3 Years Later... still frying!

It has been a little under 3 years since I have written in this blog. Life is similar to before. The major difference has been being promoted at work and having less time to fish, blog, and blog about fishing! In addition I kind of stopped writing at all. I plan on 2018 being different. One of my resolutions for this year is to write more so here is the product of that resolution.

In 2015 I started a tradition that me and my wife initially enjoyed and now absolutely love: The end of Summer Fish fry! if there was one thing that always reminded me of the blog, that was it! I'm not much for keeping fish; I mostly catch and release except for the occasional striper or stocker trout (but Mark hasn't gotten me into trout in years! haha). Aside from that, this is the one season where I keep most of the fish I catch.

In 2016 we had the 2nd annual End of summer fish fry.

A couple of late season trips to catch bass and large cats saved this fish fry! This year we added in the fish taco theme and that went well. My friend Mari decided to take over hush puppy making duties and my wife prepared some wonderful sides. Many a great time was had by all!  

2017 was a slow year for fishing and camping. Work kept me busy so aside from a few cool fly fishing expeditions at our local bass pond, fish for the fry were few. Luckily California had an indian summer because in late October we found a new spot and in one glorious fishing trip, caught all the bass we needed for the fry! 

On my birthday this past year, we had the 3rd annual End of summer/ Fall fish fry. I added the fall because it was early November by the time we had the fry. I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate life than to fry fish and drink some bad ass beers with the people I love! 

There is something special about setting out on a mission with your Dad and your best friend, to catch enough fish to feed your tribe. Everybody knows that this one party has been planned for months. A lot of effort goes into one afternoon. However the afternoon is full of frying, family, laughs and a superb collection of delicious craft beer! This is one tradition that will continue for many years to come. 

I'm Back!

I have been away for a long time now. My last post was back in July and back then my fish count was at about 200.... Since then I have caught a LOT of fish, which would probably put me at over 300 for the year. And perhaps one of these days I will count them... but not today. I'm finished counting fish now. That in no way means I'm finished fishing though! In fact, it''s like Doc Holiday said in Tombstone, "I'm in my prime!"

Instead of trying to catch up with my posts, I figured I would post some of the highlights of the past few months.

Minden Success

Back in late July I got together with Russell and we went cat/ carp fishing. he happened to get into a great looking cat and I got into some very hefty carp! ended up having a blast with the buddy russ!

Burney Falls Camping

Back in August my family and I went Camping up at Burney Falls. The Falls themselves were breath-taking and that is an understatement! It it the type of thing you have to experience yourself. It was a 2.5 hour trip but it was WELL worth it. I of course went fishing with ol pops. Didn't get anything on the fly but did end up getting what I believe is my first brook trout on a kastmaster!

Brook trout?

My First King Salmon! 

It finally happened! After a few years chasing the king, I caught her when I least expected! I will dedicate an entire post with full size pictures to this but just thought I would post the update and the teaser pic below!

The First Annual End of the summer fish fry!

 Last year I began collecting fish for an end of summer fish fry but most of it ended up getting frost bite.

This year I collected some catfish, bass and crappie and at the end of the summer I threw a fish fry. I invited some of my best friends over, busted out some delicious craft beer including my last case of Sierra Nevadas summerfest of the season, and had a great time. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough fish for the fry and the only thing that took away that worry was catching the Salmon a few days before. And wouldn't you know it, we not only had enough, but waay too much fish! Everyone ate until they were full and still took fried fish and grilled salmon home! Nothing quite like spending a summer fishing hard and bringing it home to feed the tribe! Looking forward to The 2nd Annual End of Summer Fish Fry which promises to be bigger and better!

Aside from those events I continued to fish! I have been practicing a lot on the fly rod and the bait caster as well. Most of my trips I only take those two rods. Its finally beginning to feel like fall down in the valley and the fishing is about to peak before it slows down and head to the hills for some trout action. Get ready Mark, I'm coming soon! 

Well that's it for me now. Hope all of you are doing well and it is good to be back.