What a difference a week can make. The last couple of days have been absolutely beautiful. Wednesday morning as I was getting out of the shower I heard something I haven't heard in a while: birds chirping outside my bathroom window. Then, as I left my house, I saw a flock of birds fly overhead. It just felt and sounded like an early-spring morning. All day at work, all I could think ...
I've fished four days so far this year. At this time last year I had been out three times that.
One of the primary reasons I get out in the wilds to hunt, fish, or just explore the back country is to get away from the crowds. The fishing is almost always better, the game less skittish, and the trails seem to have more wild flowers. In order to get out "back of the beyond" you often have to take your vehicle onto roads less traveled. The great part about driving on untraveled roads way ...
I opened my fly box, but knew it wasn't there. Rain started to soak the chenille, marabou and thread of the flies I didn't need in the box opened like a book with the best pages torn out. I had comets, bosses, polar shrimp, Babine Specials, fish tacos, October Hiltons, Silver Hiltons and a Deschutes Madness. No egg-sucking leeches. How can you be fishing for rainbow and cutthroat trout in ...
For Ripon boys basketball coach Rod Wright, winning his 100th Trans Valley League game was about as meaningful as a rerun of The Jerry Springer Show.
I was looking through some of my tackle the other day, and it was sad to see once-popular baits no longer being used.
A good story starts with an inciting incident - an event that gets the plot moving.
Although trout fishing and bass fishing are my favorite excuses to get out in the great outdoors, there are many times when just watching the wild critters is pretty darned good entertainment.
The first fishing advice I ever received was to be patient. I'm not sure if I even understood the word back then, I just knew that I was expected to wait for the fish to come to me. This time of year, I'm constantly reminded of that advice as the bites are usually harder to come by. There are a couple of things that I do to keep motivated when the fishing ...
If I can't be on the Thorne River, I'd take the Upper Sacramento, McCloud or Pit. If I can't be on any of those, or outdoors period, the next best place is to be at the annual Sportsman's Expo in Sacramento.
Just before the sixth quarter of one of the most fascinating and improbable NFL playoff games you'll ever see, Justin Tucker trotted out onto the field and did something you hardly ever see.
January is an interesting month for fishing. It seems like some fish are waiting for the first signs of spring, while others seem to be enjoying the cold weather. I used to stick to fishing for one species only. It didn't matter what time of year it was, I was going to fish for bass. Not anymore. Since I've been doing this column, I've discovered that there's a lot more ...
Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will get into the Hall of Fame someday, and without using the side entrance, either.
Some folks think that there is no such thing as Cabin Fever. They are dead wrong. If Alferd Packer was still around, they could ask him about it. Good old Alferd (that's really how he spelled his name) was the noted cannibal who ate several of his companions after being trapped with them while snowbound in Colorado in 1874.
So I went fishing yesterday. Shocking, I know. It was because of the early nature of the trip that I chose to ignore the hoopla surrounding a time zone-delayed ball-dropping in favor of a few more hours of sleep. When the alarm went off at five, I had no trouble breaking free of the covers, but that doesn't mean I was fully awake. I went through my normal routine of trying to figure out what ...
It's been a long time since I was a student in school waiting with anticipation for the start of summer.
At some point after, during, or instead of college, you embark on a career.
When I was a kid I used to think about being a weather man.
After your mom has the 7-millimeter aneurysm in her right middle cranial artery fixed, you've watched a You Tube clip of the same procedure on a different brain and your mom starts telling people she'll be home in a week (the doctors smile and say it will probably be a few days longer), your depth of observation increases.
Last week, I discussed antiques that the outdoor enthusiast might find incidentally while hunting, angling, or exploring old ghost towns.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West returns to Stockton's 99 Speedway this Saturday for G-Oil 150, one of the biggest events on the 2013 schedule.
I have this empty space on my living room wall that would be the perfect place for a mounted bass. It's right above my fish tank and would look perfect.
I've never really seen my Mom sick. She's had colds before, but she has epitomized both strength and stubbornness. That's probably why she rarely had health issues - they were intimidated.
From now until mid-May, local fishing is at its best if you were to ask me.
The NASCAR Whelen All-American Series season is officially under way at the Stockton 99 Speedway, and a couple of Manteca drivers are off to hot starts.
My grandparents used to call it "visiting".
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