Dream Fishing Destination - How to decide?

Note: This blog entry is my submission for the Red Tuna Shirt Club and Outdoor Blogger Network Writing Contest.

I was presented with the question “what would be your dream fishing destination?” and it took me back a little.  I mostly hunt, so I have my dream hunts on paper.  But my dream fishing destination, that had me search my thought database.

The nice thing about fishing is it can be what you want it to be.  If my mood strikes, there is nothing like popping the water with a fly in a cold mountain stream.  Then again, a beetle spin or mister twister worm in a farm pond or small lake pulling in largemouth, crappie, and bream, the action is all but guaranteed.  Pier fishing on the coast bringing in croaker and spot with the occasional flounder and blue; well that is a summer ritual at least once each year.

Read More Fishing Memories

But the one destination may not be the one destination.  I like the peaceful rap of the running water over the rocks in the mountains.  However, if I was there all the time, then that farm pond may be what ignites the memories that bring the solitude to an aging soul.

As far as my dream hunts go, there are two that may not be hunts at all, or they may epitomize what a hunt actually is.  I would love to hit the Trinity River in Texas with a bowfishing rig.  A huge alligator gar wading in the shallow turn of a muddy river, while I stalk the creature on the front end of a boat, bow, arrow, and line in hand.  What a rush it would be to have a 6 or 7 foot prehistoric monster on the barb of a bone and scale splitting tip.

Read about North Carolina's River Monster



(AP Photo/Illinois River Biological Station)



Then again, a weekend excursion up the Illinois to witness the flying curtains of carp, desperately trying to fling a shaft through a shiny alien fish all the while dodging the ones setting their flights toward you would be an adventure to behold.  All I can see there are laughter, misses, and an occasional exuberation when the arrow actually does impale a fish out of water.

So you see, fishing can take different forms and therefore can mean so many different things, that one destination may not be able to fulfill your actual dreams.

Bill Howard writes a weekly outdoors column for the Wilson Times and Yancey County News and the bowhunting blog site GiveEmTheShaft.com. He is a Hunter Education and International Bowhunter Education instructor, lifetime member of the North Carolina Bowhunters Association, Bowhunter Certification Referral Service Chairman, member and official measurer of Pope and Young, and a regular contributor to North Carolina Bowhunter Magazine.

Gear Review: LED Lenser H7 Head Lamp

Occasionally you come across a product and you cannot help but say “Wow!”  I was in the market for a head lamp and had searched several internet sites and businesses for just the right one.  I would be using it for bowfishing at night, but I had a bit of urgency in a purchase since I wanted one for an upcoming alligator hunt that was over three years in the making.

Typically for bowfishing, if you are using a boat, you connect several high wattage lights to a generator.  The problem with this for alligator hunting is the alligators are much wearier.  The noise from the generator, as well as the brightness of the light, tends to spook the large reptiles, and the larger ones are even more skittish.  So my goal was to find a head lamp at a reasonable price that was not so bright as to scare away a big’un, but would be bright enough for my eyes to adjust and see the bow and site pins.

I would say scouting for the right gear is about as time consuming as scouting for the right body of water to hunt.  I made several stops at the big box stores (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) but most of the head lamps were in the 50 lumens of output light range or less.  This was not nearly enough for what I wanted to use it for.  I checked several outdoors outfitter stores that specialize in hiking and kayaking and found a few with up to 100 lumens, but the prices were exceeding $70.  Still, I was not satisfied.

Then one day I spotted a head lamp in a local home improvement store.  $49 suggested retail (it was on sale for $39), 155 lumens.  Uses AAA batteries.  The lamp was adjustable for the angle, brightness, and focus.  Too good to be true, but the price was in the right ballpark.

“Wow!”

The LED Lenser H7 was perfect for what I was looking for.  Being able to shift from floodlight to spotlight was magnificent.  Being able to turn down the intensity of the beam was astounding.  Being able to adjust the angle so as not to overpower my site picture as well as have it aimed to where my eyes naturally look was more than stellar.  Can you tell I love this head lamp?  Let’s put it this way, I went and bought a second one less than a week later.  Why?  Well the other guy in the boat needs a light too!

Now for the drawbacks.  Maybe I should say drawback, as I could only find one thing I was not impressed with.  The cover for the battery does not have that ‘snap into place’ feel to it.  That’s it.  The only thing I could find as a negative was the battery cover.

So if you are in the market for a head lamp, do not throw your money away on something that is just not going to fill your every need.  This light has enough adjustments that it can be used for any situation you would run into.  The LED Lenser H7 is definitely a buy!  You can visit http://www.ledlenser.com/ for more great lights and to purchase.

Want to read more reviews?  Bill Howard's Outdoors Reviews and GiveEmTheShaft Reviews


Bill Howard writes a weekly outdoors column for the Wilson Times and Yancey County News and the bowhunting blog site GiveEmTheShaft.com. He is a Hunter Education and International Bowhunter Education instructor, lifetime member of the North Carolina Bowhunters Association, Bowhunter Certification Referral Service Chairman, member and official measurer of Pope and Young, and a regular contributor to North Carolina Bowhunter Magazine.

How Bowhunting All Began

On August 29 of 1911, a man came out of the foothills of California.  Starving and without any family, he was seeking help from people he had never met and spent his lifetime away from.  An Indian from the Yahi tribe, he immediately gained national attention as the last Stone Age human.  In his tribal tradition, he could not speak his name, so he was given the name ‘Ishi’, meaning man in his native tongue.

Ishi was brought to the University of California Berkeley where anthropologists studied him.  They could not communicate at first, bringing in tribesmen from several known Indian tribes.  Finally, a student of dead languages was able to speak a word for pine when pointing at a pine table, and Ishi lit up with excitement.

Dr. Saxton Pope befriended Ishi and learned much of the Indian ways.  One thing that gathered Pope’s attention was Ishi’s use of obsidian and Juniper wood to make bows and arrows.  Archery was considered a European field sport and was not thought of as a hunting technique.  Pope was amazed with Ishi’s accuracy as well as his Stone Age type production of the hunting implements.

Be sure to check the bowhunting blog Give 'Em The Shaft!

Chief Compton grew up with Indians in the Midwest and moved to California in 1900.  He was a polished bowhunter before Ishi came out or the woods.  Compton soon joined Pope and Ishi, furthering his knowledge on bowhunting.  Compton later introduced a well known rifleman named Art Young to Pope, Ishi, and the bow.

Art Young soon became close to Ishi as well.  Together they would hunt small animals as well as deer in California.  Ishi taught his friends how to use scent control, wind direction, and natural cover to close the distance on animals in order to take them with the bow.  Young, along with Pope and Compton made it a mission to prove archery was a viable form of hunting.  After each big game animal taken with a bow, there would be challenges of the next animal that could never be taken.  Art Young became the front man to prove them wrong.  Young made many trips to places such as Alaska, the Arctic, and Africa, taking game ranging from Kodiak and polar bears to lions.

At a seminar where Young was showing a film called ‘Alaskan Adventures’ featuring Young on spot and stalk hunting, a young man from Michigan watched in awe.  Six years after meeting Young, Fred Bear took his first deer with a bow.  Later Bear would go on to create one of the largest and most influential archery business producing mass production longbows, recurves, and eventually compound bows.

The second weekend of September brings the archery phase of deer season in North Carolina.  A sport and hunting technique that was thought of as not being able to take a big game animal, was responsible for over 13,600 deer in North Carolina alone in 2010.  It all started with an Indian thought to be savage at first, yet was humble and wise.   An Indian who no one ever knew his name, though he created sincere and deep friendships with those he met.  An Indian who created a long legacy of followers in his teachings.  An Indian who exited the woods in California 100 years ago come August 29, 2011.

Bill Howard writes a weekly outdoors column for the Wilson Times and Yancey County News. He is a Hunter Education and International Bowhunter Education instructor, lifetime member of the North Carolina Bowhunters Association, Bowhunter Certification Referral Service Chairman, member and official measurer of Pope and Young, and a regular contributor to North Carolina Bowhunter Magazine.

Exciting News Coming...

with the next column Thursday!

Be sure to read this coming week's story, expecially if you enjoy bowhunting.