Summer Run Fun

Friday I hit the Upper Rogue in search of some summer steelhead. I was greated by a family fishing the tailout I wanted to fish, so I patiently waited for them to leave. I fished the upper section of the hole for awhile with only one trout to show for my efforts, and pondered whether I was ever going to get to fish the prime spot. After a little while longer the family finally left so I slid into the tailout to give it a try.

It wasn't 10 mins before I finally felt the tap-tap-tap of a fish. I set the hook, and instantly a silver rocket came exploding out of the air. The steelhead caught a good 4ft of air before returning to the water, only to come straight back out for another 4ft jump. As it shook its head wildly the hook popped out of it's mouth, and that was all she wrote. I didn't hook another fish for the rest of the evening, but that one fish left me with a video that keeps repeating over and over agian in my head.

It's moments like this that draw me back day after day to the sport that I love. Some may say that I have an addiction (which I probably do), but until you experience the adrenaline rush of a chrome rocket on the end of your line, you'll never understand why it is that some one can be so hooked on fishing.

Freebie Friday

Every Friday I am going to try and have a list of giveaways going on in the outdoor world. We all like to get stuff for free so this will be your chance. Whether you enjoy fishing, hiking, camping, or just being outside there's usually something for you to win. So here's this weeks giveaways....

First up is from the folks at Sylvan Sport. They are trying to reach 3000 "likes" on their Facebook Fan Page. All you've got to do is head on over there and give them a "like" and you'll be entered to win a Yakima BowDown. They're almost to the 3000 mark so you better hurry and head over to Sylvan Sport Go's Facebook.

Next up is from PAHikes.com. They are giving away a pocket chainsaw. You can Click Here for the entry form.

If you're into fishing XFactor Tackle is giving away $140 worth of soft plastic baits in two different contests. You can check out the details on how to get entered on my other blog: Southern Oregon Fishing: Contest's Reminder.

That's it for this week. Good luck to any of you who enter, and have a good Friday.

Tight Lines....

Fishing Videos

So I don't have much to write about today. Instead I thought I would share a couple of videos I've made. They're both about fishing for spring salmon here on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. Enjoy...
  
Springer Fishing on the Rogue River - 5/15/10

First upper Rogue Springer of 2011 

Tight Lines....

Blog Tips - Your Header You're Doing It Wrong

I'm going to be doing a weekly post on some tips for you fellow bloggers. Whether you're a seasoned blogger or just getting into it, it's always nice to see others suggestions and opinions. So without further ado here's the very first of my tips....

I've seen this mentioned a few times by other people, and I've got to agree that it's quite annoying. You know those headers I'm talking about...

They're Huge!!!!

People are inherently lazy and having your header take up the whole screen when we land on your page is quite annoying. Before I can start reading anything I've got to scroll down, and well frankly I hate scrolling. I'd rather be able to read the first paragraph, or even the first couple of lines, and if it catches my attention, then scroll down to continue reading. 

Headers are an important part of any blog. They are the first thing people see and set the tone for your blog. However, you don't want it to be huge. 150 to 300 pixels high is perfect. If it takes up more than 3/4 of your page then you may want to reconsider. When someone has to work to see your content they are less likely to stay on your page. Even if you're a fantastic writer, and the article is something they want to read, your header could be turning them away.

So be kind to your readers. Let them be lazy and not immediately have to scroll down to see what you've written for the day. If you're one of those bloggers with a huge header don't feel bad. This is just a suggestion, but if you follow it you may just find yourself getting a few more readers.

Tight Lines....

Stick it to the Man

Are you working a dead end job that's going no where? Do you hate your annoying boss who just likes to push your buttons? Well here's a life hack for you to be able to get paid for doing absolutely nothing, and stick it to the man.

Getting paid to go to the bathroom is one of the easiest ways to make a few dollars at the expense of your boss. Unfortunately it does require a real job, but hey it's still free money.

Instead of using the restroom on your breaks be sure to use it while on duty. By averaging just 6 mins every day you can make a small fortune for shitting on the job. If you make just $9 an hour that turns into $234 every year for doing absolutely nothing. It may sound like chump change, but you've got to remember what your getting paid to do. If you can manage to stretch that out to 10 mins every day you'll almost double your money at $433 every year, and if you make more than $9 an hour its even more.

So the next time you working be sure to remember what I've told you, and stick it to the man. Taking a shit will never have felt better.

Have a nice day everyone.

Tight Lines....

Million Dollar Car

Often I find myself skimming threw the news, not actually reading much. However today there was one story that caught my eye...

Apparently a 25 your old built his own Bugatti Veyron. The Bugatti Veyron is the fastest street legal car in the world and comes with a $1.5 million price tag to match. Only a few hundred of the vehicles have ever been made due to the steep price tag.

However, Mike Duff turned a '02 Mercury Cougar coupe into a look alike Bugatti for a fraction of the cost. He's got it for sale for $89,000, and while that price will buy you the look it won't buy you the performance. It's still got the Cougar's 2.5-liter V6, 170 horsepower under the hood, which is compared to the 8-liter 16-cylinder 1000 horsepower of a genuine Bugatti.

Personally I would take the look aike for 1/10th of the cost of the real deal. You'll still be turning heads even if you can't win a street race.

So what do you think? Would you take the look alike for $89,000 or the real deal for $1.5 million? Let me know in a comment below.

If you would like to read the full news story click here: Yahoo News

Spoonin' For Summer Steelhead

Today's post is a recent story I wrote over on my fishing blog (Southern Oregon Fishing). It's been a very popular post so I thought I would re-post it here for all of you.

For those of you who regularly follow my blog, you may remember me giving some advice on beating the heat with some Evening Fishing on the Rogue. Well Sunday I completely ignored my own advice and hit the river during the middle of the day. With it being a hot afternoon on the weekend I knew there would be a pretty big crowd on the river. I left the house with a few options up my sleeve to try and get into a summer steelhead or two.

Option 1 - My favorite fishing hole on the Rogue River has been unfishable since March due to the high water. It requires the river to be below 3ft on the Gold Ray gauge to even access it, and below 2.5ft to be the least bit fishable. With the gauge reading 2.9ft I decided to swing by and see how it looked just in case. Unfortunately I know the hole way to well and it was running too high to be fishable. So on to option 2 I went...

Option 2 - My second option is my favorite stretch of the Rogue to throw spinners and spoons. This stretch of river is located behind a locked gate that requires a key from the ODFW, however, anyone that requests it can get a key for access. It's also happens to be a very popular spot for river boarders.  When I got down to the water the river boarders were out in force and they even had a metal rock band playing a concert. Luckily they take up the lower half of the run while the upper half was free for me to fish. I soon found out that summer steelhead apparently like multiple types of metal.

My first summer steelhead of the year caught on a spoon

I was casting my spoon up into the current letting it tumble down through the run. When it would get to about 45 degrees below me I would start swinging it across the current. As I did this for about the 20th time I felt what seemed to be a trout strike at the spoon as it was swinging across the seam. I let the spoon continue to flutter when WHAM! The chrome rocket attacked the spoon and immediately came out of the water for an aerial display. After a few more flips and a couple runs I slid my first summer steelhead of the year onto the beach. After a quick photo it was released to continue its journey as its adipose fin was intact marking that it was a wild fish.

All the comotion drew the attention of a couple fellow anglers, so my spot quickly became crowded. I decided to pack it up after a few more unseccesful casts, and head onto option 3.

My spoon caught jack salmon

Option 3 - I had never fished this next run, but knew it was a good spot for steelhead. After stumbling a 1/4 mile through the river I reached the very slight bend in the river. I started part way down from the head of the riffle and slowly started working my way down river casting my spoon the entire time. After fishing the entire stretch unsuccesfuly I decided to head up to the very top of the riffle before giving up. Again after about 20 casts in this spot my spoon was attacked while swinging across the current. Being thigh deep in the middle of the current I had to stumble my way down stream and towards the bank to be able to land the fish. As I finally made my way onto shore I slid the fish onto the grass. This time it was a small jack salmon instead of a steelhead. With retention of wild salmon allowed in this stretch of the Rogue I was able to keep the jack for a nice meal. After continuing to fish for a little while longer I decided to call it a day.

Here's the hot spoon of the day: 1/3oz hammered Little Cleo in blue and silver

The jack salmon with the Little Cleo spoon

Some of the best advice I've ever heard has been "You can't catch anything without your line in the water", and it's something you've got to live by if you're a fisherman. No matter what time of day it is you've got to hit the water when ever you've got the free time. Who knows you may find something pulling on the other end of your line even though it's not the "best" time for fishing.

  Tight Lines....