Heat

Did you guys get most of the fish on jigs, bait, sinker rigs? What was working? Any size to any of the fish? Please try to share a few more details. How was the captain and crew, food, comfort of the bunks? Were you in USA waters or Mexico?

So you were a resident and didn't buy a lifetime license? Ouch!

Rent gear. If you want to buy check out Penn Fathom 2 speed 40N for Bluefin. You can catch smaller tunas and yellos on whatever. For top notch look at Accurate, made in USA. Fished with the owner once on a sponsored trip. Dude and his kids were cool. Shaping up to be another great year! Got a trip planned for late August with some friends. Can't wait! About a 75#er from a few years ago. Our boy Swivelhead is the man though. He got one around 2 hundo last year.

Somehow I forgot to comment on here. Glad this popped back up! Heck of a hunt. Way to be patient and stick it out for the one you wanted. Big time Congratulations on your Ram! PS curious who the "guide/helper" was who dissed you for sharing here.

Completely ridiculous.

I had to scrape ice off the windshield in Yuma this morning. I haven't done that since the 80s I reckon.

Not if they pay the tax and register it.

I would trade you the 50 777s for some 209Ms but I'm in Yuma. If you know someone headed this way, let me know.

Does anbody know of a place in Arizona that carries real Black Powder (Goex, Swiss, etc. not pyro, 777, bh209)? Maybe even more of a longshot but what about traditional black powder firearms, like cap and ball revolvers and Hawken rifles?

I'll check 'em out, thanks!

Great idea, thanks!

These changes are really going to sting.

Wish I was closer, I would grab some for my Hawken!

Ya he's a dandy!

Spend a couple more bucks and get one direct from CVA with the Nitride. WAY easier to clean with the coating and will really reduce the chances of your gun corroding. $405 shipped to you if you sign up for the emails and get their 10% off code. They don't charge tax or shipping.

Almost forgot, saw two swans today as well. Don't see those very often.

Saw a few canvasbacks today buzzing the All American Canal. Gave me a semi.

Good idea to try different bullets to see what your gun likes. The nice thing is that here in AZ we are wide open on what we can shoot for bullets; lead, copper, plastic tips, sabot, whatever. It's all legal. Other states you are limited on what you can use. On the powder (and primers) you can order it, but be aware that you will be assessed a rather large fee for having Hazmat shipped to you. If you can find it locally you may not have to pay so much. Also if you can order online and have it shipped to a store nearby, you can usually spare yourself all the shipping fees. It will have to go ground shipping so don't be in a hurry when you order.

Just ordered the 300 grain XTP in 44 cal and some green Crush Ribs to try. Deepcurls have been MIA for a long while.

Thompson Center is basically defunct. They are no longer making guns. Big pass on that one for me with no parts and no after product support if you get a lemon or bad part. Trust me I thought long and hard about buying a Pro Hunter FX which is the non removable barrel version. The one you are thinking of is the Encore I think.

When Blackhorn was $40 for a 10 oz. container it was a no brainer. Definitely the best powder without question. At $70 plus for 8 oz., they can keep it. I'll swab. I've got a few pounds of Blackhorn but I'm probably not buying anymore. Fricken' ridiculous since Hodgman bought it. People keep hoarding it so the price keeps going up. I bought a few cans here and there over the past year, but I'm done. Unreal. Be aware that CVA just came out with a brand new Paramount Pro V2. Some guys love the Paramount and others have been having nothing but problems with the barrels. A lot of reports of the 45 cal rifles being overbored or choked. Same with the Accura V2 series I guess. Lots of guys unhappy about not being able to shoot bullet to bore without having to get custom bullets. For me I'm trying to keep it simple with stuff I can buy around town or easily online. Not knocking CVA just letting you know what I've heard. Other guys are shooting way out there with their Paramounts and loving them. If you really want to drop some coin on a long range muzzleloader, have Arrowhead (AZ company) or Gunwerks build you one. Look at Knight too, lots of guys LOVE them. On the flipside just read a report yesterday about a guy that fired one shot from his new Mountaineer and the primer got jammed up and he was done. Be aware that if you go that route you might need to invest in a new aftermarket breech plug right away. They are super proud of their stuff. If you want a Nitride version got to order directly from them and pay the ridiculous 11% Federal Excise tax that only they assess, plus a hefty shipping fee. Get out your wallet. Their barrels do seem top notch however and you are getting a 100% Made in USA rifle. Woodman Arms has a gun called Patriot that is also a great gun. Break action with a unique cocking mechanism, no hammer. Also 100% Made in USA with a few choices in barrels and stocks. Big thing with them is you have to order and wait who knows how long. They say up to 20 weeks on the website but I think they might be even longer than that, like 6-9 months maybe. I thought seriously about getting one but without even being able to hold it and see how it feels before spending my money and waiting all that time, I passed. When I ordered my Optima recently, I got 10% off, no tax, no shipping ordering directly from them.

This is a great site for a lot of stuff but the Muzzleloader section is a little quiet. I have also started with a muzzleloader fairly recently and I have learned a lot from the guys on: Modern Muzzleloader Muzzleloading Forum I just recently got a CVA Optima V2 LR with the thumbhole stock and nitride and I love it. I looked at all the options and for ME the CVA was the way to go for now. We also have a stainless CVA Wolf. I thought a lot about the Knight Ultra-Lite and the Woodman Arms Patriot, but at the end of the day I decided on the Optima. I am primarily a bowhunter. I also occasionally hunt with a rifle. I am not into the Long-range thing. That being said for a Muzzleloader and what I'm trying to do, 150-200 yards is long enough. Seen plenty of review with guys shooting off the shelf bullets with inch to inch and a half groups at 100 yards. That is not bad! With that in mind the CVA Optima is a very easy to use, easy to clean, reasonably priced rifle. It's not very heavy at around 7 pounds. I put an older Redfield Tracker 3-9x40 scope on it and it weighs just a bit over 8 pounds. Options for 26 or 28 inch barrel. With the Optima you will be limited to 150 grains max of something like Triple Se7en pellets. You can find tune your load with loose powder a bit better and I believe it is generally considered a bit more consistent than the pellets grain for grain and maybe a little hotter. Blackhorn 209 is even hotter yet but quadruple the price of the Triple Se7en but cleaner by A LOT and the most consistent shot for shot. Remington UML is going to be able to shoot more powder (up to 200 grains) I believe but also it is a heavier gun. Needs special primers. Made in USA vs Spain for the CVA. It's also easily double if not triple the price of an Optima. More on the lines of a CVA Paramount. Personally I really like a break open design for something as simple as a muzzleloader. To me its overkill to have something like a bolt to put a tiny little primer forward. A solution to a problem that isn't there kind of thing. I get it if you are so used to your bolt action that you want to stay with the same form factor. For me I shoot all kinds of crap and never have a problem switching back and forth so to ME a bolt is overkill on muzzleloader. Just my opinion and others may love it. If you need to shoot 3 or 4 hundred yards I guess a bolt action might be the way to go for that kind of thing. Not in my wheelhouse. Good luck deciding. There is a lot of good information out there and a lot of opinions that's for sure! Shooting a muzzleloader is a lot of fun though!

Obviously the zoom wins for convenience and variety but for overall image quality, depth of field, and "sweet spot" fixed eyepiece wins. That's a reason why the high quality telescope stuff is all fixed eyepieces and not zoom.

Congratulations on your buck and pig!

I guess I didn't directly answer your question. If you are going with the Kowa, get one with the Flourite glass! I suspect the 880 series is really the one you want if you don't mind a bigger spotter. It is arguably one of the best spotters you can buy. There is a Kowa in the classifieds that is a great spotter if you are OK with a fixed eyepiece and not stuck on the flourite glass.