Random Saskatchewan Post (Lots of fishing content, though!)

Time/Date: 2155 CST, 17-Aug-11
Location: Northern, Northern Saskatchewan

This project has been a little busier than normal for me. You see, I'm not sitting a drill rig this time; I've made it to the big-time: I'm the Site Senior Supervisor on this project. So hours are a little longer & more erratic.

But, there's always a positive, and that is a month or so (at least) off after this one is done.

A month to hang with my girl, my friends & my dog.

A month to work on (more) fun projects (at home).

And, of course, a month to fish.

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Speaking of fishing, a few of the client's crew took me out fishing the other night. They figured, since I was wearing my Redington Logo t-shirt, that I would appreciate something like that whole 'going fishing' thing.

(Note #1: add Saskatchewan to Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and, of course, New Brunswick to the list of provinces I've fished in so far in 2011. That's kinda cool.)

(Note #2: remind me to never, ever leave home without a fly rod ever again)

So off we went.

And I hooked a pike on my first cast (not picture-worthy, however). And then I caught another one (also not picture-worthy).

The third pike I caught was picture worthy.

I was using borrowed spin gear & lures with a treble hook. I wanted to pinch the barbs but I didn't think the owner would've appreciated it too much upon its return.

It took me so long to unhook the pike from the treble hook (it felt like forever to me. Maybe 90 seconds, but far too long for my liking) that I couldn't bring myself to put the fish through a photo session. I rushed it back to the water, it gave a tail-wag, and it was gone.

Really cool aspect of it though: I was wearing my Costas I won from Joe at SoCal Salty's contest in the spring, and I had a clear view of the pike shooting from cover like a lightning bolt to strike the lure. The fish covered the 7 or so feet in a split-second and cranked the lure, total ambush-style. Awesomeness.

(Note #3: I would normally link to Joe's site. You'll see why I didn't in the next section)

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Speaking of Joe of SoCal Salty, he of the epic Costa Sunglasses contest: he and Jon from iFished are running a contest in cahoots with Panamax Sailfishing for a trip to Guatemala for...you guessed it, sailfish.

I've been entering everyday.

It has already paid off, as I won the first weekly draw: a shirt from Red Tuna shirts.

I'm not giving you the link for the contest entry form. I really want to win this thing, so you gotta earn it. If you enter, it's one more competitor for me. But....

...you can visit either Jon's or Joe's sites for details.

Use your brains to get there. Or at least google.

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Fishpond's Road Trip tying kit

I brought my tying kit with me, but I've yet to unpack it. This will hopefully change really soon.

One little piece of gear recommendation: Fishpond's Road Trip fly tying travel bag. It's fairly compact, but I have everything I need jammed in there. With some room (& pockets/pouches) to spare.

And here's another little tying nugget:

An unexpected benefit to my beautiful girlfriend studying to be an esthetician: abundant leftover nail polish for foam & cork bass poppers. Plus advice in the form of "this base coat will make the polish stick better, and this topcoat helps waterproof it & make it resistant to chipping." Brilliant.

So hopefully a few pictures of glossy bass poppers will be gracing this website fairly soon.

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I'm saving a few other short, random things to post in the future, in case I find myself with a spare 15 minutes or so between looking at rocks or drill rigs or spreadsheets.

Enjoy some music (shout out to Matt for reminding me of these guys).

Click here if you can't see the video below.

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