Makin It Easy!

Gone are the days of spending hours in the woods scouting for the upcoming hunting season.  What used to require a lot of time and effort has been made simple by the use of trail cameras.  These cameras have revolutionized scouting.  Just set up and walk away.  Find out what wild game is living in your hunting grounds without the worry of spooking them with human scent or visual presence.  Place multiple cameras in different areas and it is like being several places at once.  Use of these tools is most effective during the early archery deer season or in an area with little or no hunting pressure.  A trail camera allows you to see deer and other game on their natural movements.  If you are placing them in an area with a lot of pressure or activity then all bets are off.  You may get a picture of a good buck one day only to have him pushed out of the area by hunting pressure. 

            

Now, lets talk about setup.  The most popular areas for setup are usually a well used game trail, food source, or scrape line.  Food sources and scrapes are fairly simple.  All you have to do is point the camera right at the scrape or at the area you think the deer or other animals will be feeding.  When setting up along a game trail, be sure to point the camera directly up or down the trail.  If the animal is walking towards or away from the camera then chances increase of getting a full image of the animal rather than just a partial if it just passes by the camera.  There is a delay from the time the camera senses motion until the picture is taken.  Even though some cameras are down to ¼ of a second delay between sensing the motion and taking the picture, it is still enough time for a deer to stride out of frame before the picture is taken.

          

  We have come a long way in the technology of these tools.  Trail cameras have been on the market for a while now.  The original ones required a roll of film just like a regular camera and then a trip to the local Walmart’s “one hour photo” before you could see the images that you captured.  Now these cameras are all digital.  To check your images all you need is to pull the SD card and insert it into your digital camera or put a new card in the camera and take the old one home to look at the images on your computer.  If you do not have a digital camera or computer, they also make viewers that you can buy to show you the pictures on the cards.  There are also cameras now that will send the pictures to your email so that you do not even have to set foot in the woods.

          

  Also, trail cameras come in either a full flash model or in infrared.  Some people prefer the infrared because there is no flash.  In these models the nighttime images will be in black and white as opposed to the full color in a regular flash camera.  Some people believe that the regular flash will spook game at night.   No matter which model you should choose, trail cameras can be the most valuable tools in your hunting arsenal.  They allow you to scout your area 24-7 from miles away.  If your not already taking advantage of these cameras, I urge you to give them a try.  You can get a good camera at a fair price now that a lot of companies are making them. 

          

  Finally, you may want to invest in a security box to lock your camera in while it is in the woods.  Not everyone is honest and many stories have been told about cameras being stolen.  Also, this writer has had a major Black Bear problem with his cameras.  The bears do not seem to get aggressive with them but seem to pull and bite at them to see if it is something they should eat.  One camera has been ruined from a bear biting through the plastic and moisture getting inside the camera’s major components.  So if you are worried, make sure you get a security box!

Warm water heating up!!

     Some early morning smallies followed by carp on dry flies.  A nice change of pace after fishing for trout all spring.  Looking forward to getting into some pike and musky action next week.

Living The Dream

          I do not really know what to say other than.... does it get any better that this?  Two beautiful days on two different rivers.  Thank you to Jim from the Dudewater Blog and Orvis Cleveland and also Alex, who guides out of Ohio for coming over to fish.  Great weather, great fishing, and spending time with other FISHAHOLICS.  Like the title of this post says...Living The Dream

My Turn!! Spring Gobbler 2013

          After calling in a bird for my dad on opening day, I finally connected on my third time out this season.  I set up about 150 yards from this bird in the tree.  After some heavy cutting on a mouth call to a bird that was so hot in the tree that it gobbled at 5:15 am this morning,  I watched as he appeared on the trail in front of me at about 100 yards out.  Once he was visible I just shut up and let the decoy do the work.  He was spiting, drumming, and strutting all the way to the decoy for what seemed like half an hour but was really about 5 minutes.  I had to talk to myself to get my hands and legs to quit shaking during his long approach.  Once he was in range I played the (lets see how close he will get) game until he stretched his neck out real nice and I couldn't help but end it there.  16 paces later I was standing over him.  A great morning and a great hunt!  Taking my brother out on Thursday for a bird that I heard gobbling on my way out of the woods this morning.  Hopefully I will be posting pics of his bird on Thursday night.

Clarion Browns On The Surface

                                                                                            

     What started as a cold slow morning took a major turn after lunch.  In the heat of this cold day the hendricksons came off heavy for about an hour in the afternoon.  We took advantage of every minute.  My clients Mike and Dave caught some great fish on dry flies.  Looking forward to this week.  Should be some good fishing.

Opening Day Spring Gobbler

     Took my dad out on opening morning where I had been hearing a few birds.  After an uneventful set up on a bird that never gobbled or even acted like it was spring, we connected on this bird 15 minutes later.  This Jake came in on a rope with a buddy and they both were in full strut at 10 yards before Dad took the shot.  Congratulations to dad on only his second ever spring bird.

Clarion River Scouting Mission...Success!

They do not get any more colorful than this.

Had my tripod attached to a tree branch over the water.  It's tough taking pics when you are by yourself.

Pretty brown with a nice copper john stuck to his nose!  Right were we like it.

Nice male with a good hook. 

   

   

      A good day of scouting on the Clarion River.  Caught a good number of fish on various beaded nymphs today.  The water is still cold but the fish seemed to be pretty active.  I have some guide trips coming up soon and can not wait to put some clients on these beautiful fish. 
     Finally it looks like we are going to have a normal spring.  Last year at this time it was 80 degrees, water was getting low, and we were already through the hendrickson hatch and starting into caddis.  Hopefully this makes for a longer season on the Clarion this year.

Flag!!! An ice fisherman's favorite word to hear.

Flag up means fish on the line..(hopefully).  It turned out to be a great picture with the backdrop of the iced over reservoir and the Allegheny Forest. 

A new PA state record Walleye.  6oz!

A nice Northern Pike.  As you can tell by my eyes being closed, the wind and rain was blowing in my face.

Managed a quick pic when the sun came out for 5 minutes.  Turned out great.  Should send this picture to the CLAM shelter company.  Maybe I could get an endorsement.

Fishing The Hardwater!

Drew, who works with me at Whitetail Country, caught this 26'' walleye while we were out this week.  This big female was released so that she may spawn this spring.

The take home catch.  Enough for a couple of dinners.

The end to a great day on the ice.

      Fortunately this year we have had some ice.  Don't get me wrong...I love to fly fish, but I also like ice fishing for walleye, perch, northern pike, musky, and crappie.  A few tip-ups, a chair, and an adult beverage have their place and time as well.  We caught some nice fish and had some perfect weather for fishing the Kinzua Dam.  Perfect ice fishing weather just means that it was above ZERO degrees and light winds!!  Oh yeah... and enough ice to stand on. 

60 degrees in January... "Let's go fishing!"

    January 30th and the weather was pushing 60 degrees and rain.  The Allegheny River had been running at 1900 CFS and on this morning was rising.  Sink tips and big ugly streamers were the ticket.  Pictured above is Steve with a nice healthy rainbow and on the left is myself with my second brown trout of the morning. 
    Today the temperature is in the 20s and falling with lake effect snow.  Glad we were able to enjoy it yesterday.  Back to tip-ups and fishing the hardwater next week I guess.  It looks like it is going to be winter again for a while.