New Camper

After returning from Colorado, a pop up camper was added to the list of things to make life better while enjoying the outdoors. Since the pop ups are light weight it would be a good choice for lakes as well as hunting. Don't get me wrong I love our tent we have, but there are some perks to the little pop up as well.

We are planning a 2 week trip back to Colorado next year when the temps are soaring in Oklahoma. The thought is we can take a pop up back to Colorado and maybe get a small boat we can mount on top of the pop up and head back up with both a small boat and the pop up next year.










This is my new cook area, I have a three burner stove top, I put a bacon slash pancake skillet on the left side to make sure it worked,. I did not take a pic of the grill, but it has an outside grill that attaches to the front side of the camper just outside the door and we have an awning on it as well.



I love listening to music, so this is a huge perk for me to have a radio in the camper.


It cooled off to 100 today. 08-21-11
After church I went by pop's house and worked on loading the camper and getting it ready for our next adventure.





While I was out in the heat getting the camper ready for our next adventure, I got to wondering what had happened to dad, I went looking for him and I found him in the ac, with Bert..?
What do you do, he forgets stuff..? Like I was out in the heat?

After I hit the tent camper set up and the one ton truck cleaned out, I helped dad set up his two new trucks visor garage door openers and his hands free synch on his new explorer.

It has been a good prep day for our next adventure, I ended it with a 2 mile walk with the dogs, it cooled down to 95 and feels so much like fall.




I hope you enjoyed this beautiful day to.

Dale

Location:Oklahoma City Area

Turquoise Lake, Colorado

I know this blog is not about Oklahoma, it is where we went because it was too hot in Oklahoma. It has been record heat in our state. We have not been able to compete in our PBAA league because it has been too hot for dad. But we decided we wanted to get out of the house and go do some camping where the weather is much cooler.

The elevation at camp was 10,000 feet, we had lows in the 40's at night and one day it got up to 71 degrees, way better than the 112 etc it has been back in Oklahoma.

August 1st, we made the tip up to Turquoise Lake to escape the oklahoma heat.
When I got off work, we drove all night to get to Colorado. We had decided on Turquoise Lake because it has a boat ramp and we could take our Skeeter Boat with us.








This picture snows a general area of the camp grounds and the side of the lake.


























The photos are nice, but do not do justice to then actual feel of the camp ground. In all my years, there is nothing that smells better than the thin cool air with the scent of the pine trees,. When out on the lake you can see the mountains all around and they are still snow capped. It is so beautiful.

Day One,
we got camp set up and we were all three so exhausted (Dad, Titan, and I) that we went to bed by 1730. I woke up the next morning around 6 am our time, funny thing is our iPhones and iPad all changed to Colorado time ad we went through the time zone?

Day Two August 2nd, 2011

We got up, I cooked breakfast, eggs and bacon. We went out on the lake in our boat. While getting the boat ready to launch, Titan decided it may be a good idea to jump in the water. He was swimming around looking for a way out, I had to jump out and through his silly ass back in the boat.
The boat does not like this. Altitude at all. It would barley start and when I was taking across the lake it would only run about 35 it normal runs over 50 at home. It felt like I was dragging an anchor.
We fished for several hours and I caught two fish, a rainbow and a brown. Both on jigs, and I lost both of them jigs. It started raining on us. We put on our rain gear and I bundled Titan up in an extra rain coat I had.
We came back to camp and I cooked the fish and grilled a steak. We visited for a while and then we went to bed.

Day Three, Wednesday August 3, 2011
It rained all night the night before, I got up dried off stuff and started a camp fire. It was cool enough you needed a camp fire. The morning temp was around 38. Very chilly with a slight breeze from the north. The smell of the pines and clean air was amazing. I really needed this break to help me get my mind right.
I Cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and we went fishing. Again the boat does not like this altitude at all. Barely made the trip back to the boat ramp it was maybe going 15 MPH on the way back this time. We did ok, dad caught a brown, I caught and brown and a rainbow. We went back to camp and I cooked the fish, potatoes and beans.
We had a small camp fire for a while and then I got ready for bed. We caught all the fish trolling, not a hot on plugs or trout bait, but we also are sleeping in and not going out early in the morning like everyone else has been. :)
I cooked the fish and beans for dinner. It was a great diner and a small campfire for the evening fun. We talked about me needing a roommate or poss Jill moving in if her place sales. We went to bed.

Day Four August 4th, 2011
We slept in, I cooked breakfast and started a camp fire. Dad got up and ate breakfast with me and Titan. I made steaks and eggs for breakfast. Titan and I then went walking sound the camp grounds and down to the lake, it is so pretty here and it's even more peaceful.

The peace and quiet helps you filter the non sense that life throws at you.
I am thankful I have been able to enjoy this trip with Titan and dad.
Both of which are at camp sleeping right now.




















After spending the week here, we have decided that next year we will come back for a two week vacation here in Colorado. Be sure to check out more to come on our adventures.

Location:Elevation 10,000 foot

Wildlife Submission

Each year the Oklahoma Departmemt of Wildlife let's you submit images that could be published in their magazine. I chose the 5 images above this year. No luck getting them published but I still enjoyed being out taking them.

I will try again this next year and see what happens.

Location:Oklahoma Department of Wildlife

Lake Carl Blackwell

This was our second trip to Carl Blackwell this year.
We came here at the end of the day after a tournament at McMurtry Lake. It ended in a bust so we left.

The weather was perfect we got to the lake and set up camp at campsite number 47 in the Pine Cove Camping Area. It was really nice. Good flat grassy area for the tent and it has electric and water.

I do have pics on iPhone and I will add them to this page soon.

We took off fishing after I got the camp site set up. It was about 430. The wind had completely stopped. The lake looked like glass, not a ripple on the lake with the exception of the wake from our beautiful bright red skeeter, pushing 150 horse power to the limit. 50 miles per hour in an ultra smooth ride.

I took us the the central cove in the north side of the lake first. We fished there about an hour and caught 4 decent crappie. We then went to the central southern cove where we fished the first time, the last time we came. We caught. Couple more crappie and then headed back to camp for dinner.

I trolled back. We were in 20' foot of water at 3mph trolling speed when I hit a stump, well a tree. This lake is loaded with timber right under the water. I did make it on the gps on the boat if can download the coordinates I will post that hazard to this as well.

Plenty of water hazards on this body of water.

At the end of the fishing day we went back to camp.
I cooked denty moore stew for dinner. I was in bed by 2030 and I crashed so hard. I did not wake up till about 0800.

The evening was so awesome. Only a slight breeze as the sun was setting. The evening clouds turned bring shaders of pink as he sun was setting. The smell of camp fire from adjacent camp sites filled the air. Cool air temp, blue skies, bright lime green leaves on most of the budding trees.. It was a dream day at the lake..





Sunday morning I got up and made bacon and eggs for breakfast. I got the camp site all packed up and we went back out to fish. We knew the wind was going to start blowing from the south soon so we went to the far east side if the lake on the south end of the dam to get out of the wind.

We did catch 4 crappie and a decent catfish. We had a good morning, we watched to our west as the winds were building from gentle breeze to strong gust. The wind advisory said 25-35 mph winds. Dad and I were ready to change spots. We went over to the damn and looked for another spot to anchor. No luck dad wanted to try west. As we went around the bend, it went from gradual waves to 3.5-4' foot waves. We got so wet. It was like watching the deadliest catch on the ocean. Our bright red skeeter is a low center height boat, we went air born a few times.. What an adventure.

Location:Northern Oklahoma

McMurtry Lake PBAA Tournament

PBAA BASS TOURNAMENT 041611





The weather was really nice at the lake.
The tournament started at safe light which means about the time the sun was coming up.

We have never fished this lake before and there was not much to pull up reference the lake.

We started just west of the west boat ramp and worked our way around all the coves. I did catch one just shy of the slot limit with in 30 minutes of starting out the day. It looked promising.
Note: Black Red Spinner Bait with tail was the lure used.
Tried everything after that and not a single bite.



I think this would be a good place to mention this small detail. Dad is constantly getting hung up. When he does I have to stop fishing, maneuver the boat regardless of wind direction or speed to the area where he is hung up.

We both spotted a fish swirl in a real tight area beyond some overhanging trees, he pitches his lure in the area. Dads fishing line hangs on one of the outer branches, in turn his lure spins around the branch like an acrobat on the trapeze. He then jerks the lines, making a huge splashing noise as the branches splash in and out of the water, obviously scared the hell out of any fish in a 500 years area, but not everything...

As I start to maneuver the boat to the area where he is hung up he is still jerking on the line like it might magically unravel, well, inget the boat all the way up to it. I think we are about to get stuck we are so close to the shoreline and trees.

Something catches my eye at the branch closest to his leg. Yep, you guessed it, a snake, about 5 foot long was laying out on the branch, I guess holding on like he was riding a bull the way dad had been jerking that branch. He slid off into the water before I could get a picture, but another adventure non the less, I was laughing so hard my eyes were watering. Holy crap that was some funny stuff.

However that was the only fish we caught. I talked with a few who caught some Dinks as well. I seen one guy catch a good one. But that was the only one.

We left at 1430. The day would have ended at 1530. We did not have anything in the boat so we called it an hour early.



After we left McMurtry Lake we went to lake Carl Blackwell.

See that page for more info.

Location:Northern Oklahoma

Arbuckle Lake

Friday Morning 04-01-11
I woke up really early. I was at dads by 0600.
I stopped on the way and got mom and egg mcmuffin..i got dad one too.
We headed off to the lake and we got Camp set up and on the water by 0930.

My buddy Carter had told me about 5 coves across from guy sandy boat ramp. We went to this locations first. Over Friday and Saturday we caught several bass weighing 2.25-3.25 lbs. We also caught a few sand bass.

I will start off with a map with locations and then appox time of day water temps and lure used.




I probably should have numbered the arrows but Since I didn't we will start at the top left. I added a numbered map later.. It should be down below..

Top left arrow. (1) Hung a huge fish on a skinny short sink style worm. It was early morning Saturday morning. He broke my rod.? Did not land the fish but cut my hand trying to save my reel he broke off my rod when she hit and o set the hook. (see Saturday below)
(2) Next arrow down. West side of lake in between points. Using a deep diving gray repalla lure dad caught a 3.25 black bass in deep water,
(3) Next Arrow down I was on the east side of the lake again, in between translation of sandy and rocky shoreline.
(4)(5) The other two is the coves in the guys sandy boat launch area. Just throwing a deep diving crank bait caught two in the coves here.
The next two in the central section of the lake both caught with worms, brownish pumpkin seed.
Next spot down was the cove on the south end of the lake with fish marker. Caught a decent fish off the cliff rock shelves.

Note the water temps were fluctuating from 58-61 degrees.. Almost half the fish were caught in deeper water.

It was a great day of fishing. Caught some good fish. Had some hood laughs and had some great conversations. Back at camp I grilled some steaks for dinner. These were the best seeks inhale ever eaten. Dad said he got them at homeland. They were more tender than any steak I have eaten. They were over an inch thick too.











Saturday was another beautiful day. Not much wind and the temp was perfect.
The water temp was better and the weather was absolutely perfect. Saturday plan was to get up and go do some bass fishing then go in eat lunch and get some minnows and try some crappie fishing. We had located several areas on the lake with brush that looked like they might be hood places to catch some crappie.

Saturday morning I woke up and started making some eggs and sausage. Dad love his sausage and eggs in the morning. I made some coffee as well. Even though I don't smoke anymore I still love my coffee






We Camped at the lake. The camp site was pretty close to the water. Where we stayed at if you needed to walk down to the waters edge you could but it was a steep walk.

My buddy Durell and his son came down that Saturday evening and they fished from the bank. I am pretty sure his sone caught some fish off the bank. I am not sure what kind of lures he was using, but it was productive fishing from the bank as well.






We launched the boat and sped around over to the west side of the lake I Have attached a numbered map now. Location number one. I was using a cheap jimmy Houston rod and real combo I bought at academy as a back up for the tournaments.
Dad and I were both laughing about how far I could cast with this stupid thing.
I had a pumpkin seed colored straight plastic worm on. Just past the small cove we headed north. There was a rock cliff with a small indention in it. I cast right into that hole. When my lure hit the water my pole slammed down, cracking my rod and breaking the cheap ass reel off of the rod. I barely saved the reel as I was grasping with everything I had in hopes of saving the reel, the string got mangled in my fingers and the line cut my finger.. Needless to say. By the time I got done with this calamity of errors, there was no longer a fish on the line.

That was the only bite we got for the first hour of the trip. We had started out with our jackets on. The weather was cool. About 100 yards or so north of where I lost my bog fish I decided to regroup. New lures and set up etc. Dad and I were no longer wearing our jackets so I was going to put them up. As I lifted up the rod box lid to throw our jackets in I heard a huge splash, I looked and watched as my iPod classic was sinking down below. I tried my hardest and was able to save the speakers but the iPod is surely gone with not a chance of recovery.

I sat there for a second. Dad was looking and asked what was that. I told him it was my iPod. He said damn those things are expensive aren't they. I said yes sir. I think $250 or so not counting the speakers and the other crap.. Then, we started laughing., I was laughing so hard I was almost crying with tears and everything. Holy crap. Even with the mishaps of this trip. The time that me and dad are able to spend together are worth every second.. We both laughed for a long time.

After we were done being skunked by the bass, of me I should say dad caught three before we headed in. (Pictures have been included.) we went to town to see if we could find some minnows. We ate carls junior then headed back to the lake and got some minnows. I have to include the story with this young man who helped with the minnows.
He looked to be 10 or so. He came out all happy like most kids watching cartoons on Saturday morning look.. I asked if he had minnows he said yes sir with a lisp. I said we need 3 dozen he said ok, dad said make that four. I am not sure how this young man plays a role as far as if the bait shop was his dads or grandpas, but I am sure the kid does not know what dozen minnows are. I am sure he put 6-7 dozen in the bucket. I gave hime a few extra dollars. Bur again me and dad laughed and laughed about that kid on the way back to camp. Just a funny story.

We had an awesome camping trip. The weather was in the 80-90's. We had grilled steaks the first night and grilled fish and grilled potatoes the second night.

We fished Saturday evening until 630-700. We had kept a couple of fish for dinner. I grilled the fish and we had an excellent dinner.
My buddy Durell from macomb came out. We visited for a while with him and then dad went to bed. I was not too far behind him.




Over night the wind came in strong.
We I got up Sunday morning the wind was still blowing like crazy. I made breakfast and we enjoyed the morning. Beautiful pink clouds for the morning. We opted to break camp down and head home.. It was a beautiful trip and I had a super great time.
What a great trip.

Location:Southern Oklahoma

PBAA Tournaments

After purchasing a new bass boat this year, I thought it might be fun to join a bass trail. I work odd shift hours, so I went to an online bass fishing forum and located a local trail that had the majority or their tournaments on my weekends off.

It is the PBAA or Poor Boys Angler Association.
I sent in the dues for dad and I to join and we started out our first tournament at Sooner Lake.

I had never fished on this lake before. The day started out cloudy and windy. The temps were cool almost what you might call chilly. We drew our number and waited on the start, which was planned for day break. It was going to be a great day.

As the boats took off in the order they drew their number, we waited for our number to be be called. As they called our number I took off towards the north end of the lake. It is pretty cool to watch as the boats head out and then you fall in line by the number you were called.

Up on the north end of the lake we worked our way east and then down south. We were fishing pretty hard with out a single bite for quite some time. We changed lures, tried different cranking speeds, etc. But the fish were winning.

I finally landed a fish around 1300 hours. It was a keeper to help things out. Not minutes after I fought the first keeper, I had another hit, as I was reeling him in, he jumped out of the water shaking his head and tail, turning loose of the lure. I started laughing, he was too I am sure of it.

Dad experienced the same thing shortly after mine got off. We fished that same area for a little while longer and had no more luck on landing anymore fish. I was using a black and red spinner bait. I am not sure what dad was using, but we did have a good time and had a fish to take in at weigh in.

Although we did not even come close to winning, we did have an excellent time fishing. The water was rough, the fishing was tough, but we had a great time.




This is the one fish we had for weigh in. (Fish caught on red and black skirt spinner bait.)


For more information about the PBAA you can find the trail on Basszone.com I will try to find the website that goes directly to the PBAA tournament site. I will post it when I find it.







I pulled these maps up for those of you who have not been to Sooner Lake. You can see by the map provided by the Oklahoma Wildlife Department they do have some areas on the map marking off fish attractants. One thing the maps do not show is some of the LAKE HAZARDS: in the south east corner the water gets really shallow and not only is it shallow, it's rocky and looks like and excellent prop eater, so use caution when blasting across this side of the lake.

If you like to bass fish, I would strongly recommend this lake be added to your list of places to go for some excellent bass fishing. I seen some really big bass being weighed in at the end of the tournament. I am sure if you have the time you will not be sorry you gave this lake a try.

If you are interested in learning more about Oklahoma Bass Fishing tournaments you should check out www.basszone.com for more information about local trails in your area.

Thanks again for stopping by my blog, hope to see you out in the field some time.

Location:OKlahoma

Skeeter Bass Boats

In January of this year dad and I decided to start looking for a fishing boat, more than likely a bass boat. We looked at several boats including the Z-8 from bass pro and a couple of others. We ultimately decided on a Skeeter Bass. we ordered it in February and we got it in in March just in time for spring fishing.

While reading web post and fishing magazines we decided to join PBAA fishing trail to do some tournament fishing as well. Neither one of us had done any bass tournaments and thought it would be fun to give it a try. I will go into more details on some of the tournaments as we progress through the blog.

But for now I thought I would share with you our new fishing rig we got.










Red and White. We both like red. I will go over some of the features our boat has.
150 HP Yamaha motor is the driving force behind our new boat. It seams to have enough power to do anything we will want to do, and with the new HPDI technology it gets extremely good gas milage for a bigger bass boat.

It has two live wells in the rear of the boat.

I ordered it a regular seat up front instead of the standing seat you see with most bass boats, I was going more for all around fishing as opposed to strictly tournament fishing.

Be sure to come back as I post more on Oklahoma Fishing.

I will be including maps, places to fish, as well as what was working for me when I was out on the water.

Location:Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Team Frazier

A logo I made for dad and I..

Location:Oklahoma City

Lake Carl Blackwell, 03-11-11

News and Notable: This lake has zebra muscles. It also has some lake hazards.

03-21-11
Temp: 70's
Wind 25 mph from the south.

Bait shop opens at 0800

Boat ramp located just east of the marina, boat shop. The boat ramp is in a double protected cove. Can load boat in severe weather if needed.


Looking at the map above. Where it says Carl Blackwell there are forks that go both north and south.

All of these forks are loaded with trees the farther west you go the more you see and at some point you need to realize there are trees just under the water surface.. I did hit one I never saw. Speed needs to be at a min. I would proceed only with caution at low light.

The south end of the dam has some really gassy fishing areas. The cove the is south of the damn gets shallow really fast would be a good place if the water was warmer an bass were spawning.

Crappie were slow on small minnow.

Did not catch any bass

Caught 2 really nice catfish

Caught a few nice crappie.

- Posted using BlogPress for my iPad.

Location:Lake Carl Blackwell

Just for you, Mom

As many of you know, I lost my mother this past may. And what started out as me updating my mother has lead to my outing journals.

The last few years my mother was with us, she was not as mobile as she once was. But before she got too sick, my mom was always around and wanted to be with my father and I as we hunted and fished. In fact, as I was growing older and getting close to going out on my own, my mother took over my seat in dads old fishing boat. If I did want to go, I was not going to be sitting in my rear deck seat. That was now moms.

I can remember times when I was duck hunting, I would have my mom walk way around the end of the pond, I would tell her to always stay behind the trees. She would spook the ducks my way. I think my mom would really try not to spook the birds, but needless to say she would enjoy going out with me.

I can also remember times when mom and I would go down to the ponds and fish some. She loved to crappie fish. We had some ponds with crappie and bass both in them. She loved to be outside and I am sure part of the love I have for nature comes from my mother.

I know the older I get, I enjoy taking pictures of the wildlife as much as anything. But each time I go out, I can feel the need to keep my mom posted on the days events.

So to keep a long story short, the last year my mom was with us, she was pretty much bed ridden. With technology and us both Having iPhones, she would text me through out the day to see if we had caught any crappie, her favorite fish.

I would send her pictures and keep her posted that way. If dad and I were on a long trip I would normally make notes of the days events and email them to her, anything from the fun to follies of the day.

I started emailing them to my sister as well, she enjoyed reading and keeping up to date info on what me and dad were doing. I started emailing my notes to other friends and that is what lead to this blog you are now reading.

I hope you all find some beneficial fun in staying up to date with my blog. May you all be blessed with what nature has to offer us all in one way or another.

I am going to try and start with my older post and bring you up to date as time allows.

Location:Oklahoma