges of Arizona and New mexico These fish are rare and much more difficult to find due to the other three species taking over most of their native habitat. There is also another fish I wish to catch over the summer called the round tail chub. This is a warmer water species native to Arizona and highly protected as an endangered species. There is only one place, I know of, in Arizona to catch this fish and that area is only open for part of the year and is obviously catch and release only. Setting travel plans to the White mountains aside for a few weeks, the first thing I would like to do is explore some rumors I have heard about my local mountain range.

A Fly Fishing Safety Tip

Any fisherman who has fished in popular areas or urban parks has had to deal with strange people standing directly behind them for no apparent reason, and with no intention of moving. The relatively short back cast of a modern bait caster or spinning rig can normally be altered enough to avoid hooking these people. A fly rod set up can have a long enough back cast to take this particular situation to the extreme making safety a much bigger concern. A less than vigilant fly fisherman may unintentionally give a teenage girl sitting at a picnic table 30 feet away a new caddis fly eye brow piercing.  Keeping track of the movements of nearby people can be a challenge when most of your attention is focused on not permanently disrupting your own field of vision with a fly. I try to make sure that there is nothing behind me when I am out there fly fishing, but I still catch trees and bushes all the time, and I am just waiting for the day I hook into an unseen toddlers nose with a woolly bugger on a back cast.