Heat

X 2 on taking a look at Western Mountaineering. They have some semi-rectangular options for those that mummy bags don't agree with as well as your standard mummy bags. The down they use is top notch and you can confidently use your bag to the degree rating stated even if you are a "cold" sleeper. I would also recommend taking a look at the Kifaru bags. They use synthetic insulation but it is lightweight and backpackable, similar to down.

The unanimous decision and rationale is right on in my opinion. It's sad that this had to go to the Supreme Court.

I think someone yanked the post this comment was directed at...just saying!

I think its hard NOT to catch fish at Powell! LOL! The wind blew us off the main lake one year and we stayed in a small cove way back into a finger canyon. We fished right of the back of the beached boats in the small cove and caught smallmouth, largemouth and striped bass, catfish and bullheads, crappie and bluegill, and last and certainly not least, a big scaly ol carp! It was awesome! We caught all of these fish on either anchovy chunks or nightcrawlers. I haven't caught a walleye there yet, but I'm sure they are there if you know how to catch them. Another year I got up at the buttcrack of dawn to the sound of breaking fish off the beach we were camped on. I brought my crankbait rod with a small topwater bait down to the beach and started casting at what I thought were stripers but once it got light enough to see I could tell they were spawning carp. I kept at it and soon enough a big school of stripers came through the big bay we were on. They stuck around for 10 minutes or so and I think I managed to land 4 nice fatties before they left! It was fast and furious but totally epic! I'll never forget the incredible fishing in that lake as long as I live!

Nice work!

I totally agree with the Gary Yamamoto single tail grubs for Lake Powell. We did great on the smallmouth with those. I used some sort of smoke colored with black flakes and did really well.

Gotta have a few not so good trips to make the really good ones stand out! Way to go to get them out there at least! You did good!

More good soaking rain up on the Rim over the weekend and probably lots of other places. Most years its like a tinderbox up there by now, and it was soaked with standing water everywhere up there. Weird timing compared to most years, but I'm sure the critters will take full advantage. Thank You God for your Showers of Blessing!

Has anyone ever fished for trout at Knoll Lake or Bear Canyon Lake over Memorial Weekend? Which would you recommend? I'll be bringing my wall tent for shelter. Is one better than another for the fishing, how about the scenery for camping? I would prefer to be camped near water but don't want an army of people all around me either so may get away a bit. Any insight would be great!

Now that's funny right there!

My group found a couple this weekend. They went real good with the pasta sauce!

"I wish more Leo would be up on big weekends busting idiot people like this." I really feel sorry for the people camped next to them, but I hear you!

Ut-oh what???

I want to shoot a buffalo with my bow. I don't have a ton of preconceived notions on how that is going to go down. I would like to ask for some opinions on which hunt would give me my best chance to accomplish this. Keep in mind this is a once in a lifetime species and a very expensive tag so I likely would not have many more than one opportunity at this. I'm leaning towards making my first choice the second any buffalo hunt and the second choice the second cow only hunt. I am guessing that hunting later in the summer or early fall would give a good opportunity to hunt over water since the monsoon would be mostly over by then. Or would you prefer to have the "first' crack at them with archery equipment. Does anyone know if any general or other hunts preceed the first archery only hunt?

2010 Unit 13A, scores maybe 75. Taxidermy by Jim Hartsock, SW Wildlife. I also drew a Unit 1 Archery tag in 2012 and struck out swinging...

You may be confused with Chevelon Canyon Lake or they changed the rules or something. I could find no such regulation in any publication. The lake description on the Game and Fish website even recommends a worm and bobber. Pretty sure we did the right thing. http://www.gf.state.az.us/h_f/documents/BearCanyonLakeGeneralDescriptionFoyer.pdf

She sure is a beauty! Good Luck selling her!

I was a few units over and I saw the same thing, maybe worse. Nobody gives a crap or knows the rules and they have no manpower to enforce them. Great point on the woodcutting above.

Sorry to hear of the slow day. That kind of thing happens regularly if you go enough. Sometimes the Captain is looking for that one magic stop where the fish, the current and the bait line up and the sea lions stay away for long enough to have a really good bite. More often than not you just cruise looking around. Hope you have better luck next time. FYI it took me taking a two day before I managed to catch my first yellowtail or albacore so stick with it! Those Coronado Island 3/4 trips really are very hit or miss especially this early in the season.

Fishing and Camping trip on the Rim was a total success. Found a semi-secluded camping spot near Bear Canyon Lake where we got away from most of the numbskulls. We were still close enough to hear the idiots firing their automatic weapon until 11 PM the first night, but we survived until they ran out of ammo. What kind of idiot shoots at night anyway? Especially when there are numerous sign all over prohibiting target shooting! Other than that we really had a nice relaxing weekend. Got to run my own wall tent and stove for the first time which was pretty cool. My one year old daughter's first camping trip and she seemed to do just fine. As far as the fishing I only made it to the Lake once but some folks from our group made it a total of 3 times and we/they caught fish every time. First cast within 3 minutes or so and my cousin had one on. I managed to catch a few too, so I was very satisfied. Worms were working on the stocked rainbows but one or two fish seemed much chunkier and maybe held-over from last year. All in all a great trip! No grip and grin worthy fish pics, but I do have one or two of the campsite with my baby I can post later. Thanks!

Way to Go Rob! That is such an AWESOME bison man! Look at the horn boss overlay on that dude! Very nice! Way to hang in there through tough weather. My friend's dad got one a couple of weeks ago. Outstanding effort man! Great pics too.

Best of luck to you my friend!

Thanks to all of you who positively contributed to the thread and the PMs, I appreciate it!

When it comes to cats the taxidermist either has "it" or they don't. Wild Heritage seems to have "IT" bigtime! Awesome critter and taxidermy! Congratulations on a beautiful piece of art!

Start going to the Sheep Clinics and talk to everyone that will stop and listen for a second. You never know who might be able to help you out! Lots of guys who have already killed their ram are dying to go again and help someone else. Here's the draw odds you were after: 6016 - 1 tag, 140 1st Choice Applicants or .007 or .7% 6041 - 2 tags, 111 1st Choice Applicants or .018 or 1.8% 6042 - 7 tags, 321 1st Choice Applicants or .0218 or 2.18% There were no hunts for 6043 or 6044 last year. You can probably divide the numbers above in half to get a wild guess. Remember your true odds will be even less than this since the drawing will also look at second choices as well, although that may or may not increase your overall odds of drawing a tag. Pick units where you know you will have a chance at killing, even if that means less than the biggest rams around. That's just my opinion. To maximize your odds try to pick units that did not have its tags all selected from the Max Point portion of the drawing or you might be out of contention before they even look at your app. The unit I drew and hunted had all of its tags go to the random part of the drawing so that maximized my odds. I know this because I had tag number one and I only had 8 bonus points when I drew, way less than max! I also applied and drew when it was still paper only apps so that eliminated a lot of guys that did not front their money.