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I was hanging out at Sportsman's up in Strawberry a few years back with some buddies eating lunch after fishing Long Lake. Those beetles were all over the place. Those orange beetles almost look like milkweed bugs.

Have you checked YouTube? It really helped me when I inherited my father's Browning B2000 Autoloader. Also helped me with many other projects (dishwashers, icemakers, auto repair on FJ Cruiser). As far as cleaning, I'm a fan of CLP. (5 minutes in)

Brand name https://www.amazon.com/SmartWool/b?ie=UTF8&node=2600777011

I have a few pair of Smartwool Light Hikers and they work great. Had them for years. Then, 2 years I had seen that Costco has their own version. Bought a 4 pack which was the same price as one pair of Smartwools. Hard to tell the difference between the Smartwool and Costco versions. Went back to Costco last fall to buy a 2 more packs and they no longer carried them. Hopefully they will this year...but yes, merino wool all the way with poly liners and you should be blister-free.

I've had some pretty good days in the dead of summer running the shoreline (Acacia Picnic) from the concrete dock all the way down to the bridge leading into First Water cove. Throwing LC Pointers in Crack and Chartreuse Shad, dropshotting Robos and crankbaits in craw colors. Some pretty good structure there, so jigs with craw trailers would be a good bet. Also across the lake from the big cove down till your across the Sheriff's dock has a ton of boulders. Great place to throw jigs. Summer time though...I'm usually throwing reaction (wiggle warts/Yo Zuri Hardcores), swim jigs, dropshot and switch to some topwater (Ricos and whopper ploppers) when the sun is going down.

Boat or shore?

Tikka T3 Hunter Stainless 30.06

Last year, I ended up buying a pair of Danner Gila as well. Great pair of boots and hunted quail with them all season. So far, holding up really well and very comfortable. Perfect for hunting and hiking in the desert hills. Also took them on an elk hunt in GMU 1 in December. No insulation, but still worked fine. They replaced my old school Vasque Skywalks that were resoled 3 times.

Got mine. 15 left.

Hit for $45, NICE!!!

I use a Plano 1532 Pro Max when going back and forth to MN in the fall every year to blast some ducks. You're more than welcome to borrow it. When do you need it?

7/12 at 9.22 AM

Troll the coves with a Husky Jerk, Taildancer, Shad Rap, etc maybe an hour before sundown while looking for boils. Come across a boil, throw a swim jig or chatterbait with a skinny dipper trailer past the boil and reel it through the boil. You should be able to hook up with some fish doing that. Evening time, head up by the tires and/or the dam. Drop anchor, throw out a light and wait. Once the shad start circling, the stripers will probably show up. Dropshot a 1/0 circle hook and a 3/8 oz weight with a 1/3rd of frozen anchovy and you should be good to go. Drop it to the bottom and reel up about 6 feet. Start there. If you don't get a bite, reel up some more. Wash, rinse, repeat until you're on fish.

I hunt out of a 2008 FJ Cruiser. Never been stuck anywhere, full time 4x4 (so far...knock on wood). It's been great so far, has decent storage and towing capacity is good for it's size. I fish a ton as well, so I also tow a Champion 181 on a single axle trailer. No problems there either. It's a 6 speed manual, so when going up the 87 to Roosevelt, I just downshift to 4th.

Saltwater or freshwater? I don't have too much experience with saltwater. But freshwater, I fish braid with fluorocarbon leaders on all of my rods except for my frog rod (straight 65# PP) and topwater rod for small poppers (straight Sunline Super Natural Mono). Been doing that for about a decade and haven't had any problems with it notching or digging into any of the guides. Bloody Decks forum might have a better answer

Yes, I'll typically do them via sous vide. Everything from rib eyes, strips, tenderloins, tri tip, backstrap, etc. Even ribs. Really really good. Rub meat with seasoning of choice, vacuum seal with a 1/2 tbsp of butter, sous vide at 130* for 90 min (longer if you have time). Remove meat then sear hard and fast on a hot skillet or grill (or my preferred method, lit charcoal chimney with a grate over it). 90 second sear on each side, then done. No need to let it rest coming from the bath.

Wow. Last year up there duck hunting it was low and Soldier seemed to be ok....but looks like the good times are over now. That lake had the biggest crawfish I've ever seen. Some friends of mine have a cabin up near the Blue Ridge fire station and we'd fish Long all the time in the summer. Then duck hunt in early November. Here's a couple pike (C&R) we've caught out of there. Big chartreuse Mepps spinners were killer there.

Topwater Rico in Lime Ice early in the AM and then later in the day towards sundown. Dropshot always produces. Craw cranks banging off of rip rap as well as green jerkbaits always produce. Post spawn I have decent luck when pitching a T-rigged weightless senko (black w/silver flake) near the edge of tullies

Picked up a couple

Great info. Thanks for this. I drive an '08 FJ Cruiser and so far...(knock on wood) it's been good to me. Only issues were when I first bought the truck in late '07, I had to have the throwout bearing replaced twice. There was a recall on it. Curious, did you receive any other quotes besides from the dealership?

Rapala CD-5 in firetiger or black/silver

Picked up a few

Me as well. Was up in 5A and scouted several areas. Very, very windy. Couldn't hear any birds. Hoping this weekend will be different.

I'm pretty new to the forum and figured I'd share some success. I was up scouting for turkey today with a buddy of mine up in 5A and ran across these two sheds today. First ever elk sheds for me....and of course like a dumb arse, spaced on getting a pic of ATL. I quail hunt a ton and then only other sheds I've come across are chalked deer sheds. So, I was pretty happy with this find. Anyways...here they are. I'll be back up in 5A for the next couple weekends chasing birds. I can see how this is addicting. Found them early in the AM and was on the constant look for the rest of the scout.