About 2 months ago I went "Looking" at Camper Shells and found the one I wanted, It had to be custom made for my truck since it's a 2003 Long Bed. Well it came in on Friday so I had it put on today


Everything was going well till the owner walked over to me and said there was a problem I'm leaving in 2 days, I don't need a problem !!!  Apparently the guy on the forklift somehow F*cked up the back window frame of my $5000 purchase  



It bent the window frame and racked it out of alignment so it doesn't close all the way and only one side latches   A little black Duct Tape to spruce it up a bit


He felt really bad and ordered a new window frame and window, 2-3 weeks out So I now roll into Bishop with this one. At least it still locks on one side for now

I think I like it for the occasional short trip, then take it off and hook up the 36' Toy Hauler for longer trips



Typical Monday !

 Every Sunday morning for the past 6 or 7 years we meet a group of friends at 8:30am at Lake Wohlford Cafe or a few other choice places for Breakfast. This past Sunday most of the Clan was going to be out of town and one just had his Knee replaced so Janie and I decided to head North to the Toy Store   It didn't take her long to set the tone for the day


Lunch was sounding good so we chilled for an hour and had a nice meal. The usual

 
First things first.....grab a cart and get busy





Even the Yotes were glad to see her back at it 


Checkout was quick this trip, thank God ! 1 bag and a few Gift Cards, time to hit the road


I grabbed a few Trout goodies and a Bass Jig, along with some wood chunks a Cargo Divider and a Rod Sock. I'm good till next Sunday when I return to replace what I donate to the Owens River


Bad Pig will explain in another post about another topic

 I had a Date with a chainsaw today for 3 hours, now I feel old as hell because I completed my chore, took a shower and called it a day. Took a seat in my Recliner for a bit and when I tried to get up my back, hands and knees were sore as Hell !       I hobbled to get some muscle relaxers and I am DONE !
 


 
58 and feeling like it too, fishing is much easier 

I have been working on this pile of wood for 4 or 5 years at least, it is down to the last few pieces and my Cousin needs it gone so he can widen the access for the 10 Wheelers
 


The little tractor made quick work of it and the trailer was loaded in no time !





The last piece is too heavy for the little tractor, might need to get The Cat Loader or cut it into smaller pieces. Anyway, there is another pile down the road that I can have as well but I can only get to it during the week cause all the 10 Wheelers are parked in the way.


More to come and the Log Splitter will be in action soon, hopefully between fishing adventures on The Cyclops

 I had the privilege of fishing with some cool people in honor of Don Hansen up in Dana Point on Thursday.



 
Director of Product Development for Okuma, nice guy


I'm sure you all know these guys too



I hung out with Chad and Wayne quite a bit and had some good laughs   The Sun finally came out and it was beautiful out there


I got a few Rockfish right away, everyone got limits of Reds pretty quick since you can only have 2 I threw a few back cause they were pretty small


We moved around and it was a wide open Calico Bite for a long time, lots of Barracuda too and Lisa got a White Sea Bass   (SHORT)
 

Great fun and conversation with these guys all day is hard to beat !



I was a contender for The Jackpot with a nice Sheephead but Matt got me with his Bocaccio


Dave cleaned my fish



Back to The Harbor to celebrate and have Dinner at Jon's Fish Market
 



Now just waiting for nice conditions to get The Cyclops wet !

I got a call from my cousin, he has a source for a lot of Oak. I met him at the spot and he was already loaded up.


My turn to load up, luckily there was a helper there that did all the lifting


As I was about to head out, I jokingly told my cousin that his trailer load would look good at my house 
he said "that's where it's going"    He has so much wood already so he wanted me to have this load. Such a deal !!!


He followed me home and we unloaded

 


I have some work to do now, this needs to be split cause we are getting more in a couple weeks

 After Bad Pig got a bath,I made the Trek up North for "Fishmas" and was greeted with overcast skies and traffic on The Cajon Pass




As usual it cleared up at the top


The Sierras still had snow and it's always a great sight to see after going thru the Desert full of Lava Rocks and Cactus


Opening Day wasn't till Saturday so I was limited to where I could fish. The Lower Owens was open and I made a few stops and found a few players. The water was a bit stained but I had time to kill
 



I had my eye on another Hoof for Tom      Them pesky Cows are everywhere in the Valley



Mid week I had the water to myself at the Power Plant and hooked a nice one   I took a video of the catch but holding the phone and reeling a fighting fish against the current of the river was a CLUSTER 
 

Got to the house and had the place to myself till The Crew showed up



There was 8 of us so we were busy and we also ate like Kings as usual






One of the days my buddy and I walked across the street to the park to let his dog run around, Lake Crowley was calling us



Saturday arrived and we headed to the Lake, the weather had other plans, it was only 30 degrees and it started to snow as they were Float Tubing



After an hour we had enough and went back to the house to unload the Tubes and headed back down the hill to warmer territory. Found Bad Pig getting covered in snow, first time since I owned the truck
 


We never bothered to scout around up in the higher elevations cause it would have been a Zoo to say the least, sun or snow, Opening Day is a Sh*T Show

Some of the guys hit the Jacuzzi, I was taking pics of the property from inside as the snow turned the trees all white.....such a cool setting 



Sunday, the day to come home so I hit the road early and made the Trek back to reality with snow on my hood till I got past Bishop.



Made a Pit Stop at the Toy Store and had my usual....Calamari and Fries 



Too bad Janie wasn't with me, Pontoons were everywhere     



Hope we get a break in the weather, The Cyclops is due to get wet !

Oh yeah, I made it out of Bass Pro under 70 bucks     Funny how that works when you fly Solo  

I'm heading to Bishop/Mammoth next week so it was time to get busy today before the Easter Mayhem begins. I had sliced up an Eye Of The Round and let it marinade over the weekend


Put the 1st batch on the Smoker today
 


While that was going on I have my Dehydrator going in the Shop


Apples, Plums,Pineapple, and Mango




Apples and Plums are done, waiting on the rest....Apples were dusted with Cinnamon  
 

Oh yeah, Tom's favorite 


Should all be done by tomorrow, except for the Jerky.....it's a longer process

  A while back I had Surgery on my left knee and I was doing great with it until about 6 months ago, pain was coming back just like I had before the surgery    Today I saw the Surgeon again and he took a few more X-Rays and confirmed my knee is on borrowed time   He gave me a Cortisone shot and said we will monitor the progress of the deterioration   The good news is my right knee looks great

 I hope my Bass Pro posts don't come across as being arrogant   but I truly believe that my wife loves that place more than I do   We enjoy getting away for Lunch once in a while and Bass Pro has things we both like, the atmosphere, good deals and people watching is always a plus She loves to shop and I love to fish so I guess the place is a perfect match for both of us My apologies for the boring shopping reviews  

   

 Today all 3 kids were working so why not have lunch and walk the Happy Place We always get there at 11am when they open the Restaurant, no crowd !




We got a table next to one of the Aquariums, cool to see the fish up close





Time to walk the store and pick up a few things....She went straight to the Pontoons again !



Saw these two doing a "LITTLE" shopping as well      ( I will burn for that one )



500 Bucks was donated to the Joint but it was a fun getaway, Janie's receipt almost made the register run out of ink !


I'll stop by again on my way back from Bishop next month to stretch and have another Look-See 

 Hit Mission Bay on Monday to see if any Bats were still around, Max found one but it was camera shy

        Video link
  https://imgur.com/a/Y7qRSZ6

  Well, my goal for 2025 was to hit The Sierras more than twice a year and so far I am on target. Opening Day
AKA ''FISHMAS'' is a big day up there and I haven't ever been up there in April for the big day so I'm looking forward to it. Pretty sure it will be cold and snow will still be on the ground, I already took a spill last month coming sown some icy stairs that made Joe look as graceful as Fred Astaire    There is just something magical about fishing in a stream or river with such beautiful surroundings, gorgeous lakes with snow capped mountains are everywhere you look !
  The Cyclops also needs to get wet and hopefully Cheez can make the journey from Arizona so we can load up on some Rockfish again. Seems like the weather is late this year so I hope it clears up soon cause I'm ready for the Heat ! Still need to have the 100 hour service done even though I don't have quite 100 hours on it yet Batteries should probably be replaced too, this may be an expensive month The PCS Show, The Bat Fight and YouTube has got my enthusiasm going and I hope 2025 is a good fishing season for us all 

Be safe out there !

It was a busy weekend for us and it started on Thursday. Cheez came in from Arizona so I made homemade Lasagna for dinner


We hit The PCS Show on Friday and spent the day up there.




Bat Fight day was here. Myles proceeded to wake everyone in the house up at 3am cause he and his buddy wanted to get a good spot at The Bay   Joe texted me as we were at Subway and said he already landed 3 Bats and fell in the water once   The excitement was brewing and we got to the spot to unload, Bad Pig was our ride of choice 



Myles and his buddy were already landing Bats as we set up Shop










Another typical Squatch pic.....Blurry and out of focus !


I think everyone caught something ......except me 




Mr. 3am didn't make it to 3pm  


What's a Bat Fight without a Sammich 


We had a hot fire and it was fun to mingle with the Crew


It was a beautiful day and evening, a bit chilly as the sun went down
 




Now we know why Joe slipped, Cheez was creating a slick  


Another great time as usual, thanks again to Tom for this annual event

BTW, is this some sort of a Prehistoric fossil 
 

 Well, A coyote finally got in my yard and killed my 3 remaining chickens   Mongo kept them at bay for years and he must have been asleep inside by the fire cause Sunday afternoon the chickens were toast ! To his credit he did growl and bark from inside but it was too late. The coyote jumped the 6 foot fence and tried to come in from the top of the pen but couldn't get in so he dug under Oh well, they were getting old and I was buying chicken food and eggs     Time to beef up the security and get a new flock of Hens

Here is the carnage, the bastard even took a dump inside to leave a mark 


No entry from the top


The hole



Carnage


Mongo needs to quit sleeping on the job 

Well, my goal was to hit The Sierras multiple times this year and the opportunity presented itself so I headed North Wednesday morning. The weather was not the greatest heading up the Cajon Pass but I had Pandora playing everything from Elvis to Van Halen for the long drive

 




Once I got over the hump, the sun was out and the mountains started to take shape.




I always get a warm fuzzy feeling when I see this cause the views keep getting better after passing it




Arrived in Bishop and stopped at Vons to grab a few things, the scenery from the parking lot is beautiful !


The Canal behind vons is always good for a few fish, got this little guy on a Hookup Bait


I still had time to burn so I hit Pleasant Valley Reservoir Power Plant, the trout were on the chew and I had a blast !


There is a Fish Ladder which is pretty cool too



After catching a few it was time to head towards Mammoth and get to the house in Crowley, the temps were dropping at 7000 feet   Got to the house and there was still snow.







Woke up the next morning to windy conditions so we headed back down the hill to Bishop and the Lower Owens area and the Reservoir again.



It was one after another all day !




We scouted around and found them, it was warmer in the valley I even got a couple Browns too





A storm was brewing so we had to head back up the mountain and have dinner, we arrived to 5 inches of snow






Saturday was Derby Day and the guys wanted to Float Tube the Reservoir, the water was cold and I already ate SH%T on the icy stairs that morning so I fished from shore. The two mile walk to the spot warmed us up as we pulled a wagon with all the stuff.




We couldn't buy a bite today but I managed to get 4 after moving spots   The days prior I had at least 25  



They gave us a ball and an App for our phones that measured the fish, it was a pain in the A$$ actually but oh well, we were having fun




Back to the Lodge for the Ceremony and Chit Chat. The locals dominated the Derby but it was a fun event, there were about 100 participants



I got up and left at 6am, it was 10 degrees as I got into Bishop it had warmed up to 17 Stopped at Bass Pro and had a bite to eat and grabbed a few things.




Got out of there for under $500, Janie wasn't with me
Sorry for the long post, hope to have another Bishop report soon

Well, the Twins got Kayaks a year ago and are just now getting around to using them

The Back Bay seems to be their Hot Spot and they slayed the fish once again




Max got a Hali, 1/2" too short but he was happy



They said they got over 50 fish, my boys are progressing nicely !  

Max and Myles have been hitting The Back Bay lately and are really surprising me   They took a Kayak to try it out and fished from shore as well. The Hookup Baits were the hot ticket, they caught their own bait and slayed the Spotties(30 in total) Myles even got a nice Tractor






Max made a killer video but I don't know how to add it here from Facebook
Glad they are getting dialed in on their own, I may have to crash their spot and get in on the action

 Looking forward to The Bat Fight, how's the shirt logo coming along ?

 Janie is a New Year's Eve baby so we headed North to spend the day She Just can't wait to get inside



I had to hit the Restroom after the drive and I knew where to find her.... Pontoon Section  


Then it was time to start filling that cart, oh well, let her shop


I went upstairs to have a peek, nothing in particular but I had a few Gift Cards to use up. I looked down knowing she was in La La Land


The Scenery never gets old and it was practically empty so it was nice to cruise around without a crowd



Time for lunch so we got our usual table


Traffic was light and we made good time coming home. The kids had to pose with Mom for Birthday Cake 


All in all it was a good day and now she is officially 58 years old and has me beat by 6 months
Hope everyone has a great 2025