Outdoors – Page 23 – Visit Southeast Idaho

06MAY

Discovering a new salmon fishing experience with famous anglers

Fishing with famous anglers and guides can be a bit intimating. I was along with Gary Loomis of G.Loomis fishing rod fame and expert salmon fishing guide Clancy Holt. They were opening up salmon fishing on a new hemisphere with amazing results, catching Chinook salmon weighing between 40 and 70 pounds. I was on the trip to write about them pioneering an untapped salmon fishery and to take photos. Luckily, long-time friend Clancy Holt put a fishing rod in my hand. Yes!

While fighting a big salmon, Gary Loomis commented on how amazing the fishing was and how untapped. Coming from one of the most experienced salmon anglers in the world, it was a tribute to the fishery. Where is it? Alaska, Russia, New Zealand?

No, it is in Patagonia, Chile, an hour and a half by air south of Santiago on the Petrohue River. The Petrohue River is a pristine river winding it way down from the Andes Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

The first morning, Clancy Holt, Gary Loomis and I caught 11 Chinook salmon in five hours of trolling at the mouth of the river. Only two fish weighed less than 40 pounds. Loomis caught the biggest, which tipped the scale at 61 pounds, six were over 50 pounds and rest were between 40 and 50. It was the first day of five incredible days of fishing guided by Clancy as we explored the fishery for Southern Chile Expeditions.

Why this fishery now?

This fishery was in the making since the early 1980s when Chinook salmon eggs were imported from Pacific Northwest Hatcheries to start massive commercial salmon net pen operations in Chile. Chinook salmon escaped the net pens and over three decades began spawning in a number of rivers along the southern coastline of Chile and a new fishery was born.

The lack of access to major rivers is the major hurdle to fishing salmon in Chile. The second challenge is finding experienced guides with updated equipment. Fortunately, the number of guides — ranging from Orvis-endorsed guides, to independent outfitters and individuals advertising on the internet — have grown. Each year, the number of salmon fishing options continues to expand, providing anglers looking for an adventure salmon fishing trip the opportunity.

Southern Chile Expeditions pioneered the current fishery, hiring Holt and Loomis to help put them at the forefront starting in 2015. Yan Kee Way Lodge provided the infrastructure of lodging, guides and boats. The lodge’s trout fly fishing clients were already incidentally hooking Chinook salmon in the 40-pound range.

Chilean salmon fishing secondary

A salmon is netted in Southern Chile’s Petrohue River.

Holt was hired to guide anglers, train Chilean guides, find new fisheries and consult on equipment. That meant getting four new 17.8 Smoker Craft sleds with 60 horsepower Yamaha jet-drives set up.

Loomis was brought in to test the fishery and perfect the equipment needed. He is first and foremost a fisherman that designs and builds rods. Working with his new company, Edge Rods, he designed a new fly rod and conventional salmon rod that could handle salmon over 50 pounds. His new rods handled the abuse doled out by 50-pound Chinooks easily.

Great salmon fishing

My first salmon ripped out over 200 feet of line and was still going threatening to spoon my reel when Holt spun the boat around and followed the fish. It ran along the surface of the glassy bay waters then sounded going deep and circled back at us. I reeled, frantically loosing tension as the salmon passed under the boat and streaked away. Ten minutes, later the salmon was netted and released.

Loomis designed new rods for this fishery, which are probably the best made. Loomis’ Edge 9’11” rods handled the big fish with grace. Over the next five days of estuary fishing, we caught and released over 100 Chinook salmon.

Since I needed pictures for the magazine article, several fish had to come on board for photos. We were doing catch and release, which made bringing the fish on board for a photo and releasing them unharmed more difficult than expected. Getting 60 pounds of thrashing salmon into Loomis’ hands for a photo and then releasing it was a challenge. The best photo came when Clancy and I hoisted a 60 pounder on to Loomis’ lap soaking him. He smiled for the picture and swore to get even with us later.

It was a pleasure fishing with the best of the best. Holt easily switched from one technique to another to keep us catching salmon. Loomis told me more about rod making than I could absorb. Did I know it all started from his designing and making tank aerials?

For more information or to book your own trip, visit southernchilexp.com.

Harry Morse is currently a freelance writer living in Pocatello. His articles have appeared in national hunting and fishing magazines. The majority of his career he worked for Washington, Idaho and California Departments of Fish and Wildlife as an information officer. He has travel broadly an enjoys photography, fishing and hunting.

29APR

Choose an exotic fishing adventure

What kind of fishing adventure are you interested in? Given a choice, would you choose a high-cost lodge where you are catered to at $1,000 a day or a remote backwoods adventure where you cook on a wood stove for $75 a day? Take a look at the video and make a choice.

$1,000 a day: Yan Kee Way Lodge in Southern Chile

This place is amazing. Individual chalets, 4-star cooks, guides equipped with the best gear and the world-famous Rio Petrohue river to fish for rainbow and brown trout in an exotic location. Unfortunately, I was not fishing but on a writing assignment for Salmon Trout Steelheader magazine out of Seattle to chronicle the fishing adventures of expert steelhead guide and angler Jack Mitchell of eastern Washington.

The Rio Petrohue is famous. Flanked by snow-capped volcanoes and deep woods, it produces rainbows to 10 pounds, sea run browns to 20 pounds and Chinook salmon to 70 pounds. When we arrived, the river was high due to heavy rains, a volcanic eruption trickled silt into the river and the Chinook salmon run was late. Even a $1,000 a day can’t guarantee good fishing.

Jack Mitchell is an expert fly fisherman, and he drew on years of experience fishing the Snake, Columbia, Klickitat rivers for trout and steelhead. After a day of pulling streamers in eddies and casting dry flies to small pockets of water, it was apparent catching fish was going to be a challenge. His wife, Jennifer, also an accomplished angler, suggested fishing yarn under a strike indicator. It worked and instead of catching five to 10 rainbows a day between them, they caught 27 rainbows the next morning.

Where were the giant salmon and brown trout? Out in the bay, lodge salmon guide Clancy Holt and his client Gary Loomis trolled deep the river mouth and caught salmon to 70 pounds, but the salmon and browns had not yet entered the river where we could get a crack at them.

Chile fishing secondary

A group is seen fishing the Rio Potrohue in Chile.

$75 a day: Backwoods fishing adventure in Chile

Leaving luxury, I boarded an ancient plane for a two-hour flight 300 miles south to a backwoods lodge that promised excellent rainbow trout fishing. The manager of Yan Kee Way owned the low-cost fledgling Rio Paloma Lodge and was exuberant about the fishing. All I had to do was pay my airfare, cost of food and pitch in. All for $75 a day and the cost of a horse back ride to see a rare deer in the Andes Mountains.

The catch? The only the cook was at the lodge, he didn’t speak English and I would have to pitch in on the chores.

The plane landed in a defunct military airport, miles from nowhere and the cook/guide was not there to pick me up. An hour late, he rumbled up in an old pickup truck, hopped out and let out a burst of rapid-fire Spanish and motioned like he was casting a fly. Yep, this was my man.

The lodge was two hours over dirt roads and one temporary road block consisting of 100 sheep away. It is an old wood frame house with three tiny bedrooms, kitchen and a wood fired stove. He would guide and cook, and I would clean dishes, chop wood and fetch water.

The next morning, we were casting on a river out of a picture book. Tall pines, rippling water and trout breaking the surface. But the fish were not biting our flies. Late in the day, I broke out my little spinning rod and a No. 2 gold Mepps spinner. Three casts later, I landed a nice 2-pound rainbow. The cook was delighted. No catch and release here. This was dinner. The spinner worked magic on fish after fish.

Delighted at the great day of fishing, the cook arranged for a horseback ride into the mountains to see a rare and endangered deer. The year before, I spent nine days in the Andes Mountains in a pup-tent with a scientific team trying to locate and photograph one of these rare deer with no success.

Chile fishing secondary

An endangered Huemul deer is seen in Chile’s Andes Mountains.

As my horse swam the swift river to start the steep ascent into the mountains, I realized this was clearly not a tourist horseback ride. Four hours later, I swore I would never ride a horse again.

The endangered Huemul deer stood in a small ravine 100 yards away. A nice buck with forked horns. I snapped shots with my 600 telephoto lens. Not great shots but rare ones. We continued up the mountains for several hours looking for more deer then returned to an old sheepherders hut. Sore, hungry and tired, I dreaded the four hours more of trail riding to reach the road.

At the hut, to my amazement, the sheepherder pulled from his saddle bags a rack of lamb, started a fire and stuck the ribs on a T bar over the fire to roast. Once they were done, he rustled in his other saddle bag producing a loaf of bread and a six pack of beer. He handed me his knife to cut off a slab of roasting ribs, hunk of bread and a beer. Best mountain meal ever!

Chopping wood and washing dishes was a small price to pay for excellent rainbow fishing day and a horseback ride to see the endangered Huemul deer.

Choices

So which adventures would you choose? Luxury lodge or wilderness house with cook for a guide and a trail ride?

29APR

Hunting wild mushrooms

Right now is one of the best times of the year: morel mushroom picking time! It is a short season, so you want to make sure that you don’t miss it. In Nebraska and Iowa, it is somewhere around the middle of April. Up in the mountains, I do good around the first or second week of May, and they start popping up after that as you go up in elevation.

There are a lot of edible wild mushrooms, but I only can identify a couple. A few years ago, I thought, “It’s crazy to spend all that time walking around and only be able to identify a few varieties. Why not take a class so I could come back down from the mountains with more?”

I attended a mushroom hunting class. They told me that after I had completed the class that I’d feel comfortable picking at least 10 different varieties. By the time I completed the class, I still only felt comfortable picking the same couple.

Here’s the deal. Morel mushrooms are the best tasting food in the world, but if you screw up and pick the angel of death, well, let’s just say that you and God had better be pretty good friends. In a nutshell, one little snack is not worth dying over, so the first few times go with an old timer. Today I’m going to cover how to find morel mushrooms. I’m not going into how to identify them; find a trusty old timer and have them coach you.

Where do you find them? A lot of writers confidently say something like, “Go to the woods and look around dead logs.” I’ve got news for them. The woods are full of dead logs and you don’t find a morel at every one. While you can find some around logs, not every log has morels. I’ve hunted morels for more than 40 years. By now, you’d think I’d have it down pat and could give you the “Five Steps to be a Morel Mushroom Hunter.” The problem is I can’t.

But let’s go over a few things that I have learned. In Nebraska and Kansas, I find them on sandy river banks. I’ve made hauls out on islands and in the woods along the river. Again, not in wet turf but kinda sloping drained areas.

In the mountains, I’ll find them on the uphill side of old logging roads and in slight drainages that have some spread out vegetation but not thick grass. I’ll find them in brush piles. My old hunting buddy Roger Ross says he likes to look around Tamarack trees.

Sometimes they’ll be found around fresh (from last fall) caterpillar tracks. It seems like torn up soil promotes their growth. If you find some, look downhill. The spores get washed downhill. One year after a fire, I found a bunch like this washed down a draw on a mountainside.

If you found some last year, go back there this year. It’s not a guarantee every year but almost. I have one spot that I find them at almost every year, but not last year.

They are really temperature and moisture dependent. When the weather finally turns warm, if you get a rain and a warm night it seems like they pop up overnight. A few years ago, I was talking to a Forest Service employee, and we were talking about mushrooms. She brought up the thought of taking the temperature of the soil when you find them. Then just this week I read an article and the writer said when the soil hits 50 degrees, they start growing. Maybe so.

The absolute best place to hunt them is in places where there was a forest fire the previous year. There was one place where I could fill two 5-gallon buckets. Under a lodgepole pine that was laid down, I found 17. In one area I could have covered with a 10- by 12-foot tarp, I picked 162.

Real pickers use a mesh bag so the spores can drop out. They also use a knife to cut them off at the ground.

When you get home, slice them lengthwise and gently rinse and put in a bowl of water with salt to kill the bugs and set over night in your fridge. Dip in beat eggs and roll in flour. Sprinkle with salt and pepper or my favorite is Tony Chachere’s seasoning and fry to a golden brown.

Morels are the best food in the world!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana.

22APR

On sighting in your turkey shotgun and choosing the proper ammo

There are some turkey hunting fanatics out there. In fact, you may be one of them. Here are a few symptoms/signs:

1. You like turkey hunting almost as much as you do elk hunting.

2. You get the DT’s when you hear a gobble reverberating through the woods.

3. You have or almost have lost a job over turkey hunting.

As you know, spring is the big time to hunt turkeys. The Toms are strutting and trying to impress the hens and calling one can almost be as cool as calling in a bull.

BUT … before you actually go hunting you have some important tasks to complete and a few choices to make. First, you need to decide which ammo to use. When I was a kid pretty much all we had was lead No. 2 shot. 30 to 40 yards was about the max for range.

A lot has changed since then. No longer do a lot of people use their trusty ole dove or duck shotgun. Many hunters have a turkey hunting shotgun. One big reason is, with the shells we now have, you can roll a turkey out to 50 to 60 yards. So, you have to aim at an actual body part (head/neck) just like when hunting with a rifle.

It no longer suffices to use your bead sights on your regular shotgun. A lot of Turkey Hunters (TH) now use a scope or red dot sight. Riton Optics has a cool Red Dot Scope and a 3x magnifier that you ought to use.

The next thing you need to do is to choose your ammo. There are a lot of options on the market nowadays, and a lot of them work ok but of all the ammo that I’ve tested HEVI-Shot is hands down the best. I did a comparison once for Bass Pro Shop and some of the competitors had 17-34 BBs in the kill zone if I remember correctly. HEVI-Shot had 119! The kill zone looked like Swiss cheese.

After choosing your ammo you need to sight in your shotgun just like you do when sighting in your rifle so the main pattern hits where you want it to. But whoa, before you shoot you need to get a good choke to maximize your shotguns performance. I use Trulock chokes. You’ll want to use a tight choke.

Turkey loads kick so I use a Caldwell Lead Sled or a Caldwell Hydrosled to do my sighting in, especially if you’re dumb enough to use some HEVI-Shot 3 ½-inch magnums. They’re a killer (on both ends). And also, I like to use the Birchwood Casey turkey targets (Their Shoot NC targets). That way I can easily count how many BB’s hit in the kill zone.

You’ll want to sight in your shotgun right below the head. You don’t want to shoot at the head and half of the BB’s go flying harmlessly overhead. Shoot at the neck so the turkey gets the main brunt of the pattern.

Now you’re ready to go turkey hunting. Good luck.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana.He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop.

22APR

Catch a tiger fish, hunt a Kudu and find a geocache in Africa

Geoff Hogander’s dream was to visit Africa; catch a tiger fish, hunt a kudu and find a geocache. When the opportunity came to join me on a hunt to South Africa with Harloo Safaris in Zululand and visit Tembe Elephant Park next to the Mozambique boarder he was all in.

Zululand in South Africa is tropical jungle country with rolling mountains, deep draws and rivers. The safari area bordered Lake Jozini, known for its superb tiger fishing. Our hunt was the first part of the trip, fishing second and Geoff’s geocache hunt and wildlife viewing in Tembe Elephant Park the wrap-up.

We booked the hunt for the end of May when kudu are in rut. Kudu are called the gray ghosts of Africa for their ability to elude hunters. Similar in size to our rocky mountain elk they are wary. The best time to hunt them one time is when breeding season is in full swing.

Geoff’s chance at a kudu came on day four of the hunt. Glassing a ridgeline a mile away he saw a single bull slowly working his way through the woods. It would cross an open area a half mile ahead where we could intercept it. Thirty minutes later our professional hunter, Niel Uys, had us in place and Geoff glimpsed the kudu moving along the edge of the clearing.

The massive bull crossed the opening 100 yards away and dropped with Geoff’s shot. We marveled at the long spiraling horns and it beautiful grey coat. It is truly one of Africa’s iconic antelope. Two days later we were enjoying Kudu tenderloin over an open fire at camp. They reminded me of mild, tender elk steaks.

Next door the Phinda Game Reserve was culling nyala. They are mule deer size antelope, sporting a shaggy dark gray coat, white strips and black spiraling horns they are exotic. Phinda’s game manager asked if were interested in hunting nyala.? You bet!

In Africa when antelope start to overgraze an area, game managers use hunting as a tool to save the habitat and provide meat for local tribes. The one drawback was lions. We needed to be very careful since this conservancy had a thriving lion population along with cape buffalo and rhinos.

Parking our Landrover in the early morning light the adventure began. Nyala live in dense cover along the edge of grasslands. The local game manager lead the way along trails weaving through dense cover. Luckily, lions do not like hunting in this type of cover. We were very cautious since we had seen a pride of lions when driving into the area.

The game manager knew exactly where nyala crossed the opening in the dense cover. Each of us made good shots and nyala and the animals were on the way to the butcher by noon. We enjoyed several prime cuts of meat for dinner. It was delicious.

Tiger Fishing Lake Jozini

Sprawling Lake Jozini bordered our hunting area and is a tiger fishing mecca. Tiger fish are fierce predators with razor sharp teeth and are sought after by anglers for their fighting ability. A member of the piranha family, their canine-like teeth can inflect serious wounds.

Fishing with sardines was the most effective way to catch the toothy fish this time of year. Niel, our professional hunter, had a supply in his freezer. An avid angler, he supplied the boat, bait and tackle, and took us to his favorite fishing spot. The 8-pound to 15-pound tiger fish were not biting now, but we would catch plenty in the 3-pound to 5-pound range. Only he would handle the fish. He didn’t want us going home minus fingers!

Geoff got the first strike and the line ripped off his reel as the tiger fish headed toward the other end of the lake. It turned out to be the best fish of the day. We took pictures and released it.

Our only problem came at the boat launch. A 4,000 pound white rhino, measuring 10 to 12 feet long and 5 feet tall at the shoulder, grazed at the waters edge. Geoff and I did a double take. A rhino grazing next to the boat launch ramp? Welcome to Africa.

Geoff’s Geocache

We traveled 150 miles north to the Mozambique border to Tembe Elephant Park. No trip to Africa is complete without getting a look at some truly wild country and elephants. Plus, Tembe held Geoff’s geocache.

The Tembe Tribe run the only concession in the 115-square-mile massive transnational Tembe Wildlife Park. Part of the legendary Ivory Route where the greatest tuskers roam, the park was set up in 1983 to protect migrating elephants between South Africa and Mozambique. It’s a wild and unique place. It’s on the low end of the luxury scale, on the high end of wild and one of the lowest-priced lodge experiences in Africa.

Each morning at 6 a.m. we loaded into a converted Landrover to slowly drive through thick sand-forest. Twice elephants materialized out of the impenetrable foliage halting our vehicle. They gave us a brief look and walked right by us disappearing into the jungle.

Geoff’s geocache was located under the step of one of the Tembe wildlife observation blinds. Geocaching is an international activity in which participants use their GPS to find a hidden container and it’s one of Geoff’s favorite sports. Once he found it, he carefully removed the ledger and inscribed his name and the date on it, completing a life-long dream of visiting and achieving a series of goals in Africa. Harry Morse

Find a video with this story at xtremeidaho.com

15APR

Blackfoot, American Falls reservoirs offer great flat-water angling opportunities in East Idaho

You might be getting the feeling that the winter season has dragged on long enough. While the winter season offers some outstanding hard-water angling opportunities, the open-water season offers abundant opportunities as well. Especially notable are the great trout fishing opportunities in the Southeast Region’s two largest reservoirs: Blackfoot and American Falls.

The open water season typically begins around the first week of May at Blackfoot Reservoir; however, the trout fishing usually doesn’t pick up until around the first week of June. Catch rates of both rainbow and cutthroat trout during this period can easily reach double digits per day. The average size of fish caught in the spring is around 18 inches, but trout weighing upwards of 5 pounds are not uncommon. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game stocks about 300,000 rainbow trout annually for anglers to harvest, which pairs well with the general harvest rule of six trout per day; but remember, no cutthroat trout can be harvested from this reservoir.

Angling opportunities at American Falls Reservoir typically begin earlier than in its eastern, high elevation neighbor, Blackfoot Reservoir. Catch rates for rainbow trout can also reach double digits during the months of May and June. In addition to rainbow trout, American Falls also boasts a decent population of rainbow-cutthroat trout hybrids. In fact, the state record for this hybrid was harvested from the reservoir in 2011 and weighed nearly 35 pounds. The high spring catch rates experienced by anglers are tied to the large number of rainbow trout stocked there annually — over a half a million! At American Falls, anglers can harvest a total of six trout per day, all species combined.

To target trout in Blackfoot and American Falls reservoirs, try trolling close to the surface and near the shoreline with some traditional pop gear or a flasher, trailed by a wedding ring spinner tipped with a little night crawler. Additionally, trolling a variety of spoons and crank baits near the surface can also be quite productive. Having a fishing boat at your disposal does make access to these fisheries a bit easier; however, both reservoirs have several access areas that provide bank fishing opportunities. The best way to find these access points is to consult Fish and Game’s Fishing Planner.

Southeast Idaho has experienced average to above average snowpack levels over the past several years, and consecutive good waters years are paying dividends for fish populations in the upper Snake River drainage. What this means to anglers is there will be plenty of fish to catch this open water season. Your fish of a lifetime could be swimming somewhere in the Southeast Region, waiting for you.

14APR

Sailfish in Mexico beat ice fishing in Idaho

While fishing through an 8-inch round hole cut in ice on Chesterfield Reservoir, I decided Mexico and sailfish were calling. Two weeks later, my fishing partner and I were bobbing in the Pacific along a pristine section of Southern Mexico’s Pacific coast, 100 miles south of Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, in 80-degree weather.

We were on a low-cost fishing trip to a top-rated sailfish destination. Rustic is the best way to describe the area. Puerto Vicente has solitude, no fishing pressure and a reputation for good sailfish in April. It was ranked No. 2 in the world for sailfish by Salt Water Magazine. It features a fishing village with mud streets, no high-rise hotels, chickens walking the roads and no other gringos.

This area is named Costa Grande, Mexico, a 150-mile stretch of pristine coastline. It is remote and too far from Zihuatanejo and Puerto Vallarta for the big cruisers to make day trips; thus it is under fished. We seldom saw another boat. The only small harbor there is Puerto Vicente, where fishing guides pick you up in a well-used 1980 Ford F150 and you climb in, sit on a wooden bench seat for a rough ride over a potholed dirt road to the marina and an ocean adventure.

My fishing partner John Jennings and I fished out of a 20-foot fiberglass boat called a ponga with a 60 horse power Mercury outboard motor. We hooked up with a guiding outfit named El Bandidio Del Mar. Yes, that translates to Bandit of the Sea. They have a package deal of room, board, guide and boat. A no-frills boat with a bench seat for each of us and a canvass top to keep the sunburn down. This little craft would take us up to 15 miles off shore to find marlin and sailfish. Skeptical of the fishing gear we might encounter we brought our own rods, reels and lures. The guides caught or bought fresh bait before sunrise and out we went.

Three miles off shore, our guide Manuel spotted a sailfish on top of the water and the hunt was on. We trolled two giant lures and a live flying fish in the sailfish’s direction. The sailfish turned and raced toward John’s live bait. It batted the bait with its long sword-like bill before inhaling it. The guide hit the throttle gunning the boat forward and flipped John’s reel into free spool. Seconds later, he said “hang on” and engaged the drag on the reel setting the hook firmly into the jaw of the sailfish and nearly jerking John’s arms out of their sockets.

The lined ripped out as the 100-pound fish bolted away. Tucking the butt of his fishing rod into the plastic holder he had strapped to his waist he let the fish run until it jumped. Then he started pumping the rod up and down trying to gain back the line he lost to the fish’s initially run. No luck; it took off again, this time going airborne three different times. Thirty minutes, later it came to the boat its colors shimmered beneath the waters.

With a skilled hand, our guide grabbed the 200-pound shock leader and hauled the fish forward until he could grab the sailfish’s bill. It looked like a life-and-death struggle between the guide and the sailfish until the sail stopped thrashing and shaking stopped and could be lifted out of the water for a picture and released. No extra deck hand to help; just one guide and us.

For the picture, the guide seated John next to him on the back bench seat and hoisted the sailfish up on to John’s lap as he held the bill. A good shake and the fish could have knocked both of them back and into the water. I took a quick picture and the sail went back into the Pacific.

Pods of dolphins delighted us as they played under our boat. When we sped up to 20 to 25 mph, the dolphins kept pace gracefully leaping out of the water in front of us. The number of sea turtles was astounding; we saw 50 to 100 a day. Most were small — the size of garbage can lid — but we saw some big ones that weighed over 100 pounds.

That night at the waterfront diner and hotel, we toasted John’s sailfish and three other marlin caught and released by other anglers at the small lodge. All of us had strikes and bill fish on. We ate fresh dorado served by our host/guide’s wife and looked out over the small bay. The accommodations were Motel 6-style, but the beds were comfortable, no bugs and area quiet. Except for the rooster that crowed from 2 to 5 a.m.

Fresh-squeezed orange juice, scrambled eggs and a homemade roll got us going, and we loaded up the Ford and rode to the dock in the dark. Morning dragged by without a strike; then we had a double hook up. A pair of marlin came out of nowhere smashing our lures. Mine leaped and came off almost immediately; meanwhile John’s headed to the bottom of the ocean. The battle would last nearly an hour, tiring John out and bring a beautiful fish to the boat.

The marlin was not a big one by “Old Man and The Sea” standards — around 120 pounds — but it was a magnificent fighter. And you could not see land, only ocean.

Over the next two days, luck was with me. I landed two sailfish and a marlin each similar in size to John’s. Then the seas turned rough with 6- to 8-foot waves and whitecaps. We stayed inland and fished for crevalle jack, rooster fish and dorado in the lee of the peninsula. Schools of jacks stretching the length of a football field were migrating north next to shore and provided constant action.

The last night we had a lobster, a dinner to remember. It was Easter Day and bands play off in the distance, the sun sank into the pacific and we feasted. Good memories to savor especially since all of us in Idaho are sheltering in place, dreaming of favorite adventures.

For information on Bandito Del Mar Fishing, look it up on Facebook or visit bandidodelmar.com.

The best flight we found to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, was with Alaska Airlines.

Salt Water Magazine featured this area several years back and describes the fishing and area.

08APR

So you’ve got cabin fever

It seems like 90% of the people spend their life in a quandary. The ones that have the money to go hunting or fishing as much as they want are always working. And the people that have all the free time in the world, don’t have enough money to go.

I’m afraid with the current situation that we’re in with so many businesses shutting down, that a lot of people are hurting more than ever since probably the days of the Great Depression. So right now most people are in the latter boat, plenty of free time but no money.

But I’m a big believer in making the most of whatever situation that you find yourself in instead of wishing for something else. So with that said, let’s list out some low-cost outdoor options to entertain ourselves.

First, let me dispel one myth. You don’t have to go first class. I had the best parents in the world but we weren’t rich. So I learned to get by with nothing. In high school Richard Jaco and I would go to the lake for the weekend hunting and trapping. We’d be lucky to have $2.00 between us for gas. We’d have a coke and a piece of candy to eat for Friday night and Saturday. We didn’t have a tent and my sleeping bag had a broke zipper. We survived. And actually had a blast.

I used to rodeo a lot. A lot of guys may have enough to go to one rodeo every week or two. They’d stay in decent motels, eat out and live high on the hog. I learned if I went and slept in back of my car or in a room with four other cowboys, I could hit three rodeos/wk.

I’d rather go a lot than to have one Taj Mahal vacation per year. You can do a lot if you learn how to scrimp. So the morale to the above story is, tighten your belt and get outdoors and have fun.

So what are some low-cost outdoor activities that we can do and still stay within the guidelines of social distancing?

WHISTLE PIG HUNTING

Ok, ok, I’m simple minded but I love whistle pig hunting. It’s low key and non-stressful. If you miss one it’s not like you’ve hunted for 10 days and missed the bull of your life time. .22 ammo is back down in price where it is affordable and if that is still too expensive for you then use an air rifle. Like alluded to in my earlier articles a few weeks ago they’re a blast to hunt with.

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/outdoors/xtreme_idaho/whats-the-fuss-about-airguns-part-1/article_29c668ce-cd45-5680-a92d-6973c2c7ed51.html

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/outdoors/northwest/whats-the-fuss-about-airguns-part-ii/article_78c81e59-16d0-5b55-9f49-06ece88755eb.html

CRAPPIE FISHING

Any second crappie fishing is going to turn on. That is one of the highlights of the Idaho outdoor world. We’re blessed. We have great crappie fishing here. Sure, it’s nice to have a boat but don’t feel handicapped if you don’t. You can still load up on them.

PLAIN OLE CAMPING

Why is camping so much fun? Just go up in the mountains, throw up a tent and build a campfire, cook dinner and later on roast marshmallows. When the kids were small, we’d go camping nearly every weekend.

I have all daughters. We’d set up at night around the campfire and have a ball. The little rascals would have talked all night if I would have let them! I’d get up early the next morning and fire up a pot of coffee and read my newspapers until they woke up.

Katy told me if I was going take the girls camping I’d have to learn how to fix their hair. So they’d wake up, I’d fix hair and then we’d cook breakfast. Then we’d go exploring. They’d pick flowers and put in a bottle to later carry home to mom. We had a great time and it only cost a few dollars for gas.

HIKING

There are 50,000,000 trails in Idaho. Do a big day hike on a Saturday. Or used to a lot of times we’d go up in the mountains after work on Friday and take a can of tamales, build a little fire and heat them up. We’d spread out a sheet and look at the stars and then hike back to the truck.

By the time we headed down they’d be riding on our shoulders fast asleep. The little terds would pick up a 100 lbs. of rocks and put in their pockets. I’d be throwing them out on the way down to lighten the load. Those were fun times.

BOWFISHING

No doubt, you can do better if you have a boat but I have shot truckloads of carp while wading. And don’t feel like you have to have a $750 setup. If things are tight grab an old recurve at a pawn shop or on eBay, slap on a reel, grab a few arrows and hit a lake or river. I used to go carp hunting nearly every afternoon after work.

SUMMARY:

You get my drift. There’s a million things to do outdoors so get out and have fun. We don’t like to be around other people when outdoors anyway so just stay away from anyone you happen to see. There’s a big outdoors out there waiting to be discovered. Use this free time and go have some fun.

03APR

Stuck inside? Go outside with these national park virtual offerings

You’re stuck at home, the national parks are closed, and cabin fever is setting in.

If you don’t mind a bit of computer clicking, Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park can be brought into your home with stunning photos and cute videos of bison jams or eagles soaring.

For real-time images, both parks offer webcams of fixed scenes of iconic views such as Old Faithful or the Teton Range. Some are less exciting, such as entrance gates. But while fairly static, webcams can offer useful information on weather conditions or how busy the traffic is. For example, Friday’s webcam at the West Entrance at West Yellowstone, Montana, showed a blocked gate and snow-covered road.

“Webcams are always popular, and lately we’ve been doing some Facebook Live events,” said Yellowstone park spokesman Linda Veress. “There is so much information on the park’s webpage, too. I am learning something new every time I’m on there.”

A good place to start online exploring in Yellowstone is at nps.gov/yell/learn.

For something a bit fancier than webcams, Yellowstone National Park has a 12-minute video, “Experience Yellowstone,” that shows nice images of many of the park’s iconic animals and beautiful scenic spaces. Although you’ll see crowds gathered around Old Faithful, you won’t have to jostle for a view to see over that 6-foot 5-inch tourist from New York City.

Yellowstone also has a series of a dozen “in depth” videos about five to 10 minutes long on a variety of subjects dear to park lovers. Learn about bears, wolves, geysers, invasive species, bison and goats. Other park video series include “Minute Out In It,” “Q&A,” “Inside Yellowstone,” “Visiting Yellowstone” and “Wildlife Safety.” Each series includes several short videos on a variety of topics. Enough to burn up a couple of hours.

To find Grand Teton National Park videos, go to the “Learn About the Park” section on the park’s official website and spend some time with all the offerings (nps.gov/grte/learn).

A couple of popular connections include “Podcasts and Cell Tours” and “Dispatches from the Field” which is Grand Teton’s own YouTube channel.

Grand Teton also offers “distance learning programs” available on YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The program is a ready-made lesson for children (and adults) to learn about a variety of subjects that affect the park. Current topics include how snow impacts everything about the park. The programs are meant to augment school instruction.

There’s also a “Kids & Youth” section with an online activity book to occupy youngsters with a goal of achieving a Junior Park Ranger badge. It’s fun homework for sequestered families wondering what to do next.

Grand Teton also has a “Photo Gallery” that is divided up into mini-galleries with nice images of landscapes, animals, plants, history, visitors and education.

Of course, one can always search YouTube (a dangerous proposition) for interesting videos on Bison vs. Tourists or climbing the Grand Teton, but beware of quickly being lured away into cute cat videos or stupid human antics.

01APR

EVEREST CLOSED: Coronavirus hits mountaineering crews hard

Apa Sherpa knows firsthand all the risks of climbing Mount Everest. He’s been to the summit 21 times.

The potential for a COVID-19 outbreak at base camp had him just as fearful as a blizzard or cracking ice.

The 60-year-old mountaineer from Nepal who now lives in Salt Lake City applauded the decision to shut down the routes to the top of the famed Himalayan mountain over concerns about the new coronavirus.

That meant Sherpa didn’t have to worry about the health of anyone on the mountain, including his niece, nephew and cousin as they follow in his Everest-climbing footsteps.

Now, he has another fear: How will those who work in the shadow of Everest make ends meet?

“I just feel bad,” said Apa Sherpa, who established a foundation to help Nepalese students with their education. “For everyone.”

Phurba Ongel was all set for spring work guiding western climbers to the 29,035-foot Everest summit when he heard the news. He has already scaled Everest nine times and makes about $7,000 per season.

That was money he desperately needs for his two sons’ school, rent and groceries.

“Now,” Ongel said, “I don’t have much.”

Also losing money are clients, who dole out anywhere between $35,000 to $85,000 to be led up the mountain, and expedition operators who have expenses to pay despite the closure.

“It is devastating for the tourism industry in Nepal and abroad,” said Lukas Furtenbach, a mountaineering guide and founder of Furtenbach Adventures. “Many businesses will not survive this.”

China shut down the northern route through Tibet due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 12. A day later, expeditions to the Nepal side were closed, too. Everest straddles the border between Nepal and China and can be climbed from both sides.

By shutting down the passage through the south route of Everest, the Nepal government stands to lose some $4 million in permits alone. There are thousands of people who depend on the money spent by climbers in Nepal.

“They have no income right now. Nothing,” Apa Sherpa said. “But the government made the right decision. The lives are more important.”

According to Ang Tshering, a mountaineering expert in Nepal, the mountaineering industry in the region brings in about $300 million annually — and most of it during the spring climbing season that begins in March and ends in May.

“The closure of the mountains has made thousands of people jobless in the mountaineering community,” Tshering said.

It’s setting up a potentially risky proposition in 2021 — overcrowding on the mountain. There will be a backlog of clients eager to make the trek, along with a new batch of climbers.

Last May, a climber snapped a memorable photo from a line with dozens of hikers in colorful winter gear that snaked into the sky. Climbers were crammed along a sharp-edged ridge above South Col, with a 7,000-foot drop on either side, all clipped onto a single line of rope, trudging toward the top of the world.

“It would be very important that Nepal puts reasonable regulations in place for operators and climbers,” said Furtenbach, who resides in Austria and spends time at Lake Tahoe. “Otherwise, I see that risk for a total mess next year.”

For the Sherpas, it’s about finding a way to hang on after their source of income was halted. They’re the backbone of an expedition — the first to reach Everest each climbing season and the last to leave. They set up the camps, carry the equipment and cook the food for climbing parties. They fix the ropes and ladders over the crevasses and ice-falls that enable mountaineers to scale the peak.

Generally, a Sherpa can earn $10,000 or more should they summit. Porters or cooks at the mountaineers’ camps average between $3,000 and $5,000 during their three months of work. That’s a significant amount compared with Nepal’s $1,035 annual per capita income.

But it’s treacherous work.

That’s why Apa Sherpa started his foundation — to give young kids another route.

Born into poverty and with a modest education, he had no choice but to climb. By the age of 12, he was working on climbing expeditions. At age 30, he summited Everest for the first time. He had earned the nickname “Super Sherpa” before retiring in 2011.

His organization — the Apa Sherpa Foundation — attempts to provide hot meals to students at the Ghat School in the Khumbu region. It also pays the salary of six teachers in Thame and provides school supplies such as computers. He’s hoping to expand the foundation’s reach into other schools in Nepal.

“If I’m still in Nepal, I have no choice. I would have to climb,” said Sherpa, who moved to the U.S. in 2006. “I have a choice here in America. I don’t have to take a risk. I’m just trying to help.”

The climbing community has seen an interruption on Everest before: An earthquake-triggered avalanche killed 19 at the base camp in 2015 and another avalanche over the dreaded Khumbu Icefall in 2014 killed 16 Nepali workers.

Apa Sherpa shuddered at the thought of anyone being at base camp in the midst of the coronavirus. He has plenty of family who still serve as mountain guides.

For most people, COVID-19 causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, with the vast majority recovering in about two weeks. But anything respiratory can have dire consequence at base camp, where there are climbers scattered around in tents as they acclimate.

“At high altitude our respiratory systems are incredibly distressed and challenged,” said Adrian Ballinger, the founder of Alpenglow Expeditions. “We do know the coronavirus, which affects the respiratory system and can lead to pneumonia, would absolutely be much more serious and lead to potentially serious consequences and fatalities much more quickly at altitude.”

Ballinger had 11 clients scheduled for the summit team to the Tibet side of Everest, along with seven foreign mountain guides and 18 Sherpas.

He’s trying to lessen their financial hardships as best he can. Same with Garrett Madison, a guide based out of Seattle who was scheduled to lead his 14th Everest expedition.

“This is a tough time for sure. Thankfully we’ve saved up a rainy day fund to weather the storm,” Madison said. “With Everest canceled (our largest program of the year), as well as all other programs in jeopardy because of travel bans, we don’t know when we can resume normal operations of our programs.”

To celebrate recently turning 50, Graham Cooper of Piedmont, California, planned to summit Everest from the Tibet side with Ballinger. It was a bucket-list item for Cooper.

To prepare, he slept in an oxygen tent to simulate the thin air. He also ventured to Lake Tahoe, where he trained by hiking up the snow-packed slopes and skiing down.

Then, he received the text he was fearing: No trip. The mountain was closed.

Sure, he was disappointed. But he also understood.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Cooper said. “There’s always next year.”

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Category: Outdoors