Coach

Man, that looks really good! I also like to build my own boxes. There's something about trying to figure out all the weak points and how to make it better - It's just fun, and gives you a certain confidence when you do leave it out that someone is going to have to really work if they want to take it. Kudos on a great box, with a lot of attention to detail.

Awesome! Congrats to Skyler - looking forward to checking out the video.

I'm certainly not a biologist, but I would attribute it to low oxygen levels, and off-balance pH. The water is dense and murkey. The few female crappie we caught were "re-digesting" their eggs, for lack of a better term. The egg sacks were totally diminished, and resembled a "goo". When the lake was healthy, the eggs looked a lot more like you would expect healthy fish eggs to look like. Full, round, larger than a BB, and filled with nutrients. The eggs we found were like like a gelatenous "creme of wheat" consistency.

Went out this morning with my dad. First hit must have been a big cat - took my drag like crazy but wasn't hooked well and eventually got off. You could feel the low pressure system moving in and it was mostly overcast but not windy. Shortly after losing the cat or whatever it was, the first few crappie went in the livewell. They were hitting, but were extremely finicky. You could see them making beds in 6" of water and cast at them over and over, and if you got the speed right and the angle right, they would hit. You had to be casting almost parallel to the bank and reeling just enough to get the roadrunner blades to spin. When you did it right, you'd get hit. Casting directly at the shore and reeling back almost never produced a hit. The jig had to be pretty much falling at a slow pace and right in front of their face. I ended up with 22 crappie and my dad got 2 crappie and one cat. Funny part is, we were using the exact same setup. 1/16 oz roadrunner heads with BBC (Black/Blue/Chartreuse) 3" bodies. Nobody else on the lake was casting to the shore - all minnow fishing, and it looked pretty slow for that method. The herons were all over the crappie. About 1/3 of the ones we filleted had either scars or recent punctures from the herons. I've never seen that before. Overall, it was a fun day at the lake. I sure hope they don't let it die, but it is obviously in a bad state right now. We saw no balls of baitfish, there were huge, dead flatheads in the coves. I have a picture of one where the head was wider than a bud-light bottle I dug up next to it and used as reference.

When fishing off the sandy beaches using squid, I usually only caught rays. However, if you use a heavily weighted bobber (big balsa or styrofoam with weights at the bottom) and a steel leader with a surf rod, you can cast squid right off Rocky Point into the breakers between the rocks and catch a lot of trigger fish and some others. It's hard, and you will hang up in the rocks from time-to-time, but it can be very productive and triggers are darn good eating. If you really want to have some fun at Rocky Point and have a great fish fry at the end of the day, you might look into a Hawaiian Sling, a good mask and snorkel and quality fins. Snorkel out into the big rocks off the point and learn how to lead those big triggers with the sling. It's like bowhunting ocean fish. It took me a couple hours to learn how to hit them, but once you get the hang of it, it's pure exitement. One thing...wear a light shirt. My back got so sunburned doing this, because it's still out of the water most of the time, I was sun-sick all night - I'm sure it had nothing to do with all the imbibement going on during and after the fish fry. Point being, you will get burned to a crisp if you snorkel and spear-fish shirtless for several hours without a shirt. I haven't tried the kastmasters, but have heard the same thing as others here have posted - they are apparently very productive for flounder.

Sir Royal, you are right about what is stated in the FAQ section. I pasted the information from AZGFD's website below: Can a big game tag be transferred to a child? Yes, the Arizona Game and Fish Department allows a parent or legal guardian to transfer their big game permit or tag to their child. The child must be between the ages of 10 and 17 at the time of the transfer, possess a class F or G hunting license and, if under the age of 14, have satisfactorily completed a hunter education course approved by the director. Once the tag has been transferred, it cannot be transferred back to the adult. Be aware that the adult who transferred the permit or tag must accompany the child in the field and be within 50 yards of the child when the animal is taken. Any wildlife taken by the child applies toward the childs annual bag limit. Learn more about hunting regulations by visiting the Arizona Game and Fish Departments Web site at azgfd.gov/hunt. But from the revised statute, we read this: Arizona Revised Statute 17-332(D) requires that after the tag is transferred, a parent, legal guardian, or grandparent must accompany the child into the field. There is some confusion in regards to whether the statutory intent was that the parent, legal guardian, or grandparent must be the adult that accompanies the child on the hunt. Legislative staff indicates this was not the intent of the legislature and that any parent or legal guardian (or any grandparent if the tag was transferred from a grandparent) should be allowed to accompany the child on the hunt. So it looks to me like we have two different interpretations. One clearly states that it must be the same adult who signed over the tag, the other clearly states that it DOES NOT have to be the same adult. I'm no lawyer, but I would expect that the wording of the actual statute trumps the FAQ wording, as they are claerly contradictory. I would think that in court, the wording of the actual statute would hold a lot more weight than a "less official" definition on the AZGFD website, but I wouldn't want to be the one trying to split hairs in court either. It would sure be nice if we could get a concrete answer about this one way or another so that poeple trying to play by the rules don't find themselves on the wrong side of the law.

That's for sure, Shane. I wonder why they never come in to my calls when I have the tag, lol. Seems they always go the opposite direction when I'm hunting them, but come in on a string for the kiddos. I can live with that.

Sorry for the delay, Brian. They were both taken in unit 1, very far apart.

Awesome video - I've never seen them eat crappie that big. How much do you think that cat weighed live? Looks huge! I'll be there at first light - hopefully they'll be going at least one more day!

Neat pictures and story. Was it spooky at all being that close? I've had a couple really close at the Black River and Bonito Creek but they weren't too manacing - not like the ones that hang around the camp grounds and are used to people. Thanks for posting those.

Awesome! Congrats to TJ, and great job dad calling him right in like it's easy!

Awesome footage! Nice job.

Awesome TJ. That looks like a blast. My dad goes up there every year with his flyfishing club and they have a great time. Great pictures too! Thanks for taking us along!

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your kind words. I really have to give these young guys the credit. When I was that age, I couldn't "keep my cool" as well as they have been able to do.

Follow-up: Josh nailed his gobbler this morning. This kid's on a roll. Got his first big game kill during the javelina hunt in Feb, shortly after his 10th birthday, and today took his first turkey. It was awesome, but I'm going to start a new post tomorrow with pictures and details. Tonight I've got to get everything ready to get his big brothers out there so hopefully one or both of them will have some photos to add. They've been really patient as they have each taken two gobblers and wanted to let me focus on Josh first. The short-version of the story is, they were right were we left them yesterday. At first light, we called them in to the decoys and he put a good shot on a mature tom at 20 yards. He fell in his tracks. Hunting with kids is the most fun you can have in the woods, IMO, but it is definately work. I'm feeling it tonight having been up by 3 am scouting and hunting several days straight. I know of two other youth hunters that filled their tags this morning - one a friend we just happened on this morning. The other, a close friend that I was able to hunt with on the youth Javi hunt. His daughter also took her first Javelina this Spring and now her first turkey. With his permission, I'll try to post pix of her as well. Take care, Jason

That sounds like leverage.

Thanks bonecollector. We had a decent morning with a slow start. Finally heard some gobbles and got close enough to see some birds, but no shot. Hopefully tomorrow they will cooperate.

Thanks Andrew - I really appreciate it. I think we've got our game plan set for tomorrow. We know where they were roosting this morning and where they were headed before we accidentally got right in the middle of them. The funny part was, once we set up the blind and decoys it was already much later than I like to be set up and as we called, we kept hearing the hens. We assumed someone else had heard the gobbler and got between us and was "way overcalling". I've got 3 boys with the Unit 1 youth tag, and given how many of the spots I usually find them are turning up nothing, I might want to touch base with you and compare notes. Good luck on your hunt in 27. I'll PM you with my contact info. I've got some spots in 27 you might be interested in too.

The good news is, they don't look to menacing. BTW, I like the looks of that spot. Does the lion activity affect the frequency of deer?

dang, I've been a BofA customer for a LONG time and no idea that they had anti-second-ammendment policies like this. Guess it's time for a change. Anybody have any good suggestions? BTW, if others decide to leave BofA over this, take the time to tell them why.

Lots of great heads mentioned already. Slick Tricks, Wac Em, G5 Striker are all excellent. I'll add the Magnus Stinger and Buzzcut. However my absolute favorite head is the standard Muzzy 3 blade, and I've shot a lot of differnt heads looking for the "right one" for me. Some people have trouble getting them to fly with field points, but in my current set-up they fly fantastic and they do amazing damage to whatever they hit.

Have you had much luck trying to catch them coming back to the roost at night?

Nice job, Shane! We had a little trouble finding them this morning, and when we finally did, the big boy had a full dance card. Maybe we can pull him away tomorrow.

I went out this morning to one of my favorite turkey spots in unit 1. This place is always loaded with birds. After about 3 hours of walking logging roads and checking out a couple tanks I found absolutely zero turkey tracks, droppings, scratchings or feathers. The only bright part of the morning was finding 3 brown elk sheds within 15 yards of my "hidden" salt lick that is usually covered with bear, elk deer and turkey. My youngest son, Josh, has his first turkey hunt in less than 12 hours and my go-to spot has zero birds. Time to come up with a "plan B", and fast. I've heard from 3 different people that there are tons of birds up the Lake Hawley road (Ft. Apache Rez), and my spot is about the same elevation, so I can't figure if they are higher or lower. It's gonna be interesting come 4 AM tomorrow for sure. I'll go to a different area that has always been good in the past, but I haven't done any scouting in there at all. Kinds feels like a crap shoot at this point. I'll update tomorrow afternoon.

Diamond Razor Edge, you won't be disappointed.