Hiking, fishing and warm weather!

A couple of weeks ago, Kirk had a long weekend (which he has about every 3 weeks), meaning he had Thursday and Friday off.  We decided to take a family fishing day and go explore some lakes a couple of hours away.  The lakes had been freshly stocked, so we were hopeful.  We gave Cade the net and started fishing.  It took a little while, but finally I had one on and Cade and Kirk ran over with the net.  Cade stuck the net in the water and got the fish in it.  He thought it was great!  We caught a few more and Cade netted each one.  We did get rained on a bit and Cami didn't get any sleep until the drive home, so it was a little tricky, but all together it was a fun day as a family. 

The next day Kirk headed out with his new pontoon boat to fish another lake.  He called me about an hour after he left.  I knew immediately that something was wrong.  He was driving on the freeway and the wind caught the boat and blew it and the rack off of the top of the car.  Our rack is now ruined, one of the pontoons popped and the boat frame has several scratches on it.  Anyway, Kirk gathered up the pieces and came home, pretty depressed.  It was a gorgeous day so we decided to hike up Badger mountain.  We borrowed a second baby backpack and I carried Cami and Kirk carried Cade.  We had a little snack on the top and hiked down to play at the park.  This was my first time up Badger--even though I  love hiking and you can see it from our house.  We all enjoyed it and I'm sure we'll be doing it again.

Kirk and Cade hiked Badger the week before and it got pretty cold. 

from the top--beautiful day

You thought this wouldn't happen

I know that you're thinking I may have forgotten how to post on a blog, or that I've lost my computer or something, but no. You were wrong. I've just neglected this blog for months.

I do have somthing post-worthy to show today though. Kirk and I decided to go bass fishing at Castaic Lake. We normally go trout fishing in a river or surf fishing at the beach, so this was somewhat of an adventure for us. Kirk had heard that this lake had some good bass fishing so we thought we'd try it out. We got up early and left about 5:45 a.m. on Saturday, September 25. It took about 45 minutes to get to the lake, then we found a spot to park and hiked down to the lake. There were already several people around the lake, but we found a spot to fish. We tried for a while and didn't get anything, then Kirk got really excited because we saw several fish swimming up to the surface. We tried for another couple of hours without any luck. Kirk and I were both thinking it was about time to quit when I felt a small tug on the line. I reeled in this monster:


Here is a picture of the lake with beautifully dry southern California mountains around it.

All in all it was a fun day and we were both glad that we went, even though our arms didn't get sore from reeling in the huge fish we were hoping for.

Saturday morning

6:30 on Saturday morning. What are you doing? Most people are snuggled in their beds, grateful for blinds and so happy that the alarm clock hasn't and won't be blaring at them to get up and go to work or school. Not us. At 6:30 on many Saturday mornings you won't find us at home, including yesterday. We were at the beach, fishing. I don't know how Kirk convinced me that this was fun and exciting (but it is) and that I should look forward to it (sometimes I do), but here are some pictures from a pretty typical Saturday morning for us.

Usually we catch fish. After we've been fishing a while I will start to get bored and look for dolphins and sea lions. Eventually Kirk will ask how long I want to stay and I'll tell him "I'm ready when you are," which really means, "I'm ready to go home, but I know you're not (and won't be for a couple of hours), but can we compromise" then he'll say how about "10 more minutes." We really have this conversation almost every time we go out. I got lucky this time and caught one right after we decided "10 more minutes."

Kirk spent the last week up in Canada with all the Morris guys fishing for Walleye and Northern Pike. (really, in case you haven't noticed, this guy is addicted to fishing. He's also been on a break from school so he tried to get in as much as possible) Here are some pictures from the trip. Kirk said his favorite fish was this small-mouthed bass.

This is a walleye, I just think the angle is funny. This must be what the minnow sees right before getting eaten by the fish :). I think Kirk looks really happy in this one. Here's the whole group. Grandpa, Uncle Jack, Uncle Steve, 2 cousins, Scott (brother) and Dad. They ate a lot of fish that week. Kirk had a great time and I'm glad he could go, even though I missed him like crazy at home. I got to go visit family in Orange county which was also really fun.

Who needs an aquarium?

On the 3rd and 4th of July Kirk and I went fishing in the surf at Santa Monica beach. We went to the Monterrey Bay aquarium in June, but we didn't get as up close and personal with the fish there. We each caught a 3 1/2 foot long guitar fish (the big ones). It took Kirk 45 minutes to get it in from the time he hooked it and it took me 2 hours! I was sore for the rest of the day. Kirk caught the baby leopard shark and the other fish is a corbina. I was very excited because both days I caught more fish than Kirk!

Fish Story

Isn't Povo Canyon beautiful!

I love Utah this time of year! Kirk and I were able to go fishing on the Provo river last week. On Thanksgiving morning, we had a great time. We saw about a dozen wild turkeys flying over the river which was very festive. We went to our favorite November spot and caught a bunch of big fish. The trout we catch in California are about 5-6 inches long. The ones we caught in Provo were 16-18 inches long. It was really fun. About half way through the morning, I hooked in to something big. Kirk helped me out and netted the fish. It turned out to be a 24 inch trout! We were so excited. Kirk said he's never seen a fish that big on the Provo, and he's caught a lot of fish there (believe me on this one). Anyway, we got a few pictures and let it go. The next morning we went out again to the same spot. My first cast I hooked into something big again, and it turned out to be the same fish! He must have been really hungry--that's probably why he got so big. We were excited because the pictures from Thursday didn't turn out--they were all blurry. We got some better ones on Friday. We needed my cousin Carrie there to help out :). Anyway, here is my giant Thanksgiving fish.

Kirk's 'but

We went surf fishing yesterday. Here is the story, in Kirk's own words. (he wouldn't post it, but he wrote an email to his parents, and I copied it.)

Cheryl got into the first fish almost immediately, an average sized barred surf perch. For the next hour and a half or so, I caught surf perch every now and then, for a total of six. Here is a picture of an average fish from the morning. Then we had a dry spell for about an hour. Finally, I had a good tug, but it came off after a couple seconds. I motioned for Cheryl to come over, so if there was a school of fish we could improve our chances, but before she could get there I was into another fish. This one wasn’t a perch. It was bigger, and it fought differently. Then it came to the surface, and although I had never seen one in real life before, I knew exactly what it was…

A halibut!!

The halibut fought nobly, but was no match for my strength, determination, and six weight rod (which easily overpowered the small fish!) We took some pictures, looked at its funky white belly and sharp teeth, and then let him go. To keep in California, halibut must be over 22” long. Now I have caught all five of the predominant species on the southern California coast: barred surf perch, walleye surf perch, yellow fin croaker, corbina, and California halibut. Yes, now I feel that I truly fit in! FYI: California halibut are much less common and much smaller than Pacific halibut, which everybody catches in Alaska, so catching one on a fly rod from the beach is pretty cool in my book! I’m proud!

It was pretty exciting. Kirk caught his first 'but (short for Halibut).

Later we went to the driving range. I'm learning how to golf. There is a par 3 course nearby and we're probably going to try it out soon.

I also really enjoyed the relief society broadcast. I liked President Uchtdorf's talk about creating. I really enjoy creating things--sewing, cards, food. I like to try to decorate :). I don't remember ever hearing a talk on creating in conference before. I liked how he said that cultivating these talents and skills will bless our families and help us be happy. I'm going to try to create more things like smiles, happy families and better food!

Surf Fishing

So, Kirk and I have been having some fun fishing in the ocean from the beach. Recently, we caught our first corbina. These fish are kind of a trophy around here. I have only snagged them (not caught in the mouth), but Kirk has caught this one in the mouth. The top picture is the happiest I've seen my husband for a while. The bottom picture is Kirk trying to reel in his fish. I like the sunrise in the background. It almost looks like a tropical paradise, instead of busy LA.

Last week, he had a big guitar fish on his line (Those are a kind of ray) and broke his rod! It was really sad, but luckily, it is still under warranty.

Backpacking with Bears

This week was one of the two weeks that Kirk gets off all summer. He wanted to go backpacking to the Little Kern river. It's in the southern part of the Sierra mountains, about 5 hours from here. Kirk's dad flew down and came with us. We drove up there Monday morning and started hiking.

We were able to do a little fishing and catch a few Little Kern Golden trout. This is the only place in the world where they live, so it was kind of cool. Here is Kirk with one of the fish he caught.

Tuesday we got up and hiked to another creek. Then we bushwacked (left the trail and used a compass to go through the forest) to another creek. We camped there on Tuesday night. Kirk's dad was really tired, so we decided to shorten our trip a little and go home on Thursday morning. This is our camp Tuesday night, and my handsome husband again.

We hiked out (bushwacking again) to our first campsite, did some more fishing, and rested. Tuesday evening we left to make our final camp at the bottom of the world's longest, steepest hill. We had to go up the hill to get to our car and were planning on making a fresh start on it Thursday morning before it got hot.

Anyway, about a quarter mile before our planned camping spot, we came around a corner and saw a black bear. He was just sitting there on the trail, eating some grass, not bothering anyone. We retreated, and tried to decide what to do. He started walking down the trail toward us and saw us and took off. We waited about 10 more minutes, then found some rocks and sticks and made a lot of noise and kept walking down the trail. You're supposed to show black bears that you're not scared of them and make sure that they know where you are. Needless to say, we didn't want to camp there anymore and ended up doing the crazy long, steep, hill that night. We got to the car about 8 pm and started the 5 hour drive home. We're all a little tired today, but it was a fun trip and one that I will never forget.

We're heading up to Utah tomorrow, I'll keep you posted on what adventures that brings!

Shark!!

We went out flyfishing in the ocean. After about 30 minutes, I saw a shark swimming in the water. Not too much later, I had something big hooked on my rod! It got away quickly though. After a few more minutes, I got another one, and I saw it. It was a huge shark! It swam back and forth and I tried reeling it in. After about an hour, it came in shallow and Kirk ran up and grabbed its tail and dragged it up on shore. It was 54 inches long! Luckily, leopard sharks don't attack people and have really small mouths. After taking a few pics, we let it go.