Channeling my inner Bill Dance

Have you ever made the mistake of going to cast, and forgetting to open the bail on your spinning rod???  I've done this often, but never once has it happened to me this bad.

Turn up the volume, and you'll hear me laugh at myself.  It's something I do often, because, I'm hilarious. Ha  What you can't see in the video is the slope that the rocks are on, that's why my rod and reel rolled into the lake.  I laugh every time I watch it.  Watch my hands, you can tell that I am helpless and there was nothing left for me to do but watch, and laugh.

Oh, and if the video from my last post didn't work for you, check it out here.

Spin For The Win

This weekend was a bit strange for me.  Part of the strange was me fishing exclusively with my spinning rod.  The other part was hooking into a yellow bullhead.  One of the reasons I decided to go with my spinning rod was, I wanted to catch the fish in the backyard utilizing a different method.  I like variety.

On Saturday, I decided to use my spinning rod to toss out a floating Rapala lure with hopes of finding some bass cruising in the shallows.  15 minutes into my backyard outing, I hook into a fish.  At first I thought it was a bass, and as I was reeling it in, it was sort of barrel rolling on the surface of the water all of the way in.  I was surprised, because, that's a new species to my knowledge for the backyard lake.

I've handled quite a few catfish this year of all different sizes...I've lip grabbed all of them with no problem.  Did they bite down, yes.  Did they hurt, no.  All good, I'll just lip grab this little bullhead to better get the lure free.   OUCH!!!!!  Teeth like Velcro just like a bass, but I was not expecting them to have such a strong bite.  Whoa!!!  I was totally not expecting this little dude to have such a strong jaw.  While I was cursing the bullhead out, it bit down even harder, and I just couldn't wait to get my finger free, so, the lure had to come out after me.  Haha

Note: The short video is silent.  There were some curse words and laughing, but the GoPro case doesn't have good audio.  I hope it works.  If it doesn't, you'll be able to play it on my Instagram page - ( JUSTINCARF )

***Click on the center to get it to play***

Tossed a lure tonight looking for some cruising bass. Instead I hooked into a yellow bullhead. This little fucker had the strongest jaw, and actually drew blood from my finger. That fucker! #fishing #bassfishing #bass #swampdonkey #slouchmob #trophycatch #catchandrelease #catfish #bullhead #yellowbullhead #bitch #cat #fish #gopro #ouch #punk #rapala

A video posted by Justin Carf (@justincarf) on Sep 26, 2015 at 7:11pm PDT

After quite a few curse words with laughing in between, I was finally free, and then the lure was, and this little guy was free to swim and terrorize me, again, in the future.  I'll be better prepared for him.

Oh yeah, he drew blood.  What as asshole! Haha

Sunday morning, I tied our little dog Bo Marley's leash to my belt and went into the backyard.  I brought my spinning rod, again, but this time I tossed a Mann's -1 in the firetiger color scheme.  Bo barks at my lure whenever he see's it and I can see it in his eyes that he want's to chase it out into the lake.  

I've caught fish with him tied to me before, but he's never seen a big fish.  I hooked into a decent little guy and Bo tried biting at it's tail while I was trying to get the lure out.  After getting the lure out I let him make a fishy friend....and he licked him.  Is it weird for new friends lick each other? Daisy is visiting with my Mom, but I'm curious how she would react to a fish.  We shall see.

***Click on the center to get it to play***

Good morning bass! Tossed a Manns -1 on the spinning rod this morning for 30 minutes. Note - I did not kick the dog haha. #fishing #bassfishing #bass #bucketmouth #largemouth #largemouthbass #gopro #topwater #swampdonkey #slouchmob #lunker #monster #fish #spinforthewin #goprofishing #goproeverything #catchandrelease #midwestfishing #midwest #outdoors #catchandrelease

A video posted by Justin Carf (@justincarf) on Sep 27, 2015 at 8:31am PDT

Bo Marley meet Bass.  Bass meet Bo Marley.

It was a good weekend.

#SPINFORTHEWIN

CARF Strikes Gold!!!

I caught my first carp on the fly!!!!

I am super stoked!!!!

I mean, look at all of those exclamation marks!!!!

Do I wish it were a bigger one, yes.

Am I still as excited, yes!

Check out the video.

Looking forward to hooking into some bigger golden nuggets.

By the way....the pork chops were DELICIOUS!!!!

Popping For Backyard Bass

Went out with my FSA Custom Rods built 3 wt, and tossed a Boogle Bug with hopes of finding top water bass.  Needless to say, I found them.

Check out the video!!!!

Hopefully, the next one will have a better camera angle, and some better video quality.  Working out some kinks on my PC and iPad.

Camper with the Family

Family time is the best time.  My GF and I, headed up to my Grandparents camper at Fish Lake Beach in Volo, Illinois, to hang out with some of my family. 

We arrived just in time to join in on a hay ride around the campgrounds.  Not everyone joined us.  My Grandma stayed behind to wave at us when we rode by.  Everyone but 3 people on the hay trailer were a part of my family.  We were the best group that the residence of Fish Lake Beach ever experienced, hands down.

We always know how to have a blast.

When we were nearing the campers behind my Grandparents.  My Grandma was standing outside with a sign that read "Homeless - Need Family"....Hilarious!! We all got a great big laugh out of that.  Ain't she a riot!!

She cracks us up!

After the hay ride, a few of my cousins and I headed down to the lake with our fishing gear.  My cousins have all fished before, so, they all sort of know what they're doing.  My cousin Giacomo (Red Shirt), and Jeff (Not pictured) have more experience than Michael aka Big Red and Sam.  This lake had a terrible fish kill when we had our polar vortex winter, and some have told me it has bounced back through stocking, but I am not too positive about it.

The fishing was tough, as expected.  I was the only one to hook up with a fish, and boy, oh boy, was it a whopper.  After trying several streamers, I switched flies to a small san juan worm, and I cracked the code to Fish Lake Beach.  

Trophy catch.

After fishing, my cousin Jeff and I headed to the store to restock the firewood back at the camper.  Once we returned there was a fire already started, and we all started to make use of it for a snack.

Hot diggity dog.

Awww...here's me pictured with the person that hates all of my jokes, my lovely GF. :)

My Love.

Here we have pictured myself with a few of my many cousins.

We're a pretty awesome group.

As the evening turned into night.  The campground was having a Ho Down type dance at their pavilion a stones throw away from the camper.  Before we all headed over there, we made some pot pies.  Butter, bread, pizza sauce, and some cheese.  Close the pot pie, and stick it in the fire, and viola, a great meal. 

I've always enjoyed a good campfire.

I apologize, but there were no photos taken of my dancing.  I know you're all disappointed, but what I do have, is photo with my very awesome, special, and beautiful Grandmother. 

My Grandparents are part of the reason I love the outdoors as much as I do.  As a kid they used to take me, my sister, and my cousin Sharese camping with them all of the time.  They used to have a pop up camper, and belonged to a group who would travel together to different campgrounds. 

She doesn't read my blog, but in the event that she does - I LOVE YOU!!!

Love this woman!

Windy City Fishing BBQ at Beck Lake

This past weekend, I was invited out to a local lake that I have never fished before, to participate in a small gathering with some guys from a local fishing forum that I frequent WindyCityFishing.  The man organizing this shin dig is Kevin aka "Bassman29" but he should also be known as the Grill Master! ...or cigar man, because, he owns Utopia Cigars (Great place BTW and he is extremely knowledgeable.)

Grill Mater Kevin

I was at a Lake X this Spring with DanK and Kevin showed up to fish, but he also brought his grill, and grilled us up some sausage when we took a break around lunch time.  Man, what a great guy!  If you're reading this, Kevin, thanks, for the hot dogs!!!

Before cheese was added.  Kevin is a master of char...and I love charred burgers.

These sausages were absolutely delicious!

It was a fun outing.  I seriously got almost next to no fishing in, because, I spend most of my time talking with some new and familiar faces.  It's always great to put a face to a screen name behind the many reports that are put up, and to see who is reading your stuff.

There were quite a few Ascend kayaks that showed up.  Here is mine and Kevins. Awww aren't they cute.

A fellow Windy City Fisher, Keith, has this really badass kayak.  It's called a "SCANOE."  I have never heard of these, and I thought that it was a nickname for his boat, but I was wrong, it's the actual name.  There's a lot of DIY mounts on this water craft.  Those seats are definitely not stock, they're from the bar stools at his parents house...and yes, they still swivel.  My other favorite part is his outriggers.  2 Scotty mounts on each side paired with crab pot floats.  WHAT!!!

THE SCANOE!!!!!

I wish I was able to stay longer than I did, but I had to leave early.  I caught zero fish, but had many many laughs.  After I had left, I learned that there were a few fish caught, and the biggest one of the day went to Keith.  I don't have the picture here, but I'll link you to the post.  It was a very nice LMB.

CLICK HERE FOR REPORT OF THE DAY

More SCANOE with Kevin and Keith.

Looking forward to the next BBQ, and I'll be sure to clear my entire schedule for it!

We're Huntin' Musky

Friday 7/24, I received a text from my buddy, Mario, informing me that Friday night basketball has been cancelled.  Damn.  Then I received a text from my buddy, Mike, that said, "Open seat if you want to chase some Ski's today.".....Yeah!!!

We put the boat in at 6 PM, and what a perfect time.  There were still a few pleasure boaters out and about, but they were decreasing in numbers as time went on.  The waves in the lakes were starting to go down, and it was a cool sight to see.  I've never seen these lakes without waves.  It was a beautiful thing.

We started out casting inline spinners, and then we began to toss some big top water lures that splash down in the water like a cannonballs.

My new favorite July beer.

As the night progressed, we did not see any fish.  There were a few other musky hunters out, and they were having the same luck that we were having.  

It was getting late, and the time was 11:30 PM, and we were just talking about heading back.  As I was making a few more casts into the darkness of night, one of my casts did not find water.  Instead we could only hear the not so joyful sound of leaves.  I just casted an expensive lure of Mikes into a tree.  No other words can describe how I felt other than "SHIT."

We tried everything from the boat, and then Mike decided to climb the tree...and he did.  Turns out, I cast the lure so far, that it went beyond the tree that was nearest to the water, and into the tree behind it.  Hilarious...but not really.

Motoring to another fishy spot.

There were no fish caught, no follows spotted, but there were a few beers drunk, and a good time had.  

 How's that old saying go - "That's musky fishing."

Big THANKS goes out to Mike for inviting me out.

Froggin' with DanK

Froggin'

A short story.

Kind of.....

Not really...

DanK and I met up at Lake X to do some froggin'. The lake was calm, and there was overcast...those two added together equal, a great time. The lily pads were thick, and seemed endless. I fished this lake once in the early Spring, but have never fished it in the summer months. One of my very first casts into the thick lily pads warranted an explosion, I waited, waited, set the hook, and FISH ON!

....or not. I thought the fish was tangled in the lily pads, so, I paddled over to it. I reached my hand in the water and started to remove all of the vegetation that accumulated from trying to reel this bass in. Wait a minute...what was that I felt...so as I was doing this, I felt something that was not a fish hidden in the mess of vegetation. You have got to be kidding me haha it was a huge snapping turtle! I am so glad I didn't accidentally put my hand by it's face, otherwise I might be typing this with a few less digits on my hand. Thankfully, I had brought my Backwater Assault Hand Paddle that I won at the Great Lakes Kayak Fishing Series in May of this year. I was able to pop my frog free of the jaws of this mean ole turtle, and it was free to live without a lure in it's mouth. Without that Assault Paddle, I have no idea how I would have been able to get that frog free from that turtle.

A few snaps at my paddle startled me. What a wimp!

After that, it was a turtle free morning of frog fishing.

DanK with the nicest one of the day.

The bass were flying out of the water when I had the camera out. They knew I would be featuring them on my blog. 

2 Thumbs up...you can't see DanK's

I finally shook the skunk off one of my Slaunch Mob shirts. I've 2 shirts from my buddy Slaunch Mob for 2 months now, and I have been skunked on each outing I wore them. The curse has been lifted. I'll drink to that!

Hiding my big smile.

DanK is having a great year. New baby, new home, and he's killing it out on the water. Seems no matter what technique he's using, he's brilliant. The fish just don't stop coming his way, and it's been a blast to withness!

The Master.

As I was floating and fishing around, I took notice that this lake had trash everywhere. It was a shame. It probably would have taken me the entire day to pick it all up. I picked up what ever I crossed paths with. I'm going to start doing it more when I'm out on the water. I already do it whenever I'm fishing at a lake, I'll just start tossing stuff in my sling pack and toss it on my way out. 

RICHARD is an ASSHOLE!

Creek Time

My buddy DanK and I decided to meet up for a wade on our favorite small creek. I was up extra early, so, I decided to fish the backyard lake a little bit, and work on my wacky rigged worm technique. Caught a decent one before I called it quits and hopped in the car to leave.

I was tossing a fly on my 5wt, and DanK was using his spinning rod. There was no action on the creek, and with the rising sun, the temperature started to rise. It was not making for a fun wade. Now if we were catching fish, I wouldn't mind being in my waders sweating my butt off, but as a skunked outing loomed over our heads, I just wanted to be out of my waders.

DanK under one of the many bridges we cross on this urban creek.

We decided to fish on until we reached our determined turning point on the creek. Immediately, DanK got a follow from a very small pike, and then on his next cast he hooked up. At first we were both thinking it was the pike, of course.

FISH ON!

....but it actually turned out to be a quilback! I have only ever seen 2 of this species in my time fishing, and both have been caught by, DanK. He's like the quilback whisperer. Haha

Big Quilly Style

As we approached where our cars were parked, BOOM, we doubled up to end the day. Pretty awesome. I was able to shake the skunk in the final moments.

Doubled Up!

After we finished up the wade, we headed on over to my house. DanK hasn't seen the new place, yet, and I've been ranting and raving about the fishing I have in my backyard. DanK is like a Jedi Master with a jig and soft plastic trailer. He was tossing a Tight Rope Jig with a small crawfish pattern plastic as a trailer, and he killed it! 

BOOM

I never knew there were bass of this size in my backyard lake until DanK started landing monsters. With every bass he caught, it seemed like they just kept getting bigger. It's really good to know this exists in my backyard. I have yet to catch these big ones, but I sure do like knowing their in there, regardless if I catch them or not.

Biggest one of the day. WOW.

Memorial Day Fishing

This past Memorial Day I did quite a bit of fishing. Before I get to how my day went, I would just like to say, Thank You, to all of those who gave their life for our country.

I started the day off at my favorite creek. The weather was all over the place. It was cloudy, drizzling, sunny, down pouring, sunny, cloudy, drizzling, etc.... I didn't mind the weather too much. I was prepared with my rain coat. The fishing was excellent. I caught 2 smallies, and 1 shad. I was tossing a damsel like fly in an olive color. The fish seemed to like it. After spotting 2 really nice sized smallies, I went home to make myself an early lunch.

Once lunch was done, I hung out with these 2. Per the usual, we ran around the house and played tug of war, and that lead to a nap, to wait out the down pouring rain.

Once the skies cleared up, I took the pups on a walk, and then I grabbed my spinning rod, so, I could fish the backyard lake. Hooked up with the bass pictured below on a wacky rigged Senko in the purple color. I hooked into a bigger bass soon after, but it proved to be no match for my skills, because, she snapped my line. I guesstimated it to be 4-4.5lbs. I think I tried to over power the bass...whoops.

As the evening progressed, I decided to take a short drive with, Bo, to check out my honey hole. There was a ton of top water activity across the lakes surface. I decided to toss a black popper, and the crappie just could not resist. The swan was not impressed....STOP LOOKING AT ME SWAN!

Thank you, again, to all of those who gave their lives for our great country.

Almost a 10 lb bass...almost.

While the GF was getting ready before we went out, I stepped out back with my fly rod. I had the same olive woolly bugger tied on, and didn't bother changing it. Just checked my knot, and began casting. The crappie were still having a love fest with that bugger, and I caught a ton of them. I also caught some more small bass. These small bass are unlike other small bass I've caught before. Check out how thick they are! I wonder what their fattening up on.

This bass was almost 10 lbs....almost. I had to photoshop it smaller, so, it would fit in the picture.

Mixed Bag

Over the weekend I did a little fishing in the backyard lake. Had a few things to do around the house, so, I had to stay close. There was also quite a bit of rain in the forecast, so, I didn't want to press my chances on my free time.

The backyard lake was on FIRE! I tossed around a size 6 olive woolly bugger, and I never had to change it. The fish were all over it. Bass, crappie, bluegill, and green sunfish/warmouths. I think the ratio of crappie to bass was 8:1.

So, I've had a few talks about this fish. In the past I have always referred to these as warmouths, but others say that their greenies (green sunfish). I've looked them up on the Google, and everything points to them being a greenie. Forever, I have called these warmouths....what are they!?!?!?!?!

New Grill

My GF and I picked up our new grill right from the Weber Grill plant in Palatine, IL. When we were checking out grills, we both fell in love with the Gourmet Spirit series of Weber Grills. You will see why later in the pictures. My GF had a family hook up on Weber Grills, so, after a quick phone call we were able to save a few bucks, and pick up our grill the following week.

We got the grill back to the house, and staged on the deck. I had planned to put it together right away, but the lake was just calling my name. So, I set up my 5 wt and stepped out of the backyard, and fished for a short while. The crappie bite was hot, and I was also able to hook up with a few decent small bass. The small bass that I caught all had some size. They were eating very well.

Right when I finished my short outing, I was all set to set up the grill. Nope! Received a phone call from my GF, and she needed to be picked up, because, she locked her keys in her trunk at Home Depot. After picking her up, bringing her to get her spare key at her parents, we were back at the house, and I was finally ready to get building.

After a late night setting up the grill, it's finally finished. I brought the grill outside and it looked picture perfect with the lake in the background. Now that it was all finished, and I had the day off, I grabbed my fly rod and went fishing.

The grill has 3 burners, and a cast iron grate. I'm a big fan of cast iron pans, and I fell in love with the cast iron grates. I've always grilled on the regular steel grates, but I figured this would be a nice change.

The center grate is removable.

...and it comes with a cast iron griddle. They also sell other accessories that fit the center separately, like a wok, pizza stone, and a searing grate.

I look forward to sharing my grilling adventures!