Refill At San Jacinto

With Ed on holiday for the next few weeks, we were able to check out on of our local wildlife areas in the hopes of taking some waterfowl.  Ed brought along his son, Kyle for the adventure.  Instead of trying to kill ourselves waking up early to sweatline it, we decided to try our luck with the refill line.

Ed picked me up at 7am and we headed off to our destination.  When we arrived and signed in we were 32nd in line.  We were offered blind A1, a not particularly desirable location but since Ed needed to be home by 3pm, I thought it prudent to take it and try our luck.  The blind is deep and requires a dog.  It hunts well in the morning but once the sun becomes high it becomes less productive.

When we arrived at the pond we made our way to the blind spot, we flushed two redheads out of the thick stuff.  Of  course our guns were slinged and unloaded so we did not even get a chance to take a shot.  It would have been a perfect shot within easy shooting range.  I've never seen a redhead in the wild so I was pretty disappointed that we didn't even have a chance to take them.

Our blind location was less than ideal, our faces were directly in the sun.  This caused at least one lone flier to flare before we could get a shot off.  Kaiser is a terrible blind dog.  He lacks the patience and simply wants to hunt.  Forcing him to sit and wait is simply torture for him.  So after several hours of waiting I let him run around.  He ended up in the water in the thick stuff behind Ed and Kyle.  While he in there he flushed out the couple dozen coots and the lone teal hiding.  Of course when it flushed out I had my gun broken and laying on my shoulder.  Ed was too late to notice it for a shot.  That hen teal was sitting there for several hours unafraid of us the whole time.

Kyle was getting impatient so I told him to come over to me and I handed him a crappy Haydel pintail whistle that's been in my duck bag unused for years.  Unlike a lousy duck call, a whistle won't spook waterfowl so I let him keep his mind busy for at least a while.  I told him to tell his dad to teach him how to blow it properly.

Around 11 we saw a trio of ducks in the distance.  Two flared away and the single came toward our pond.  Ed and I shot at about the same time and we dropped the bird.  It turned out to be a hen shoveler.  Not exactly a premium bird but at least the dog was able to have some fun and retrieve it and Kyle was able to see some action.

We ended the day sometime around noon and headed home.  It was a ridiculously hot day for waterfowling.  I believe it was around 78 degrees but such is hunting in SoCal.  Not exactly what I was hoping for but at least we had a good time.

Carpin' Waters Are Back!

After being skunked on my last two outings, the local carp waters are back!This afternoon I managed to go carping and normally when you catch a fish over 9lbs on a five weight, it generally is a time for celebration. But I'm pissed. I'm pissed because I did not get it on film. I thought I did but apparently I did not have my Contour on at the time. I could have sworn I did. At least I did take some pictures of it but nonetheless I'm still peeved about it. I did managed to get my first fish on film, a 5lber and lost two others.

The 9lber was lazy, he barely fought. It just sat there and only moved slightly when I pulled on my 5 weight. The 5lber on the other hand had no quit in him. I'm so disappointed that I did not capture it.

I started fishing at around 2:30. The wind had already picked up but not as bad as when Chul and I fished it a couple weeks ago. One of the first things I noticed when
I reached the water is that the river has receded. This makes a huge difference in spotting fish. Firstly you can see them in the shallows now. Secondly you can actually reach them so you can make a decent cast at them. Even with the breeze chopping up the water these two factors made it so much easier.

It took several casts and at least an hour before I was able to hook up with any carp. The fish kept refusing my Prince Aggravator, which in the past has always been my go-to fly. I switched to what I call the Prince Harry Aggravator which in essence is the exact fly except it has a black tail and beadhead. (I named it after Prince Harry because he's the black sheep in the Royal family). For whatever reason this fly generally works well when the original version seems to fail. Today I used size 10.

I managed my first fish only a couple feet from shore. He took the fly hard and ran like mad. After I landed him a few feet upstream I managed to hook up a real fighter that ended up spitting the hook. I have no ideal how big he was but he was a feisty Mo-Fo. I was pissed I didn't quite get a good hook set on him; he hit the fly so hard and ran so fast I figured he set the hook himself. I was wrong.

After some cursing, I made my way to a pod of carp. Seeing a tailer in front of me I made several casts to him. Eventually it took and I set the hook and it made a poor attempt at a run. The more I pulled the less the fish would react. I thought I might have foul hooked it since it barely reacted to my pressure. It gave a few weak attempts to escape but in realty it just sat there. I basically pulled him in after a few short runs. I just beached him and he sat there. When I could see him I was shocked at his size. He weight in at over 9lbs just under the 9.5 mark on my boga. I took a picture of it against my leg and it reached just below my inseam. After releasing him I finished the day missing my last fish.

My five pounder just before release.

Aigle Boot Bag

My Aigle boots now have a proper home, they have been in my Barbour boot bags up until now. Aigle boots in Dallas has finally started importing these Aigle boot bags even though they do not have them on their website as of yet. A few weeks ago I emailed them to see if they would ever start carrying them and they let me know they are now in stock. It's about time, I had long considered buying them from Europe like I did with both my Barbour boot bags but never got around to it. With international shipping and a poor dollar to euro exchange rate, I just made due with my Barbour wellington bag. I purchase one for my dad as well for his Nemrods. The Le Chameau boot bags have been available in the US for a long time and at one point I even considered buying one of those for my Aigles but that would be like putting BMW gear on a Mercedes. It's just not right. The boot bags are $49.00 plus one time shipping of $6.00, so they are not exactly cheap.

Now both my Aigle and Barbour wellies have proper homes.

Aigle Nemrod

I picked up a pair of Aigle Nemrods for the old man awhile back and never posted pictures. Like my pair, I bought these at JCrew when they were on sale. I felt odd buying wellies from such a company. In fact I was a little pissed about it. But the price was too good to resist. I hate it when fashion comes into the "hunting/country" wear. I couldn't believe wellies became a fashion trend. It is so lame to see urban schmucks wear things they have no idea about. I guess that's life.

These Nemrods have the same treads as my Benylsports and are self cleaning.

The difference between the two are that the Nemrods have a lace up top to tighten it around the calf.

The toes are also reinforced to take abuse as this is the most common place for wear.

Ankles are fitted. The natural rubber is supple and tear resistant. These also are still made in France and are quality boots.

5 Weight Carpin'

Awoke this morning to misty gloomy conditions. Knowing full well that sight casting will be tough, I decided to make things even tougher by using my Sage XP 5 weight that I built. Since buying my T&T Helix SW 5 weight, the Sage has been benched and has seen very little playing time. I decided to rectify that today. Armed with the Abel Pt 5, it was time to give this combo some time on the water.

Although I saw many fish, casting to them was tough as windows of opportunities were short. Once I saw the fish cruising, it would swim into the deeper or darker waters and made them hard to follow. It took me some time to get the rhythm of the XP. I had to remind myself to slow down my casts, as I was used to the faster action of my Scott S3S 7 weight.

In time I finally hooked one feeding in the shallows. I wasn't quite sure it took the fly until it erupted and bolted. Unfortunately my Abel is an older model so it as no outgoing click (which I absolutely hate) so no reel music when the fish had its three runs. When I landed it I took a pic next to my rod so I could better judge its size. Forgetting I was carrying my boga grip and never weighed him. Only after he swam away did I realize my mistake.

By noon I decided to call it a day.

This is the second smallest carp I've taken here, the smallest being my very first carp. Still it was quite a blast on the 5 weight.

Just like the first carp I caught here, this fish also has some injuries. No clue what would cause this.

This guy is pretty battle scarred. Do carp fight one another? If they do this guy will live another day to duke it out with another.

When I started fishing here I wore bootfoot waders, I finally realized that's completely unnecessary as all cast can be made on shore. No more sweating balls in gore-tex. Thank god.

Aigle Benylsport Boots

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I found a pair of Aigle Benylsport boots on sale. Believe it or not I found them on the JCrew website. This pair was $79.99 and it came out to just over $100 with tax and shipping. Its about a $30-$40 savings from other sites. These pairs fit a bit tighter than my Barbour Wellies. The rubber though is much more supple yet they hold the straight up shape of the upper portions of the boot much better than my Barbours did when they were new.

My Barbours were purchased years ago and they were found on the internet on sale as well. When I received them I was more than disapointed that they were made in China and not the UK. Since they were on sale I could not return them. I'm glad that Aigle has not moved production to China and have kept their factory in France.

The Benylsports have an adjustable tightening strap on the upper although I think its not really useful or practical. I find them very difficult to adjust, I'm not sure if it's because they are new or if its not well designed or if its just me. I'll play with it some more to find out. One useful feature though, if it works, is the self cleaning soles. I'll see when it gets wet if this is really the case.

According to my Akah catalog Aigle is the number one boot for hunters in Germany. They source a German hunting magazine, Jager, that polled subscribers. Wellies years ago were almost impossible to find, trust me I looked for years back in the late nineties and early two thousands. Now they have become fashionable and companies like Nordstroms, JCrew, Nieman Marcus are now carrying wellies (although I've never seem them in the stores they are available through their websites). Even lowbrow hunting outfitters are carrying them too. I'd never thought that would ever happen.

Aigle Boots

Another youtube video of a great European boot maker. Unlike their British counterparts (Barbour and Hunter), these wellies are still made in their home country of France. Barbour and Hunter have moved production to China. What a shame.

Mont Bell Ebisu

Montbell is an outdoor company from Japan that is not well known here in the states. There are only a handful of outdoor types that I've ever met that have even heard of this brand. It is very popular in Japan, mainly because it is a domestic brand and therefore much cheaper than US or European brands like Patagonia, The North Face, Mountain Hardware, Aigle, etc. I really do like this brand as it is quality stuff although much of what they offer doesn't make it to these shores. One good plus is that some of their goods are still made in Japan. But like the aforementioned brands they are not immune from the perils of the free markets and as such much of their goods are made in China and other third world nations.

I found the Ebisu store, like most things I find in Japan, purely by accident. I was on the train coming home and the train stopped at the Ebisu station. I looked out the window and I saw a huge Montbell sign. It was night so the whole store was lit up. I saw all that merchandise and I quickly noted the stop so I could return another day. And so I did.

This store is nice and has two storeys. First floor is hats, trinkets, boots, backpacks and I believe women's wear. Upstairs is Men's, fishing, camping, tents, bicycling, and canoeing. I had no clue that Montbell made fishing appeal. They make waders, vests, and fanny packs. That stuff never makes it here. Snow Peak used to make fishing stuff as well ( they still might but I don't think so). I've seen in my old copies of Fly Fisher magazine Snow Peak ads for their traveling tying vise. I would have liked to see that.

I bought some beanies and neck gaiters (still made in Japan) for myself and one for my Dad. I also bought T-Shirts, an aluminium tea cup and strainer, and some other small trinkets.

Finding this place is easy. Get off the Ebisu station. It is right there. I believe it is the west ticket gate, if not then go to the other side. It won't be hard to find.

If you can read Japanese here is the store's site.

http://store.montbell.jp/search/shopinfo/?shop_no=679919