I'm Back!!

So I'm back!! Back on my blog and back in Chicago. I think I might do things a little differently than I was before on here, but I think it'll be for the better. I will have posts coming very soon!
Stay tuned.. and Tight Lines!!

The long voyage home......................(continued)

      So, I left off with the last hike I did in Chicago. Technically it was at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL. (about an hour west of the city) Anywho, that was a good time, and it was also the last time I would spend doing any outdoor activities in the Midwest before I hit the road. I hadn't the slightest clue what was in store for me. Just in preparation, time it took at least a month of solid packing, sorting and throwing stuff out that we weren't hauling with us. We had a lot of crap to throw out! We also had a lot of really good stuff that we donated. It is really funny how you can unintentionally build up a ton of crap so quickly and not even realize it. So anyway, We purchased plane tickets for the wife and lil guy about a month in advance of the trip. On March 6th I loaded them up on the plane, and then I headed to my storage space to fill up the van. That in itself was a huge job that took way longer than I thought it would. Around six hours of packing and rearranging later, I was ready to roll. So, I got a few hours of sleep at my sisters house, said my good-bye's and hit the road. It was tough saying good bye, but exciting to be hitting the road. The night before the first stretch I got about 4 hours of sleep. When I woke up, I had a bite to eat and then drove for roughly 18 hours.I made it all the way from Chicago, to about 15 minutes outside of denver. That was really a long haul for me. Here are some pictures from that stretch of the drive.........

The first picture of the trip wasn't taken till I was aproaching the Mississippi River

Welcome to IOWA!!!!!!

The people of Iowa welcome me..........

Mother nature wasn't making me feel so welcome though.....

Flipped over Semi on the side of the road.......














I was set back about an hour and a half due to this  accident................hope everyone was alright

The next pic is just after crossing the Mississippi River into Iowa.................

This picture ended up a little out of order, just didn't feel like fixing it.

The sign says Welcome to Omaha

I always swore that I would never drive through Nebraska again..............yet here I was...........again. At least I got to drive through it at night.






 


 
So, I finally arrived in Colorado. I continued to drive most of the night. I didn't stop till about 4:30a.m. for a nap. Then I was up at about 6:30a.m. and back on the road again.










more to come soon...............

 I should be able to finish this trip up in one or two more posts..................
Till then    
TIght Lines
Woollybuggin

Another long Chicago winter............. But this one has a little different ending.............

     Wowsers!!!!! It has been a long time since I posted!!!!! It has been a very, very busy five months for me. I do have a lot to write about and a lot of pictures to post!! Unfortunately, I waited and waited for freeze up to come, so I could get some ice fishing in. Well, it never came. It was an unusually warm winter and I never saw more than maybe two inches of ice at my local spots at any given time. I decided that just wasn't enough ice for me to feel safe going out. Also, I heard plenty of reports of people braving it, and whoops.............There wasn't enough ice. So, I had a no fishing winter. I never made it out to the Indiana creeks either. So as any die hard fisherman would guess, I'm suffering from a serious case of HOLY CRAP I NEED TO GO FISHING!!!!!! There are a lot of contributing factors of why I didn't get out to fish at all in the past five or six months though. The main reason being, I relocated my little family to the other side of the country. .......................................

     Since last November I have had a lot of life changes. Big life changes!! I had been talking about moving out of the Midwest for quite sometime. The only real question was, "Where would we go?" There was a lot of discussion over the past couple years about the many different places in the country that we would like to live. "Where would be a better place to raise the little guy?" That is the question that really guided the final decision. I didn't really care where we ended up as long as there was good fishing and mountains. After a couple years of talking about it here and there, we started talking about it serious. It was becoming more of a reality. Well, that day finally came on March 6th. We decided on Portland, OR. She flew out on Tuesday with the Lil guy, and I loaded up our minivan with everything that would fit and set out on my drive across the country the next morning. It was an awesome adventure................but I'm jumping ahead a little. Let's back it up to January.........................

     Just before I left I had decided to try and get out on one last hike in Illinois. So, I had been meaning to see some old friends and I thought it would be cool if we could all go on a hike together. It actually all came together really nicely. We picked the day about three weeks in advance. Now keep in mind, this is the middle of winter in Chicago. It should be really cold. however, it just so happens that on this particular day that we all agreed upon in January............. It was in the 60's! You can't make this stuff up. So we geared up and here are some of the pictures from the hike. For those of you in the Chicagoland area who like to hike, if you haven't done Starved Rock in the winter, I Highly Recommend it!!

 Nothing like frozen waterfalls................
There's just something about it.......

Israel.........

Me......

 Some of the sweet views of the sandstone walls that surrounded us......................Up at the top there is an outlook point. Nice view from up there too............ but there wasn't enough time to hike up there this trip. Maybe next time I'm in Chicago we can work out another trip and take some different trails............













The views in the winter are really outstanding......................

A couple of my favorite shots of the whole trip..............

Setting up the camp stove for chow time.......

                                                                                   
Time for lunch.......................                                                                                                                                              

Nothing like a nice warm lunch on the trails.....

Putting the good ole REI gear to work......

Some lunch time CHUNKY...........

The Clean up........................

 I always take all the garbage out that I bring in,  and most of the time I take out some of the crap left behind by other people..............   this isn't meant to sound like a cheesy PSA, but seriously, take care of what we have,.......... Enjoy it Without Destroying it!! Ok,  moving on.................

Israel on the left and Fabian on the right.......

Another cheesy shot of me enjoying the outsideness of being outside...

Setting up the shot...............................

Good friends always.......................even though I didn't see them a whole lot before I left, They have always been like family.            OK, I'm Going to sign off for now. I will finish the story of the voyage home in a couple days........ I hope you have enjoyed this so far. 

Officially calling it quits...........

  For the Bass season that is. I know some people are still catching Bass, and some serious pigs at that. However, for me..........it's over until next year. I have finally gotten my fill of catching the skunk in cold, windy weather. It was a good season though. I feel satisfied with catching the biggest Largemouth Bass of my entire fishing career this past summer. I also got my first Chinook Salmon out of Lake Michigan not all that long ago, which by the way is the biggest fish I have EVER caught to date. My only regrets as I look back is that I didn't focus more time on fly fishing. I had good intentions, but the places I fished on a regular  basis this season didn't lend it self to fly fishing. I needed really long casts but there wasn't room for a back cast. I'm not nearly good enough at the roll casting to get that kind of distance. So, I just didn't fly fish all that much.

  Now I am pretty close to knowing what I'll be doing until freeze up happens and I thought I would share it with those of you who read my blog. I have decided that I'll be heading to the Indiana creeks to try my luck at the Steelhead. I could do it at the Chicago, Lake Michigan Harbors, but I am feeling like this will be a good opportunity to break out the 8wt fly rod on a creek setting. I also want to try my luck in the Des Plaines River with the Northern Pike, also on the fly. Last but not least, I think I'll be heading out the the Kankakee river for a shot at some Walleyes. That will be on the spinning gear for sure. But now that I have given it some thought, it looks like I'll stay pretty busy even though I won't be hunting Largemouth Bass anymore this season. Keep an eye out for the new posts!!

  I also think it is time that I start reviewing the fishing gear I use on a regular basis as well. So keep an eye out for that too!

This is officially the last Bass of the season

Till next time,

  Tight Lines,
Woolly Buggin

What to do until freeze up................

With the fall Salmon run coming to an end and Bass season seriously slowing down, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do until the water freezes over. I was thinking maybe heading out Crappie fishing or maybe doing some Walleye fishing. I could even just head up to the lake front and try for some Steelhead. I'm just not sure where I'll be focusing my attention. However I plan to keep ya posted!!!


Tight lines
Woolly Buggin

Salmon run fall 2011

So,
  I had mentioned in a post or two ago that I was gonna give Salmon fishing a shot on Chicago's Lakefront. Well, I have been up there several times and used several different spoons, crank baits, flies and even floated spawn sacks around under a float. I hooked into four fish total in the maybe seven or eight times I went up there. I have to say that the most effective spoon that I used was the Moonshine 3/4 oz in perch color. I used several different spoons but the Moonshine stands out. It holds a glow charge a lot longer than the little cleo spoons. It's shaped a little different too and it gives it a nice wobble. But I have to say even though that was the most effective spoon, my most effective bait overall was a Reef Runner. I used what is called a little ripper in an almost copper, perch color. I hooked into a steelhead and two king salmon on the reef runner. I hooked into a king on the Moonshine as well. Unfortunately all fish were lost with exception to one King Salmon. Here are the pics

 It took me approximately twenty five minutes to land this fish!!! He made several runs, one which was about sixty to seventy yards.

Fortunately I learned from my mistakes of the first couple times out and upped my line to 17lb test mono.


It probably would have been and easier land if I had some one there to net him, however I was by myself again.

  I am very proud of this fish. It is the biggest fish I have ever caught to date. He measured in at 33 inches.
I fished at several harbors. I started at Jackson, then to Burnham and all the way up to Montrose. In the end I had all my action at Burnham.


Till Next time
Tight Lines,
Woolly Buggin

A short trip to Opa's house............

   So the family and me decided to take a last minute trip up to visit my dad before winter sets in. We hadn't been up since last Feb. We were thinking it would be nice to get up there before the first snow. So, we loaded up the van and hit the road. It's always nice to visit, and of course my dad and me went and hit a couple of rivers and checked out some new spots. It was only a five day trip and two of those are spent driving. It never seems like enough time, but we make the most of it. And now for the pics,..........

Noah and star just before he gave her a big kiss

My dad has a couple pets, and Noah loves them both. The really cute thing is that the animals seem to love him just as much as he loves the animals.

Noah chasing the cat all over the house

This is a stretch of water that we stopped to check out.......

This stretch of water is only about five minutes from his house.

Although not very big, this is my first northern. He was caught on a Rapala X rap in perch color

The Northern pictured above was the only fish I caught the entire trip. We rode out to Menomonie, WI to fish and saw a lot of action, but it's the only fish I landed.

All the rest of these pictures were taken in Hudson, WI. We were fishing right on the St. Croix river. Nothing was landed this day, but a couple days after I got home my dad was out there again and saw some one catch a 44 inch musky.

The St. Croix River

It's a very beautiful place.

This is what I can only describe as a house right out of Miami Vice, just sitting in the middle of rural WI.

A family pic just before the ride back home

Okay, thats it again for now. Till next time,
Tight Lines,

Woolly Buggin