IA Born

My wife and I are talking about going up to Lake Powell in a couple of weekends to have a family day up there before school starts up again and we have no more free weekends (soccer, TaeKwanDo, Hunter Ed, etc.). We're talking about renting a boat, which I'm hoping will convince her to let us pull the trigger on our own boat. I've never been to Powell, so finding our way around to fishing areas could be challenging, although I don't think it will be that bad. I also threw out the idea of just getting a guide for a day to ensure the kids have a blast catching fish and we can learn our way around. I've done some limited research on boat rentals up there and we're not looking for the ultimate party boat, if we go that route. I'd like something we can explore and fish from. So I have a 2-part question. 1) Any recommendations for boat rentals that won't break the bank and give us fishing opportunities ($200-$350/day) 2) Any recommendations for guided fishing trips that won't break the bank? Thanks in advance!

Thanks again, guys! I was truly surprised when I opened my messages Friday morning. And then to find out my daughter got her first buck tag (one of the youth hunts) was icing on the cake. Good luck to everyone else who's cards have been charged!

I had a pretty lucky day, so I'm pretty sure I'm about to buy 4 more tickets!

That's awesome! My mom brought me down my grandmother's bible from when she was younger. Its not that big or old, but I keep it locked in the gun safe for my daughter to have one day.

How do you forget to spread the word of a sheep tag. Lol I was busy telling her about her buck tag and javelina tag. I have to be careful on this one. She likes Bill (for some reason ) and will want to tag along, which will mean I have to go. Not a bad problem to have, but we're already over-committed with soccer and her three tags!

I'm hoping for that in 19A for my daughter, but I'm not convinced I can be that lucky in one day!

Congrats, Bill. I forgot to tell Syd when I dropped her off at soccer camp. She'll be excited for you, too!

Youth buck and javelina tags for my daughter!

And I just realized last week I get a prodeal on Tenkara rods! VERY NICE!!

The thing I miss most about living in Tucson is being able to be in good quail country in a few minutes and being able to go after all three some days. I need to find better quail hunting within easy reach of Flagstaff. Now that my daughter is hooked on wing shooting after her youth pheasant hunt last year, she's begging me to take her out bird hunting more! I can't afford a game ranch, so I need to find public land nearby with enough birds.

I went with Midland radios because they have 15-mile range. I love them, but have never had that kind of reception, either. But then, I've never been that far from who I hunt with. I also went with Midlands over Motorolas because, back when I got them, everyone and their brother had Motorolas and I had to be different. Having said that, I love mine.

I love my #14-#18 elk hair caddis, #20 midge clusters, and #14-18 BWO for dries. #14-#18 pheasant tail, #18 zebra midge, and #16 copper john are my favorite nymphs. Although, my last 12" rainbow was caught on a #14 Royall Wullf because the above dries weren't working. Go figure...

+2 for the Infinite Edge Pro (newest model). My 8-year old son shoots his lights out and it will last him quite some time!

I just finally read both your posts (missed the first one somehow) and want to thank you for the info, Jerry! I had no idea about not using TSA-approved locks. Learn something new every day. I even researched it on my own to verify. As for the weight limit, I learned that one the hard way several years ago. I had a few bandoliers of .30-06 for my M1 Garand that I bought back in Iowa at a great price. American Airlines just about flipped a major back flip on that. I had to go back through security, after declaring it in my luggage, and answer over and over why I had so much. It wasn't illegal, but I was right at their weight limit. I explained over and over that I was a collector and found a great deal that I can't find in AZ. The lady was just dumbfounded. A cop nearby overheard it all and started laughing. He verified I was legal and legit, but the lady kept saying "But you have so much!" I offered to take it out have my parents ship it to me, but she finally relented. And then, a few years later, I had 4-5 spent blanks from my dad's 21-gun salute roll out of the bag they were in on my flight home from the funeral. The primers were very obviously dinged, but the crimps never opened. TSA wouldn't allow them in my luggage. The others, still in the ziplock bag were fine because they weren't rolling around. A cop even verified that they had been fired and weren't an issue, but TSA wouldn't back down. The kind lady at the ticket counter offered to mail them down to me. I have another good one about the time we flew back to Iowa after my dad died and I brought most of the rest of his firearms and all of his butcher's knives home, but I don't want to hijack the thread any more than I already have. Another time...

Looks great. Out of curiosity, what's the going rate for a trip for a family of four (two adults, two kids 12 and 8)?

I've got a big aluminum one that was given to me. Can't remember the brand. You are welcome to borrow it. It looks like the one below. Case.jpg I have this exact one from Cabela's and love it. You just have to get a TSA approved lock for it, but Masterlock makes decent ones. Sounds like you have plenty of offers for loaners, but I'd let you borrow it if we can figure out how to get it from here to there.

If something changes, let me know. I'm headed down from Flag Thursday afternoon to take my daughter to a soccer tryout at the Scottsdale Sports Complex.

I was recently going through my pro deals on ProMotive (www.promotive.com) and discovered that I get a pro deal on more stuff because of my Hunter Ed Instructor status. If you are a Hunter Ed Instructor, you can sign up for the IHEA team. I thought I would pass this along to help someone else get great deals on some great equipment (Vortex, Bushnell, Zeiss, 5.11, Stealth Cam, Summit Treestands, Mountain Khaki, Rage, Muzzy, Moultrie, Browning, Eberlestock, First Lite, etc.). For others reading this, there are pro deals for law enforcement, military (all branches), certain companies, and guides. Do a search for qualifying teams and see if you qualify for anything.

That's the plan. When I saw that bigger trout rising, I triedto get Jacob to go after it. I'm tryingvto figure out if we can make a trip to the San Juan still this summer. A trip to the White Mountains is also in the works.

Our kids have finally developed a strong interest in fly fishing. They've both landed a few fish that I've hooked over the years, but they're finally showing enough interest to head out on their own. My daughter, Sydney, has used two of my rods to cast, hook, and land an Apache trout before (couple of times, if memory serves me correctly). We got her a Cabela's fly rod/reel outfit for Christmas 2014 (8' 2-pc 5-wt) and only used it once on Lower Lake Mary that following spring (2015), but to no avail. Life got crazy after that and we never made it back out until a couple of weeks ago. She finally got to learn better casting (even from me) and managed to land a juvy rainbow on a dry fly. It was great to watch as the trout were small, even for a #16 elk hair caddis, and she had something like 30 strikes before getting one to take the fly completely. I landed a juvy brown on a pheasant tail nymph earlier, but I really only celebrate those caught on dries, so no pics posted of mine. Syd was so excited to catch that trout! She thought catching one with par marks was better than catching an adult (coolness factor over size!!). That was it for us that day, but she can't wait to go at it again. Syd's First Trout on Her Own Fly Rod Our 8-year old son, Jacob, used some of the birthday/Christmas money from this past December that his grandma (my mom) sent him and bought himself the exact same outfit as his sister since Cabela's had a great Father's Day Sale. It got here a week ago today and we took off last Friday morning after his dentist appointment. My cousin, who is in town visiting, is an avid hunter/fisherman, decided he wanted to learn to fly fish so I hooked him up with my spare 5-wt, I grabbed my 3-wt, I took the day off, and we took off for a favorite spot. I hadn't planned to do much fishing because I was the teacher and wanted to concentrate on helping them. My plan was to cast a few times to show them and then work with them. We ran some nymphs through the holes upon arrival, teaching them to cast and get the hang of it while we waited for some risers. We finally got some risers around 1330 and switched to dries. Jacob struck first and landed the same size trout as his sister. It was all kinds of wiggly and hit the dirt before I could get it off the hook. We snapped a quick picture and got it back in the water. I don't know who was more excited, him or me, but there were lots of high fives, hugs, and fist bumps. After that, he decided to hang out and play around a little to "..give you and Matthew a chance to catch one now..." (his words). Jacob's First Trout on a Fly Rod When given a chance like that, I don't pass it up, although I asked Jacob several times if he wanted to start fishing again. My cousin and I both missed several hits from those small ones and then noticed a larger strike nearby. We both ended up missing that one, me with a #20 midge cluster and my cousin with a #18 elk hair caddis. After trying several more times in vain to get it to come back, it was getting close to time to head home, so I thought to myself "Throw something big and ugly. What the heck." I tied on a #12 Royal Wulff and on the third cast, the "big one" took it. It turned out to be a 12" bow, but it felt great on my 3-wt once it got to close to the net and, in true rainbow fashion, finally decided to fight. Jacob made a great net man after some coaching. I snapped a quick pic with my phone and released it back for the next trip. Jacob asked me yesterday if we can go fly fishing again this Friday on my next day off. I'm pretty sure Jacob, Sydney, my cousin, my wife (new rod for her, also, after a trip the week prior), and I are headed out again! My 12" 'bow My favorite part about all of this is that, like the song says, my kids think we're just fishing. #troutbums

Dr. Rohrbaugh up here in Flagstaff at Northern AZ Orthopedics did mine. He was great!

July 8th, 0730!

We got ours at the vet originally, but most pet stores have it. Its also online.

When we lived in Tucson, we had ticks out hiking and in our back yard, even when using Frontline Plus. I called the company and complained about what it advertised vs what happened and got the run around. Our vet back then suggested switching to K9 Advantix and it has worked great ever since. I also went and sprayed the crap out of the yard with a top quality bug killer (don't remember which one since it was about 12 years ago). That, along with K9 Advantix seemed to work great. Once a month application of the stuff. Its expensive, but it works great.

Brings back great memories and reminds me why I want to go back so badly!