Pictures #1

I decided to start sharing some photos from our trips. I take a lot of photos during a trip so I will only choose some of my favorites from the trips. These were taken last weekend on our trip to John Martin Reservoir in Hasty, Colorado (near Lamar).

My first Horny Toad encounter in the wild. This was taken at the beginning of our walk around the campground.

Two in one day! This was taken at the end of our walk around the campround.

My niece, Cori and her Blue Gill. It started to flop, that's why she looks like she's afraid of it.

I hate carp, but if it's the only fish I can catch at the time, I'll take it......as long as someone else takes it off the hook.

I know he's not a girl, but he did catch the best fish of the weekend..........with his big sister's support. (FYI: I'm his big sister.)

My sister-in-law Kelly caught a nice Drum. She was reeling in her worm to check on it and the Drum decided he wanted her worm. Good job Kelly!

Also not a girl, but you'll be seeing a lot of him in my photos. Everybody meet my husband Kris!

This is my favorite from the trip. My niece is taking the hook out of her fish's mouth!

Hope you enjoyed the photos! I love sharing photos so if you have any, email me your favorite photos and I'll post some!

A Funny Story About A Lure

 A few years ago I started "customizing" some spoons my husband had that the paint was chipping off of. He took the paint off of those spoons and I painted them & customized them. One of those spoons I painted red, put a "pretty" treble hook on and stuck some Scooby Doo stickers on it and sprayed a clear coat over the top to protect the stickers. I wanted to prove that you didn't HAVE to have a "realistic" lure to catch fish.

My Custom Scooby Lure

We went out to one of our favorite fishing ponds where we've caught some pretty good sized bass and I tied on my Scooby spoon. I was very excited and couldn't wait for the picture of me holding a large bass with the Scooby spoon hanging out of it's mouth. I was composing the email I would send to Hanna Barbera and Bass Pro Shop on the partnership they should create to sell Scooby Spoons.
I raised my favorite fishing rod with my favorite spinning reel, flipped the bail and let go one of my nice long casts. I watched my bright red spoon fly through the air and into the exact spot I wanted it to land and then realized my line was still in the air and not attached to my Scooby spoon. I just stood there and watched the water ripple where my spoon had hit the water. My husband knew something bad had just happened because I wasn't moving. I brought my line in and realized my knot had failed. I was heartbroken because my Scooby spoon was lost forever on it's first ever cast and it was all my fault because my knot tying skills at that time sucked!
We fished for a couple hours, not catching much. I kept thinking about my Scooby spoon out in the middle of the pond and wondered how deep it was in that part of the pond. I kept watching the spot where my lure had landed in the water like a miracle was going to happen and it would float to the surface and I could swim out and get it. The heat and lack of catching finally got to us and we decided to pack up. I made one final cast out with a jig and started reeling in. All of a sudden I was caught on a tree branch on the bottom of the pond. I hadn't got caught on anything all day and started thinking how "funny" of a story this would make some day in the future of loosing a lure on my first and my last casts of the day.
All of a sudden the pond released the tree branch from the bottom and I started dragging it in. I started thinking how funny it would be if there was a fish attached to my lure and it was tangled in the tree branch. When the tree branch came to the bank I realized my lure wasn't attached to the tree branch, it was attached to another lure and that lure was hooked on the tree branch. All of a sudden I realized the other lure was my customized Scooby spoon! It took me a few minutes to process and then I had to tell my husband to hurry and look to confirm I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing. I lost the spoon on my first cast of the day and got it back on the last cast! I still laugh every time I tell this story because what are the odds of this ever happening?
I have improved my knot tying skills and haven't used my Scooby spoon since that day.

What's in your camping kitchen?

You know someone is serious about fishing when you find a walleye rig holder full in their motor home kitchen cabinet.

 (That's my motor home kitchen cabinet & walleye rigs.)

An Essay Contest Brings Back A Lot Of Memoires

“Sponsored by Coleman and hosted by the Outdoor Blogger Network, this is my submission for the Coleman Camping Heritage Essay Contest.”

   This may be a submission for an essay contest, but I think it's my favorite post yet. I went through old family photos looking for Coleman gear and decided I need to do more posts about camping when I was younger. Coleman gear has always been a big part of our camping gear. The main reason of course is because it is dependable and lasts a long time. The other reason is because my brother's name is Coleman and my grandpa's middle name was Coleman so it was a lot of fun to have stuff with their names on it.
   In the 2 pictures below you will see my dad with some Coleman gear. You have to look hard in the background to see them. The picture on the left, on the left side you can see the old Coleman cooler we had forever and the photo on the right, on the right side you can see an old Coleman water jug. I can remember that green cooler on almost every camping trip and picnic we went on as kids. Even though I don't remember the water jug, it still brought back memories for my husband, because he remembered his grandparents having that same water jug.

 The baby in the stroller in this next photo is me and my dad is sitting on that same green cooler. The green Coleman cooler made a great place to sit, a great table for kids to eat at and was the perfect size and shape for storing food for a camping trip or a picnic. It had one of those trays to keep stuff on top out of the ice or keep your worms away from your food. I always thought that little white tray's only purpose was to keep the worms away from your food. I had no idea it was also used to keep your eggs safe at the top so they wouldn't get broken, your lunch meat and cheese towards the top for easy access or even keep dry goods like bread from getting smashed during the drive.

 Here is another photo of a picnic with the green cooler. Coleman the cooler is on my right and Coleman the brother is on my left (I'm the one with the puffy hair).

   I have to admit I was a little jealous that my brother's name is on lanterns, coolers and tons of other fun stuff and there wasn't anything with my name on it. It's still fun to find Coleman gear for my brother Coleman. In December, my brother received a Coleman camping toilet for his pop-up camper from his dear sister and brother-in-law. 

  The green Coleman cooler is gone (not sure where it went) and the kids have become adults but Coleman is still part of our outdoor gear. My husband's old Coleman stove is great when we don't want to cook in the motor home or the house. We bought the Coleman kitchen a few years ago and use it for camping and when we're cooking outdoors at home. The old stove and the newer kitchen, I believe, make the best breakfast ever!

   Sometimes we forget about some old memories and then something like an essay contest makes those memories come charging back. I could have written a book on the memories of that old green Coleman cooler and start a new book on the new memories created with the Coleman kitchen and stove. Even if I don't win any of the great prizes, remembering the camping and fishing trips, picnics and road trips was a lot of fun. Thank you Coleman for sponsoring this contest.

Snelled Hook Holders AKA Walley Rig Holder

I hate these:

 They work great to keep your snelled hooks with the leaders on them organized, the leader straight and fit in a tackle box pretty easy. BUT, I hate them. I have trouble getting the hooks on and off and usually end up having to ask for help or end up hurt. Those springs are really strong which is a good thing for storage, but bad for my weak fingers. I thought about using a walleye rig holder, but couldn't figure out how to make it work right until I found this one:

You hook the hooks in the eyelets, wrap the walleye rigs around it and then use small pieces of Velcro to hold them on. No springs!!! Here is what my Snelled Hook Holder looks like right now (it usually has more on it, but I forgot to restock the last time I was at a Sporting Goods store):

You can wrap the leaders around and secure them with the piece of Velcro. You can hook multiple hooks through the eyelets. Here is a closeup of a section.:

They fit in a Plano box really easy, too:

If you have trouble with the springs, you should definitely try these. They're a little hard to find. I found both my walleye rig holders at different stores and they were the only ones at both stores when I found them. If you decide you like the springs better, you can always use the Velcro one for walleye rigs or give it as a gift to someone who hates the spring ones as much as I do.

Snaps Aren't Just For Swivels

I can't take complete and total credit for this great idea. About a month ago, my husband and I were at the Eagle Claw store in Denver, CO and while I was looking at a wall of hooks I noticed they were using large dual lock snaps to keep their hooks organized in their packages. I got REALLY excited when I started thinking about all of the gear I could organize with those things. I bought 2 different sizes that day and should have bought a couple smaller sizes, too.

 Here are a few uses I have already applied them to:

From left to right: Snap Swivels, Split Rings, Small Hooks, Large Hooks, Weights

 The first thing I organized with my new dual snaps were those split rings. I'm always trying to keep them in their place and they are always escaping and making a mess in my tackle boxes and bag. I haven't had to pick those little things up off the ground or seperated them out of other slots in my tackle box since I put them on their snap!

Some of the eyes on hooks area little small for the bigger sized snaps, but I luckily had some smaller snaps I use on a regular basis so I was prepared for those, too.
The next thing I organized was my walk-in box. I have a Plano box dedicated to times I don't want to carry a full tackle box full of lures and gear into an area we are walking into. (I will share that box in a later post.) I'm able to bring more sizes of weights and hooks because they will stay organized and I won't end up with a hook stuck in my finger trying to find the hook I want. You can keep different sizes of hooks, weights, etc. in the same slot in your tackle box and not have to sort through all of them to find the right size. Here are a couple pictures to demonstrate this. This first photo shows 3 sizes of 3-way swivels all mixed up like they would be in a tackle box slot:

 It only takes a few seconds to make the above photo look like this photo:

Thank you VERY much Eagle Claw for this great idea and the supplies to do it with!

Riding Gloves

Late last summer we went for a ride with some other people on the ATVs. It was the first time I had driven an ATV by myself for that far. My hands were really tired by the end of the day. One of the people said I should wear gloves. I didn't think they would help that much because I didn't understand how it would make it better. I went ahead and put some on that I had in my day bag and they made a HUGE difference! The only time I take my gloves off when we're riding now is when my hands are really hot and I need a little air on them, but they don't stay off long.
Here are the gloves my husband and I use:

Red Gloves Are My Gloves & The Black/Gray Ones Are My Husband's

These are Mechanix gloves and they are REALLY great for riding. My gloves have Velcro straps around the wrist which I really like. My husband's have elastic around his wrists.
Gloves help with the vibration that makes your hands tired and they also help with your grip. I also like that they help keep your hands a little cleaner so when you stop for a snack or lunch break, it's easier to clean your hands before you eat. The Mechanix gloves are designed for working on cars, but tha\ey make even better riding gloves. You can even get some with lights built in if you want!