IA Born

Latest report is still low containment (barely above 10%), but its still sitting at about 1900 acres. Unfortunately, the rains that were supposed to materialize yesterday didn't and the prospects for rain are decreasing through the weekend. The concern for the fire, itself, is not as big as it was a couple of days ago, but this isn't over yet. That big rain that hit Tuesday was golden, though. It really knocked fire behavior back significantly, allowing crews to gain ground. The sandbagging has started in earnest, though. Lessons were learned about post-fire flooding after the Schultz Fire in 2010.

We recently took a family vacation to Cancun to get away for a bit. Of course, I had to book a flats trip since the last time I was there in 2010, I landed my first tarpon on a fly rod. Since it was the whole family this time, we had to book two boats. My son and I were in one boat and my wife and daughter were in the other boat. We started off at sunrise and almost immediately our boat hit a school of permit. I found out how much I need to practice my saltwater fly casting, but we did our best to sneak in close to the school of about 500 fish. I laid out a great cast, had a take, and set the hook perfectly. After about 20 seconds, my line went slack. I reeled in to see the fly gone and my leader broken above the knot. As we were discussing what happened, a 5-6 foot lemon shark rolled on the surface about 10 feet from our boat! I'm guessing that is what happened to my fish and the fly. We quickly tied on a new fly and then our guide rigged a spinning rod for Jacob to cast off the side while I was launching flies. He ended up missing two hook sets and I hooked another fish. This one worked out and I ended up landing a ladyfish that sneaked in between us and the permit. The guide dismissed it as a trash fish (which they are to sport-fisherman), but I was proud and excited to finally break in my Orvis 9wt with a landed fish! The permit finally spooked, so we took off after tarpon again. It didn't take long to find rolling tarpon, but they were super picky and wouldn't take a fly. I let Jacob jump up front for his turn and he had a blast. His first cast landed a mangrove snapper! Not long after that, a tarpon came surging out of the mangroves and caught everyone by surprise. It was over as soon as it happened. We worked our way around the mangroves and our guide spotted 6-7 tarpon swimming up ahead, but there were 3-4 barracuda between us and them. Jacob needed a long cast to get past the cuda, but landed right in front of them. They didn't disappoint and grabbed his lure before he could get away from them. It was his biggest cuda to date (about 18"), but we opted to forego pics and get back after the tarpon, which were still there. About 10 casts later, he finally got everything lined up and a nice little tarpon hooked him up! He fought it amazingly and it jumped three times before it took him straight to the mangroves and broke him off. It looked to be about a 10-15 lb class tarpon and the look on his face said it all. He LOVES tarpon fishing now! Shortly after that, we found another school of rolling tarpon and it was my turn. I had a take on my fly rod and managed to set the hook. Two jumps later, the fish was gone because I forgot to give it slack on the jump, even though I “bowed to the king” lowering my rod. The school didn’t spook and I had a few more takes, but I couldn’t get a hook set. On three or four of the takes, I stood the, mesmerized, as I watched the tarpon inhale my fly and then spit it out. The other couple of takes resulted in me reverting to a “trout set” and yanking the fly completely out of the fish’s mouth. When we got back to the boat, I found out my wife landed a nice 15-20 lb class tarpon and my daughter had a couple of missed strikes. We saw lots of sting rays, including eagle rays, and my wife’s boat saw a crocodile from a safe distance. Man, I love saltwater flats fishing! If you’re down there and interested, I highly recommend Cancun Fly Fishing (https://www.cancunflyfishing.net/). Enrique and his son, Bernardo, do a great job! I really hate that pics come out sideways and upside down and I can't fix them on this, despite my best efforts. My apologies for the crazy pics and my ignorance at how to manage them.

Thanks! I lost track of how many times it jumped and it actually put a bend in my 9wt, for no bigger than it was. The guide was funny. He was like, "Oh, its just a ladyfish. They're trash fish." I told him I understood, but was getting my picture anyway since it was the first fish on that rod! I like fishing too much to consider any fish, especially one caught on a fly rod, a trash species! He figured out pretty quickly that we weren't his usual, high-maintenance clients! I've caught one tarpon on the fly before, back in 2009 in the same area. It was smaller than my wife's, but it was a blast! The Keys and/or Belize is high on my list, especially for another chance at permit. I need to get a bone on my new 8wt. I've caught a bone on spinning gear at Abaco Island and, honestly, I'd go after bones all day over tarpon. Of course, I haven't gotten into big tarpon! I mention to my wife going back to Abaco at least once a week!

I got my daughter the original Axis (non-accutrigger) in 7mm-08 when she started hunting. That thing is lights out accurate and groups several different loads well. Here is a free bump for a great deal on a great rifle!

I wasn't at the community meeting, but that sounds about dead-on. Flooding in the 4th street area, near Coconino High School.

My boss is working closely with the new IMT, and was heavily involved with the original Type 3 IMT. That's a local crew and they were doing a solid job. As of this afternoon, the drastically increased humidity kept the fire in check today. It's still barely above 1000 acres. Inciweb listed it as 1800 acres this morning, but that was an error and miscommunication between the two IMTs. There is still 0% containment because of not being able to burn out last night, despite the evacs. It is, in fact, the highest priority fire in the US right now. It's not spreading west, which is surprising, but nobody is arguing it, either!

Right now its looking pretty calm. Overnight recovery (low temps and high humidity) really helped, too. That can/will change as the day heats up. The fire didn't get rain yesterday, but other parts of town did. The overall increased humidity helped some, though. The burnouts north of town should have solidified that portion of the line and, hopefully, quelled the hysteria that Flagstaff is going to burn. The panic and hysteria from people who don't understand fire/fire management has been the worst, at least for me. I do my best to help them understand the reality of what is/isn't happening/going to happen, though. The fire is mostly pushing northeast, but its on the backside of Elden now. The folks living over off Elden Springs Road are in the greatest danger, especially because there was heavy spotting in that direction, which is the direction the wind was driving the fire. There is a 70% chance of rain today and tomorrow, so that should definitely help, especially if it hits the fire area. The biggest threat is going to be when the rains hit in force in the watershed directly above town. There is already a heavy flood advisory for the area of 4th Street where it buts up against Mt. Elden and to the west.

I've never seen any scientific studies relating to the aggressive nature of any snakes. I've only ever encountered one juveline Cerberus and it was pretty laid back. My research was on Mojaves and that's a species that definitely held its ground and was willing to strike (all defensively) as opposed to sit quietly or remove itself from the situation like most others I encountered. I released a research specimen back once after collecting blood and venom and it turned immediately, struck at me three times and had me jumping on the bumper of my wife's (then girlfriend) jeep. The better documented research is how many rattlesnakes of all species use passive defense. Its well documented that they'll sit quietly and let larger, non-prey threats walk right by without every rattling or making a noise.

My bad. I was under the impression you were stating it was a big AZ black.

That looks like a diamond-backed. The coon tail, pattern, and low elevation veg type are consistent with that species.

Usually by around 3 feet long, they are starting to morph from the light color to the dark; however, that's a big "usually". As with all wildlife, they don't follow the literature that is written about them. AZ blacks have also been shown to change colors with temperature changes. The dark will disappear with cold and then darken back up as the snake warms back up. A female that recently had a litter is plausible, especially with the temp/color change. A female Cerberus will stay with her neonates and protect them for up to two weeks. If she has not moving far, then it makes sense that she's not really thermoregulating and, therefore, not as dark as she normally would be.

In addition to being an extremely knowledgable reloader, Lance is a great herpetologist! He's absolutely correct. Its definitely a Tantilla (black-headed snake genus). Three of the four species are so hard to tell apart. The Chihuahuan is the only one that stands out, due to the white ring behind the black. If you're in the valley, its Tantilla hobartsmithi (Smith's).

I'm actually 100% with you on that one! I always carry the paper copies of the units I'm in. Batteries go dead and cloud cover messes up GPS readings. When I was in third grade, my dad, the combat vet, took me out and taught me how to read a map and shoot azimuths with a lensatic compass. I think that's a lost art by many now, thanks to technology. Of course, I say I'm drifting more towards OnX, but the only reason I have it is a friend got me a subscription for Christmas. I still go to my Flatline Maps (hard copy) if I'm in one of those units.

That, too. I use both, but am drifting more and more towards OnX

I have the hard copy map and the e-copy through Avenza. I'd definitely download the Avena app and then buy the online map. Like others have said, you can use it in airplane mode so you don't use data and then it doubles as your GPS.

My son and I have been planning a fly fishing trip back to the San Juan ever since our first trip together back in October. We were supposed to have a family trip, but life happened. My wife and daughter took off to El Paso this past weekend to help her sister move into her new house, so Jacob and I took off to the San Juan. I convinced my wife to let us get a half-day guide to help Jacob with his casting, even though I'd gotten him a casting lesson a couple of weeks ago. What I didn't realize was how much the guide would teach me. I'm not an expert flyfisherman, but I'm no slouch, either. I was able to improve my technical skills 10-fold. The guide service was definitely worth the money. The river has been flowing high ( 1200+ cfs) all winter and spring due to the runoff; however, the flows were dropped back to 500 cfs two weeks ago. The fishing was listed as back to normal and I had high hopes, especially for the evening hatch, but the fishing was slow all weekend. The fish weren't stacked in our usual spot like they normally are and everyone we talked to, including our guide, said the fishing was slow and rough all weekend. Its still better than sitting at home all weekend, though. We only caught two fish each all weekend, one each on Friday and one each Saturday morning. I hooked three nice trout Saturday morning, but lost them, but I landed a smallish brown. I'd rather catch a small brown than a big rainbow just for the fight, and its been a few years since I landed a brown. Friday afternoon, I landed a fat 17" bow in Texas hole, setting a pb on my new(ish) 4wt. This is its second time being used, and I love it more and more every time. My favorite part about Jacob was that he set up his own rods, rigged the line and leaders, tied on his own flies, and rigged his own indicators before we left for the river Friday. The 15" bow he caught Friday afternoon was 100% solo as he netted it himself on the rod he rigged himself. He is growing so much as a young man and an outdoorsman. His confidence is growing so much and I love it. His favorite part was finally breaking in the new 5wt TFO that Santa brought him this past Christmas. Fishing with me was his second favorite part!

Maybe we can work a swap: Lee's Ferry for the San Juan!

I'm full of interesting choices. Yes you can. I forgot until my son checked my portal today as we were driving home that I only put in for the 12BW late hunt. Got drawn! My son got the 35A youth hunt.

That's how many I have. My wife had fewer, which leads me to believe I have the tag. I was recently talking to a couple of friends, who pointed out that 14 was guaranteed for last year, but not the previous 2-3 years. Probably drought related since not as many folks wanted to chase big deer during a bad antler-year. I went from high hopes to planning archery hunts until I was pleasantly surprised Friday.

I called my Cabela's credit card Friday morning as my son and I were driving to the San Juan for another father/son flyfishing weekend. He got a youth deer tag, although we don't know which unit. I'm guessing he got his first choice of 35A. There was a general tag charge, too. I put both my wife and me in separately for the 12BW late hunt and 12B late hunt as our first and second choices, respectively. I'm hoping that's me with the 12BW late hunt!

Me, too! All I know is that we'll drop him off at the studio on Friday Oct. 18, around 2-3pm and I won't see him again until 8 am Saturday morning, when they open the studio to the public. The official promotion for all candidates, including me, starts at 0900 and will run until 2 or 3. The black belt candidates will do a bunch of team-bonding, practice forms, spar, practice their board breaks (up to 5 boards). The three 11-yos will not break a brick because of growth plate, but that's the only slack they get. Their 5-minute breaks consist of cutting boards for the whole promotion the next day. Occasionally, they'll get a chance to use the bathroom, grab a drink, and a quick bite to eat. I guess I'll have more details two years from October when I test for my black belt.

This is very true. The most effective snake fencing usually involves solid brick walls with overhangs to keep them from being able to climb over.

Which reticle? I know someone looking.

I don't have a before/after grouping because of a whole other mess that resulted from having the rifle cerakoted. The company that did the cerakote required the rifle to be pulled apart, which was stupid ("we don't have an FFL"...). That lead to having to redevelop loads since it wasn't put back together to the exact dimensions. By the time I was reworking loads, we had put the new stock on, thus no before/after data. The stock added a significant amount of weight compared to the factory stock, but it fits her better and has lightened the recoil even more.

x1000 for Bull Basin Archery here in Flagstaff. I've been a customer there for all 11 years I've lived here and they are, by far, the best proshop in northern AZ. I even know folks from the Valley who come up here to buy their bows and have other bows worked on.