Humpies

[redneck_billcollector]

Well, I just got back from a fishing/hunting trip on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Caught a mess of Pink Salmon and even got in a little grouse hunting while I was up there. It sure is strange to be fishing and have literally hundreds of fish swimming around your feet that are not eating. They are catchable on fly tackle; you just have to get them mad enough to hit your fly. Egg patterns and Egg Sucking Leaches were what they would hit. BTW Pink salmon are fun on a 5wt and they often made some decent runs where the drag came in handy. In Minnesota due to the topography, they do not get far upstream I found out. They seldom get more than a half a mile due to waterfalls that act as barriers, so most of the fishing is done within a few hundred yards of the Lake. Below the falls you are considered fishing the lake, so lake regulations and seasons apply. 

 

[NCHillbilly]

That looks like fun!

 

[redneck_billcollector]

That looks like fun!

It was, I got to do a little bit of this too.

 

[redneck_billcollector]

That looks like fun!

My new build was a dream. I flushed three grouse within 200 yards of where I camped one night way back a very sketchy logging road, deep within the woods, did not see another person and only heard a couple of shots far.....far away. This was my "Grouse camp".

 

[redneck_billcollector]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=642195288049623

Something you just don't see down South.

 

[CaptKeith]

Nice!

 

[Big7]

My new build was a dream. I flushed three grouse within 200 yards of where I camped one night way back a very sketchy logging road, deep within the woods, did not see another person and only heard a couple of shots far.....far away. This was my "Grouse camp". View attachment 1260189View attachment 1260190

I like that Camper Jeep.

FBI couldn't tell you where I was if I had that baby.

 

[Michael F Sights]

Nice, what brand of S x S ?

 

[redneck_billcollector]

Nice, what brand of S x S ?

It is a Beretta Silver Hawk 20 Gauge manufactured in 1961 according to the serial number. I have had it since the early/mid-1980s.

 

[huntfish]

Didn't know there were Pinks up there. All I've ever heard was kings and silvers.

 

[redneck_billcollector]

Didn't know there were Pinks up there. All I've ever heard was kings and silvers.

In the rivers on Minnesota's north shore, it is largely Pinks. The topography allows for about a 1/2 mile at most of river for salmon from the mouth. Apparently, Coho and Chinook need rivers with more "depth", by that I mean distance. I was told some of the Coho enter the rivers but not to spawn, just to eat the spawn of the Pink Salmon. Same story with Steelhead in that region. I am presently looking at some of the rivers in New York, the lower peninsula of Michigan and possibly Ohio for Chinook and Steelhead later this season. I would have never guessed it, but Ohio has a rather spectacular Steelhead run.

 

[redneck_billcollector]

While I am planning a trip to Alaska in the near future, I am using these Great Lake salmon and steelhead trips to learn.....I am rather big on DIY where I can though I do use lodges and guides when I chase bonefish and permit simply because of the locations where I chase these fish. I do DIY tarpon and snook though, simply because they are not hard to figure out. With bonefish and permit, I have found a knowledgeable guide makes all the difference in the world.

I also prefer DIY hunting on public lands. I have done decent with western turkeys and upland birds that way. Frankly, with big game and the ability to get away from crowds, public land hunting is good too, of course out west it is always about getting a tag for what you want to pursue.

 

[Michael F Sights]

It is a Beretta Silver Hawk 20 Gauge manufactured in 1961 according to the serial number. I have had it since the early/mid-1980s.

Thank you sir! Nice S x S, Those Grouse are incredible to eat!

 

[NCHillbilly]

My new build was a dream. I flushed three grouse within 200 yards of where I camped one night way back a very sketchy logging road, deep within the woods, did not see another person and only heard a couple of shots far.....far away. This was my "Grouse camp". View attachment 1260189View attachment 1260190

I sure miss the days when I could walk out my back door and flush half a dozen grouse in an hour. Now I'm lucky to see three or four a year overall.

 

[redneck_billcollector]

I sure miss the days when I could walk out my back door and flush half a dozen grouse in an hour. Now I'm lucky to see three or four a year overall.

Wisconsin and Minnesota are apparently having a banner year, as they did last year. Lots of public land and not much pressure once you get of the easy to travel forestry service roads, they were even drumming, which I did not know they did this time of year. Being a south GA boy, I ain't never "felt" it before, because as you know, you feel it more than you hear it, at least it seems that way to me.

 

[Djangofly]

Very jealous of that grouse (and the fishing). Just spent two days stomping up and down the Catskills in NY chasing grouse and woodcock. Got three woodcock, but never got a decent shot opportunity at a grouse despite spooking a few.