Memories- Casa Mar, Costa Rica 9/2006

With the economy lousy and the fact I barely went out this hunting season, I've been dreaming of trips past. I remembered I'd posted a trip report on a local forum years ago. I figured I'd repost here just in case it ever gets erased from that forum.

This trip occurred in September of 2006. This was my second trip to Costa Rica and the first time landed a tarpon. I didn't mention how many I landed that trip on the report but if I recall correctly it was four. Ranging from 110 lbs to 150lbs.

From the forum back in 2006:



I thought I'd share our fantastic Costa Rican trip. Bryan Webb, myself and company just got back from Casa Mar for some Poon fishing. The trip was truly epic and everyone got multiple shots at them. We managed a mixed bag of Tarpon, Barracuda, Jacks, string ray, ribbonfish, bluerunners, and a mix of jungle fish-snook, machaca, mojarra, tigerfish, a guopote. Here are some pics. Enjoy:

My first fish, I thought it was a tarpon when it jumped. I had no clue that Cudas did that. I did find it strange why it was so easy to reel in:

My first Tarpon:

My CR Whistler. The result of an angry tarpon:

Jumping Poon:

After fighting several poons I was ready to hit the jungle. I actually prefer fishing there. For one it is beautiful and it is more interactive. Rather than jigging blindly for tarpon you actual have to make good casts and place your shots.

Emerson with his Machaca, a fun game fish that makes multiple jumps and has sharp teeth.

One of my several snook (if you notice I did get my T&T 5wt back in time for this Trip. Thank you T&T repairs!)

Emerson with a mojarra, a bluegill looking fish

My mojarra, the guide said that this one was a "true" mojarra (whatever that means, you can tell the difference from Emersons).

Brian and I managed to fish the jungle on the last day. Brian did invent a gurgler derivative fly that I must say is the best popper fly I have ever fished. It is multiple flies in one, part popper, part wiggler, part streamer. It is truly amazing. I will be fishing it more often here locally for Bass. I only regret not bringing more that two to CR.

After sometime in the water we got pounded by the rain

Here is some misc pics:







The trip was made great not only by the great fishing but the company. Fishing with great people make great fishing trips.

More pics that didn't make the original post:

Lunch at the Hotel Hurradura in San Juan on the first day:
Seabass cerviche

Great octopus, very tender Downtown San Juan



The next day on our way to the jungle


Arrival at the jungle airport

Boat ride to Casa Mar


Some lobster at Casa Mar, Thanks to Webb
Flies for the jungle and Tarpon offshore

The smallest of all the Tarpon I caught

Snack of shrimp cerviche at the lodge

Lunchtime at the lodge
Jungle fishing for Snook, Guapote, Machaca, Mojarra and such or monkey watching. All top water fishing

Don with evidence of his first tarpon. Guides take one scale from your first catch. I still have mine.

Emerson and I doing some jungle fishing.

Caiman.
Jungle traffic jam. Yield to crossing cattle.
On our way home was a little wet.
Waiting at Terminal C.

Last meal in San Juan.



I found my notes the other day when I was in my tackle bag:
Arrived in San Juan. Doug, Don and I chose to check out the city while the others took a nap at the hotel. Had lunch at the hotel. I don't blame them our flight was a late one. We checked out a local cigar maker, a shopping center and an outdoor swap meet. Came back and had dinner at the Japanese Benihana style restaurant compliments of Bill and Richard.
Guide Mario.
Day 1
Morning: Barcacuda orange and Black CR Whistler
Afternoon: 80lbs Tarpon Org/Blk CR Whistler
120lbs Tarpon Chart/Blk CRW
90lbs Tarpon Chart/Blk CRW
Day 2
Morning: 80lbs Tarpon Org/Blk CRW
Stingray and Ribbonfish
Afternoon: Jungle Fishing. Over 10 Mojarra on a red popper. Small Jack Crevalle and Sardine.
Day 3
Morning: Fished the Jungle starting with a red popper. Multiple mojarra. No luck with
Gurglers or frog patterns. Changed to Webb's popper and caught snook,
mojarra, machaca. Moved to the ocean late morning. No luck.
Afternoon: Fished with Neil from Texas who just arrived. Fished the ocean with no luck.
Day 4
Morning: Fished with Emerson, using webb's guide Manuel, in the Jungle for Machaca on the main river. Drift the boat downriver. No luck so tried to mojarra in the channels. Fished with Webb's fly. Took several mojarra. Then caught a snook that frayed the line. I was lazy and did not change the leader. Eventually hooked a bigger snook that cut the line and I ripped it out of its mouth. I tied on the last Webb's fly I had. Stupidly I tied on a 7lb leader, much too light. I hooked a good size machaca and got it near the boat. It jumped several times until it cut the line with its teeth right at the loop knot.
Afternoon:Fished with Webb. Rained like crazy. We tried our luck at Guapote. Several small strikes taht the guide believe most likelt Mojarra. Went to fish the same laguna that Mario had me fish. Webb several mojarra and bluegill. I only hade a mojarra on the last cast of the day. Guide Manuel made sure I had at least one for the afternoon.
Day 5
Travel day to San Juan to wait for our flight. The boys managed to get a hotel room until our evening flight. I was not feeling well so I napped while they went to visit a local mountain. The later told me it was freezing cold.

 

Security- Abloy Protec 321

In a few weeks I'll be headed off to Texas for a few days taking with me my AR and a pistol. Since I'll be flying for the first time with a firearm, I'd like to share what I've purchased as a little precaution. When flying with firearms, one is required to transport the gun in TSA approved case and locks must not be pre-approved TSA locks. This is obviously to prevent any TSA goon from stealing your gun. Most people simply attach a Masterlock and call it a day. I still remember Masterlock commercials as a youth, that showed the lock being shot with out breaking or opening. I think Masterlocks might be fine for dometic travel but if you hunt abroad or if you're not paranoid about theft I think you'll need a better lock.

A simple search on youtube will show you how easily a Masterlock can be picked or even bumped open. As such I've decided to pick up a Abloy Protec lock. Currently there is no reported case of this lock ever being picked. Made in Finland, these locks are some of the finest and strongest in the world. They are heavy and not cheaply priced but I figure it is cheap insurance. I believe any world traveling hunter should use these locks particularly if your traveling to Russia. I have known more people than I can count that have had there luggage opened and items stolen out of Russian airports.


These are Abloy Protec 321 keyed the same. If you purchase more than one lock you can have them keyed alike or differently. If you choose alike you will receive 2 keys if you want them different you'll receive 2 per lock. You also recieve a card with information in the event you wish to purchase future keyed alike locks.

The 321 fits perfectly on this Pelican 1720. I believe all lips on Pelicans are the same size. I'll confirm it on my other Pelican cases- 1650 and 1610.

There is plenty of room to rotate the lock so you have easy access to the key hole.

Honestly for domestic travel these locks may be overkill but I'd rather than safe than sorry. For the international hunter I'd highly suggest you use these locks.

Choosing the Right Dog Food

It's always surprising to me how many supposed "dog guys" know about dog food. Not all dog foods are created equal. There are so many brands, so many types that it's not surprising people are confused. Dog food can be bought at Costco, supermarkets, drug stores, pet stores chains, and boutique pet stores. Generally speaking the only places that sell quality dog food are the later.

How does one know if your dog food is quality? A good guideline, though not necessarily guaranteed, is price per pound. Generally quality food should cost at least $2/lbs or more. Think about what goes into a price of dog food (or any product for that matter), the ingredients, the marketing, the production (labor, wages, equipment, the packaging, the transportation, and the profit. I'm sure I might have missed something as well but you get the point. If you just look at ingredients alone, if you pay $1/lbs, what type of ingredient can you really expect? Even at wholesale prices its difficult to find meat for $1/lbs. That is not including all the other determinants mentioned above that go into the overall cost of the food. So the real cost of the meat may only be 50 or 60 cents. And thats not including the 20 or 30 other ingredients in the recipe.

One should always look at the packaging to see the ingredients and the guaranteed analysis. If you have a hunting or active dog both are critical. If you have a house pet that is rather inactive than the former is more important than the later. Ingredients listed are always listed in the order of most to least. So it is important that the first few ingredients be some sort of meat, fish, beef, chicken etc. You may see meal after the meat, that is OK. Meal is just the meat is cooked and the meat rendered is then dried. Since it is meat, it is still good. What you do not want to see is a meat By-product. This is inferior to the whole meats and includes everything such as the hearts, lungs, intestines and other undesirable portions. You may also see digest which is the worst of all. It is basically By-product that is cooked and made into a slurry. Make sure the first few ingredients are either a meat or meat meal to ensure you are getting your money's worth. Otherwise you are paying for filler.

Active dogs are like Olympic athletes and should be feed a quality diet. It's long believed that a minimum of 30% Protein to 20% fat is ideal for working dogs. This ratio keeps your dog cool and helps prevent injury. It will keep your dog healthier and will live longer.

There are many benefits to feeding your dog a quality dog food. One is because the ingredients are quality the dog does not need to eat as much. This helps the pocket book as a 30 pound bag will last longer than a 30 pound bag of inferior dog food. You'll also notice that the dog's stool will likely be less, which is always nice.

Quality always cost more but that is why it is quality. there are a number of quality foods out there. I personally feed Kaiser Adult Dog from Orijen. The guaranteed analysis is 38%/17%. The fat is a little less than ideal but I supplement boiled ground beef and veggies that should up the the fat levels.

One last thing I'd recommend is to buy food that is 100% US or another first world country made. Orijen is 100% Canadian. Make sure of this. Many companies try to short cut ingredients and outsource to cheaper nations. Remember a few years ago, all the dogs that were dying or falling seriously ill? That was a result of ingredients coming from China making its way into the recipes of some dog foods. Don't risk it.

More good info from retriever trainer and DU Waterdog host Justin Tackett:



I realize this article should have been written during the off season rather than the hunting season. That just shows you how little I was able to hunt this year. What a shame although I'll be able to make it one day this weekend. So I should have at least one more report for this season.

The Perfect Repeater

Although I'm a die hard side by side guy, I do have a soft spot for American classics. So I've taken my Winchester Model 12 out of mothballs to be my duck gun this year; its literally been years since I've shot this classic American shotgun. My initial intention when I bought this gun years ago was to use it as my field beater or bad weather gun. Just after I bought it though I found my GDR era Merkel M8. With my love of double barrels and double triggers, the Merkel had basically sidelined the Model 12.

It should be interesting to see how well I end up shooting this gun. Pumping the action and the single trigger pull, I can see myself missing a few followup shots. I have in the past. I'll just have to see what happens. I believe I've only taken this gun out afield twice, once on a snowy duck hunt and the other on a pheasant hunt. On both trips I did not hook up with any birds.

Built in 1933, my Model 12 is now well patinaed. I can only imagine how many American farm fields this gun has seen. This is truly an American classic used by American celebrity sportsmen like Ernest Hemingway, Roy Rogers, Clark Gable, and Peter Hathaway Capstick to name a few. No self respecting American Sportsman of that era would not be seen without one.

One unique feature of this gun I really like is the ability to take down the gun without tools, making it convenient to travel with. This was one of the main selling points for me. The gun can easily be fitted in a duffle bag or an indiscrete gun bag. Neighbors or hotel guests in a lobby would never suspect anything and you can avoid any unwanted attention.

There are several iteration of this gun and there are nearly 2 million in existence. Equally at home afeild or at the clay range, the Model 12 has seen it all. Some even saw some action in world conflicts or in police actions. My gun I highly doubt has seen any of those as it's a 28 inch fixed modify choke in 12 gauge. All parts are original including the plastic Winchester butt plate.

The action is smooth as glass and with its ability to be slam fired, that is firing quickly by holding down the trigger while pumping the action as fast as you can, it makes sense that police and military chose this shotgun for up close battles. It was this feature that Capstick writes about (which book I forget)why he chose it when going into the thickets after a wounded leopard. Obviously this feature does not benefit the bird hunter but it is unique and eventually the legal teams believed it to be a liability and the feature was later removed. Mine still has this feature.

I've read that machining the receiver was not only time consuming but expensive as well. The reciever is forged and required numberous complicated machine operations to complete. Winchester at one point was losing money as the gun was just too expensive to manufacture. Instead of raising prices Winchester in 1964 began cutting corners and rebadged the gun as the model 1200. The new model never had the following like that of the Model 12.

When people say they don't make them like this anymore, they really don't make them like this anymore. The Perfect Repeater or more commonly known as the Winchester Model 12 is worthy of any American Sportsman's collection.

Contour Roam

For a long time I've been interested in finding a good video camera for all the activities I enjoy. Unfortunately typical cameras require, for the most part, the use of one hand. Fly fishing, hunting, shooting, and off roading, all require two hands to safely and accurately perform those tasks so I've never really had a desire to spend money on a video camera. That was the case until I found out about the Contour Roam. These simple video camera is designed for action and with the proper mount it requires no hands to operate (other than turning it on).

I intend on purchasing a head mount soon so I can now record my fishing and hunting trips. I'm trying to figure out a way to mount it to my dog so I can see his perspective when looking for birds.

This Roam was purchased from Grey Group during their 12 days of Christmas sale. The regular price is $200, I purchased mine for $150. That's not bad. I'll be trying it out soon as I plan on a waterfowl hunt and a pheasant hunt in the coming weeks. I'll review it once I get a chance to ply with it. Depending on how much I like this, future posts may contain only videos for now on but I doubt it as I actually like taking still photos.