Heat

I don't really understand why the heck people need or want a fire this time of year.

Went to Big Lake towards the end of April. Hooked 4 fish and landed two between four of us. Keep in mind we were all rookies fishing there and 2 were 11 year old kids. All the bites came on half a crawler fished in about 10 to 15 feet of water about 40 feet off the bank. One of the fish we caught was a decent sized holdover cutthroat. I can't wait to get back there for a re-match!

Hey Lance, The hawks will probably keep pestering you until the nestlings fledge or leave the nest. After that, the probably won't have much attachment to that particular tree until next year around nesting season. Wait till they leave and you shouldn't have much of a problem with the hawks. In the meantime, if they are squawking like that they are letting everything in the area know that there is something they don't like near their nest. Nick

Nice catch TJ! I had a blast with the bluegills on Sunday. Caught about 10 6" fish for the pan. They were delicious!

My buddy about bought one of those when we were in college. About $600 then if I remember right. Awesome weapon! "12 Guage Autoloader" "That's Italian, you can go pump or auto" " the .45 Longslide with Laser sighting"... "Phased plasma rifle in 40 watt range?" "hey just what you see pal"

Look for recently burnt areas, but not totally scorched and you should find lupine and lots of deer. Not talking the aspen jungles of regrowth, but areas that burnt through the underbrush. Take serious note of Roy's advice. His advice has helped me a ton over the last couple years. Thanks again Roy! Nick

Fantastic trip report TJ! Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great time was had by all. Nick

Fished at River and Tunnel yesterday afternoon. 4 of us fishing for 3 hours caught nothing. Went to Big Lake today. 4 of us fishing we caught two fish. We lost two at the boat. I caught a rainbow and a cutthroat, had another at the boat that got tangled in another line and got off. Not what I expected for sure. Real bummer when kids don't catch fish. Not sure if all the commotion in the boat messed us up or if we were using the wrong thing, or fishing in the wrong place. We hooked all 4 fish along the same 100 yards of shoreline using half a nightcrawler. I want a rematch! Nick

Donnie, Thank you for putting things in the appropriate perspective IMO. You are a great advocate! Nick

We're headed to Big Lake on Sunday! Can't wait! Looks like we timed this pretty good. Hey Pine Donkey, could you let me know what the fish were biting on? Did you fish from the shore or a boat? I think we are going to rent a boat. Any other pointers would be great! Nick

Pick a different unit!

I drew the same hunt. I killed a pronghorn in 13A with my rifle in 2010, but never hunted them with a bow. That was not the hardest hunt in the world but I am expecting a much greater challenge for this hunt. Maybe we can share notes as the scouting season goes along. I will probably be camping with a buddy who drew the hunt as well. PM me your email address and we'll chat. I'm going up there the weekend of April 21st and you can bet I'll have my binos with me looking for goats and bulls! Nick

How many points did you have for antelope? I had 3 points for antelope and 4 points for elk going into the draw. I drew a 13A rifle tag in 2010 and killed a decent goat. Last archery bull tag was in '06 and killed a raghorn. Nick

Unit 1 Archery Bull and Unit 1 Archery Pronghorn. Nick

Nice bird! Very cool that you had your family along!

Thanks Steve. Didn't take long to be reminded why I "retired". I really don't have much desire to fight about these issues anymore. Thought I might interject some facts and history to the discussion, but I can see that I'm not getting very far. Oh well. Good luck gentlemen, Nick

Townsend was put on the Board by personally applying, having credentials and support, and the Governor's choice. AZSFW had very little if anything to do with it, other than YVRGC being an affiliated organization at the time. How do you keep coming up with AZSFW having so much percieved power and influence?

Allen, Bill Horn, United States Sportsmen's Alliance. Nick

Wrong on Townsend, YVRGC. George and Robbie pretty much disagreed with the Bill at first, then agreed and took Credit in a Club meeting for getting it done, now disagree. Let me let you in on how the Club actually voted. I'll first point out that a few of our very well respected and experienced members including Joe Melton and Jonny Fugate spoke in favor of the bill. I was in favor as well. As hard as Robbie and George tried, the club voted overwhelmingly, and by that I mean at least 90% of the club voted in favor after it was passed by the BOD. Your Stinson connection may have some flawed assumptions as well but I really don't have facts to back it up. I believe he represented a fishing group on the WCC which became AZSFWC, and does not have the all the baggage that AZSFW carries. But again I dont know much about him or Johnson. Hayes Gilstrap you're on the money. Kent I wish you would have had the pleasure of going toe to toe with Lori Faeth and her thoughts on this type of appointment. I honestly believe you would see where I am coming from and would'nt be putting so much faith in having the pleasure of an appointment like this lie solely with the Governor. If you don't think special interest is still in play without a bill like this...I got some Oceanfront Property for sale! Nick

I'll be perfectly honest. I worked with both Hayes and Sue as the rep for the Club. I like them both. I don't have the same level of confidence with Hayes and didn't seem to agree with him as much or don't feel that he had the same mostly positive relationship with the Club that we might have enjoyed with Sue Chilton, or Robbie Woodhouse (obviously). I don't agree with Gary Stinson on a few things and said so publicly in the WCC emails that used to go around. Other than that, I don't know much about him. I have my own doubts about him, but mostly believe he would represent whoever it is he is supposed to represent well. I don't know a thing about Don Johnson, other than what was posted. I honestly don't believe that AZSFW got the Commission appointees they were really after in the first two go rounds, so facts tell me that the AZSFW conspiracy machine isn't working all that great. After they have been exposed recently, I honestly don't believe they'll have a whole lot of horsepower in the coming years. Nick

No I am not kidding. I don't know Sue Chilton that well personally but I do know that she is a woman of principles and integrity. She and her husband Jim stood up to bullys like the CBD and DOW and won in court on proving malice on the behalf of those POS when it came to how they treated their leased grazing lands. I'll have that woman guard my back any day, any time, anywhere. I do know Phil Townsend personally and trust that man like I might trust someone in my own family. He is salt of the earth. If you are going to question his morals and ethics you are certainly not very well informed at the least. I won't go any further than that. So according to the way you guys are thinking and this is just one giant well orchestrated conspiracy on behalf of the AZSFW, you need to stop sipping the Kool Aid! If you honestly believe that Phil Townsend gave two bits what Suzanne Gilstrap has to say or that he is somehow on the take, then you are now saying that George and I, and the rest of the YVRGC who supported Phil through this process as our representative, are on the "take" so to speak and so easily "influenced", you are really blowing some smoke!

One more thing I would like to point out in regards to SB1200 that some of you may not have such hearburn over. The law also holds the Governor's Office's feet to the fire when it comes to the timeliness of the appointment. It is a huge disservice to the sportsmen to have a Governor play games with an appointment, and hold it well into the spring as we have seen a few times in the not so recent past. With the timeline that this law has in place we have seen the Commission Appointee Nomination Confirmation be one of the first things the Senate gets done and we have a new Commissioner in February, like we should. Do we all believe that is so bad. If so, I suggest you research what the Director of the Department might think about that. Don't want to put words in his mouth, but I personally believe he might be of a different opinion.

I stand corrected.

Kent I like you and your passion and agree with 99% of what you post on here. Please don't consider this a personal attack, but if you or anyone else believes that Janet Napolitano or any potential future governor like her, gave or gives a crap about your "democratic foundation" when it comes to appointments like this, you've got another thing coming. You are factually incorrect that this is a "democratic process of public choice". Nick

Someone correct me of I'm wrong, but has there ever been 5 people actually sitting on the Commission Appointment Board? I believe that they have operated with only 4 members so far. In that case 2/4= .5. .5 rounded up is a majority. Mostly kidding on the math part but up these most recent appointments and confirmations, that is the way it actually operated. Aren't these all individuals capable of their own thoughts and decisions, or do we really believe that AZSFW has the power to sway these individual's opinions or the voted on opinions of their respective organizations, if they are even taking a vote on a prospective Commissioner? Losing on a vote is a part of a democracy. We can never guarantee a win. Not sure I am following your logic there. I'm not saying that the bill is perfect. I am saying that there is benefit to having a board pick folks who could represent us well, rather than leave it up to the political winds that blow around the Governor's Office come appointment time. I don't think we should paint any of these issues with broad brush strokes of Black and White. There are varying degrees of good and bad in just about every issue. Nick