Archive for the ‘Outdoors’ Category
That’s A Brown Corky Fatboy Lure For You!
Just for a moment, put yourself in the shoes (OK, OK - fins) of a big speckled trout. You’ve been relaxing in a mud flat in the East Matagorda bay. Finally, what you’ve been waiting for comes to pass; the light starts to peek through winter cloud cover, warming the shallows where you’ve been waiting out the winter.
You move through the waters of the mud flat looking for a familiar landmark; you soon come across that mud patch abutting a shell pad where you’ve spent some good times in your life, eating your fill of big shrimp and finger mullet by the hundreds.
You get into your favorite spot, right where the shell bed meets the mud and wait. Before long, a tempting six inch mullet comes along, oblivious to your presence.
Immediately, you propel at full speed and attack; exploding the waters surface. The six-inch mullet is devoured instantly and lays to rest in the yellow interior of your mouth. You slowly sink back to the warmth of the mud bottom.
Soon after, a wobbling, wounded-looking mullet pierces the water’s surface, several feet away. Vibrant in color, the four inch bait fish gently dances, flaunting its dazzling body as it sinks leisurely through the water column.
Without hesitation, you spring at the mullet, quickly catching it in your jaws - that was easy, you think; at least until it starts fighting back!
A forceful shake dislodges your prey, but somehow you’re still being pulled upwards and you become too tired to fight back against the pull of that Boga caught in your lip.
“10 pounds!” is yelled by a man bundled up beneath layers of outerwear.
Two other men approach, admiringly looking you over. Is that a camera flash you see?
Back in the water and exhausted from the escapade, you finally break free from the anglers’ light hold.
As you swim away, you hear a voice in the distance exclaiming “That’s a Corky Fat Boy For You.” Are they talking about you? You haven’t even started to bulk up for the year; but you resolve to look closer at your prey next time around.
Of course, trophy trout don’t actually understand what we’re saying (do they?). Otherwise, they’d be well aware that being fooled by that lure was the fulfillment of an angler’s fondest wish.
Once word of James Wallace’s record breaking speckled trout got out with the fishing reports, fishermen immediately adopted Wallace’s saltwater fishing lures of choice: Corky slow sinking soft baits. With a size roughly that of a topwater and imitating the wobbly motion of a broken-back, a Corky with a slow retrieve in the winter is nearly irresistible to a big speck.
“When James Wallace caught that monster, things really took off for us,” reports Paul Brown, founder of B&L Corky. “People were flooding in and bought us out of every Corky we had in no time flat.” After all this time, this family owned Houston shop still finds Corky saltwater fishing lures one of their biggest sellers.
One of the many experts who counts himself as a Corky fan is Port Mansfield guide Captain Mike McBride. These are one his favorite lures for specks on Texas’ lower coast and along with a unique retrieval style, work wonders for this angler.
“You’ll definite work Corkys a little different depending where you are on the coast, but personally I pop the knot off when I’m trying to keep the slack under control.” Against the common wisdom and frequent mentions in fishing reports, McBride doesn’t use the ultra slow technique, preferring to work his lure vigorously. “The point of a Corky is that it makes those unpredictable movements that realistically imitate prey,” McBride states.
Captain Jesse Arsola, Matagorda trophy trout guide says he also has his own technique for getting the best results with Corky saltwater fishing lures.
“When they’re in an aggressive state, trout will basically bite anything you send their way - but there are those times when they’re just not feeling all that excitable and that’s when your technique really comes into play.”
“If I use a Corky, I’m usually using a counting system. I keep track of how long it takes the lure to hit bottom, then I vary the amount of time I allow my Corky to sink before I pull out the slack. From there, it’s just a matter of identifying what count you tend to get bites on. This is a really easy way to figure out just where in the water column the trout are feeding.”
Captain John Havens is an accomplished tournament angler from Clear Lake who tells us that his favorite out of the many saltwater fishing lures he’s tried is the Corky Devil, either in gold, chartreuse or white. He uses a standard retrieve with his Corky lures and claims this has always worked best for him.
“Make sure to stay in contact with the lure at all times to feel the most subtle of bites.” When working a Corky Devil, Havens retrieves with a lift of the rod with one or two twitches before allowing the lure to fall.
Tags: fishing, fishing guide, fishing guides, fishing help, fishing tips, Outdoors, saltwater inshore fishing, sportfishing, Texas fishing, texas gulf coast fishing, Texas saltwater fishing
Beginner’s Guide To Skiing : Ski Schools
In this part of our learn to ski guide we look at professional instruction.
By taking lessons at a ski school, a professional ski instructor will be able to show you how to ski correctly within a week. After that time, your skills and confidence will be at a level that will enable you to safely make the most of what your chosen resort has to offer. It is important, however, to make sure you look into any ski school’s reputation for quality, the cost of its services, and what purpose it hopes to serve, all of which can vary considerably. The following are some of the basic things you should consider:
Whether they offer private ski lessons, group ski lessons, or both. Even though private lessons are more expensive, it can be worth the expense to have your ski instructor one-on-one, particularly since you will learn faster this way. If you like the fun of meeting new people, and wish to hear about the experiences of several others, then group lessons might be for you. For first timers especially, class instruction seems to be the preferred choice.
Finding out the number of students are generally in a class is advisable, however. While it is dependent on how the school manages the students, an ideal class size should be no larger than seven or eight students. A ski school that tries to fit many more students in a class than that is more focused on making money than providing quality ski instruction and should be avoided.
In addition to class size, the experience level the school focuses on is also important; do they cater to beginners, intermediate or expert levels, or maybe all levels? Skiers with more or less the same skiing abilities should all be assigned to the same class. In order to assess your abilities before placing you in a class, a school might ask you to participate in an instructor-supervised test of sorts where you will be asked to ski down a couple of slopes and show them how well you are able to turn. As with learning anything new, it is better to start a little below where you believe your abilities lie, and if it turns out that you are at a higher level, then simply ask the school to move you to the more appropriate class.
Inquire as to whether the school offers gender or age-specific classes. Some will be targeting specific groups, whereas others will have an ‘everyone welcome’ policy. In order to receive a high quality learning experience, you will want to attend a ski school that narrows its instruction focus in order to put you in a class that is age appropriate (kids or adults) and appropriate for how your gender typically learns.
Snake Boots as Hunting Foot Wear
Snake proof boots, which are sometimes also referred to simply as “snake boots,” are great bits of outdoor gear that offer specifically designed protection against venomous snake bites. There are snake proof hiking boots for all sorts of different environments and specific needs, although the most popular is the snake proof swamp boot. One of the main reasons for this is that people tend to run into venomous snakes while hunting in swampy areas or southern marshes.
Probably the most common group of people who want (or need) snake proof boots are wild turkey hunters. The reason for this is that in the South in a lot of places the best spots to hunt wild turkey are in swamps that are full of rattlesnakes, copperheads, and water moccasins. While few snake bites in North America are fatal, the injury that can occur is still terrible and a visit to the hospital could cost over ten grand.
There’s enough demand for this type of protection that there are several companies who fill the need for snake proof boots. There are many different types and styles to choose from. Snake proof hiking boots might be a great choice for desert while more conventional swamp boots fit better in the swamp.
Hiking boots are among the most common and popular types of snake boots out there. They are designed specifically to provide all the needed protection for not only feet, but for the lower leg up to the knee, as well. This is very good design, since most snake bites aren’t on the feet but are further up on the leg.
Aside from hiking boots, maybe the most common and in demand style is for snake proof hunting boots. These boots can often come as large rubber boots, or set up with a more normal or conventional camouflage design. These offer fantastic protection for hunters, which is a major reason why they remain among the most popular available.
Snake proof boots are very popular among hunters and hikers alike. The mental security they provide can often be just as good for the consumer as the actual protection itself. As long as there are venomous snakes around, there’s going to be a demand for protective footwear.
Tags: boots, Fashion, hunting, hunting gear, Outdoors, recreation
Why is there so much Love for Camping?
Many households take time out in summer to travel long distances with their camping out gear to enjoy nature. Why is camping so appealing in a society that is so focused on scientific advancement?
The answer is that camping out is the great American pastime for all the family. Children are raised going on camping out trips with their entire family, numerous families hold family reunions camping. For dads and sons camping presents a great chance to draw together. When we age, we always tend to look back lovingly on our childhood memories of going camping.
You can’t recall what you had for lunch at work yesterday but you will have many outstanding memories of your first camping out trip. It is the memory of looking up into the night sky, absolutely dark, which stays with us. Camping out gets rid of the distractions of daily living and allows families to focus on their relationships with each other.
Around campfires mothers and fathers share stories of their childhood and pass down their own ideas and thoughts on life, the open, and the nature of the universe. It is normal that when camping out plays such a strong role in one generation’s life-time that they share it with next, hence the tradition of camping out gets passed down through the years. It is the normal order of things for us to treat our kids to the same experiences we had as youngsters, such as camping. As life advances, new sciences come, new ways and movements emerge that keep children enthralled, the one thing that stays constant is nature. Camping out provides a relaxed atmosphere that lends itself to personal discovery and the whole family will benefit from this.
Most people who like to camp will tell you that part of them enjoys being enclosed by nature. No matter how numerous conquests we make in the business, political, and scientific world, there is a vacuum in the human soul that can only be filled by nature. Camping out doesn’t fit in with a busy city and it is a way to connect with a part of ourselves. Camping allows you a special feeling of oneness with nature. Here is an chance to appreciate the sacrifices that went before us and made our present and future possible.
It is easy to blank out in the city that the natural environment is out there. Everyone faces challenging times when they are stressed and trying to pay the bills while also trying to attain greater success in life. Camping makes life wonderful when everything seems to work in harmony with nature.
Camping out is certainly a fantastic pastime and a strong tradition and it keeps calling people back year after year. Even if you don’t genuinely like to camp out you in all probability agree that it can be an invigorating experience. While the world around us may change, camping out will always remain a much loved experience.
Tags: camping, Outdoors, Vacation
Enjoy Still Hunting for Deer
Deer hunting on the move, or still hunting, is commonly misunderstood as to what it is and how to go about it. It is stalking deer, not waiting on a stump or in a blind for the deer to come to you. It can be the most rewarding deer hunting experience you can do. It can also be the most frustrating, since it is a skill which requires you to slow everything - your sight, your breath and your walking gait. But the payoffs go beyond the hunt to your better enjoyment of nature itself.
These few simple techniques can be used on your next hunt - whether you choose to still-hunt or not, the principles are the same. These techniques will also make your deer hunt a richer experience. Quietly walking thru the woods enjoying nature is very relaxing and rewarding. It’s all about: you’re outdoors - enjoy the scenery, hunting or not.
However, deer, and all prey species, have eyes designed to detect motion. Deer and all prey species have eyes on the side of their head, and this aids in perceiving motion first, long before the animal can make out whether what they see is a threat, or just some pattern-breaking motion in the woods. When still hunting for deer, we must adopt to the way they see. We must see motion first, patterns out of sync second, and the deer last. The only way to do this is to relax our focus and broaden our field of vision.
You see it all the time - the hunter walking through the woods as if he’s hunting on rice paper. It doesn’t work. As a hunter, you’re going to make noise. Then again, so do deer and other game. So does anything dwelling and breathing in the woods. What you want to avoid is making the pulsing gait a hunter makes when he’s running, usually after a deer, or doing everything he can to be quiet, when he doesn’t yet see one.
Walking toe-heel is the way to walk, since the palm of your foot can be more adaptable in its response to the softwood twigs and deadfall underfoot - like deer, whose hooves make comparatively light touch with the forest floor. Walking heel-toe makes for a heavy, stiff step - a human step. Walking heel toe, take a few steps, break, and, using the soft-focus described above, take in the surroundings, in a holistic way.
Be careful, if you find yourself entering in to a steady, rhythmic gait, break it up. You also want to avoid any obviously human sounds sounds coming from anything man-made, such as metal or hard plastic. Bottom line - brushing past an oak stump is o.k. marching in cadence is not, nor is that canteen banging against your hunting rifle strap buckle.
Finally, walk into the wind. Yes, this is rule 1. But many hunters, especially those used to staying in a relatively insulated hunting blind, forget this cardinal rule. I’ve stood with my bow drawn on a buck 10 yards away, with the buck clearly trying to figure out what the heck this would-be rambo was up to - only to watch it spring to life once the wind shifts, and thanksgiving was a bit - thinner that year.
Don’t even bother still hunting on blustery days, with no prevailing winds. The bottom line, when you are hunting deer in this way, is to get used to is slowing yourself down, for hours at a time, and softening your focus to “deer hunt” for motion - not deer. But act like, see like, deer, become more a part of where you are, and you will reap many rewards - whether you take a deer or not.
Tags: bow hunting, deer hunting, hunting deer, Outdoors, stalking deer, stillhunting deer, whitetail, whitetail deer hunting