Fishing at Scott Access again...

So, yesterday, I went back down to Scott Access to try fishing the 'right' place. I am really liking this place. It has the same problem in that there is only one real place to fish with another small one - almost like DaHole in Bliss. The problem is that they are full a lot of the time. There is a 'professional quality' fire pit and you can bring the car right up to the fishing location. The water is slow enough there that the scent works well.

I was there from 6:30am to about noon. My morts (trout) were frozen so it takes a while to get them 'normalized' and fish ready. I caught my first fish, another 5'er, about 10am. I was reading the paper and heard some banging around and looked up to see my beloved casting rig in the water and heading south... Luckily, I have these 25' nylon ropes on my rigs that I attach to some local immovable object with these metal snap clips. I grabbed the rope and was able to recover the rig and fight the fish. I have seen two other folks rigs 'disappear' last year and after seeing that happen and just contemplating the power and dynamics of the situation, developed these ropes and have used them ever since. This is the first time they have saved me one of my rigs. I would have been realllly bummed if I would have lost it as I have a lot of money and labor in it with all the custom mods and all...

The fish was a feisty fighter for a 5'er. It jumped 4 times, and even ran a bunch of line off of the heavy AVET LX drag.

Then, about an hour later, I hooked up again, this time on my Penn 9500SS spinner rig, and landed another 5'er. It was not as much of a fighter as the first one, but the spinning rig is lighter and actually took longer to bring in, which was fun.

Then, about another hour later, about noon, I hooked up with a much bigger fish on the casting rig. This one ended up being a 7'er. And, the hardest fighting fish I have caught all year. They seem to all be good fighters there, but this one was special. It jumped 3 times, and just screamed line off the AVET drag a number of times. It would run out about 200 yards of line and I would bring it back in, fighting all the way, to my topshot which is about 80 yards or so, and it would take off again. I am not sure why it would take off again when the topshot started on the reel, but that is how it went. Maybe the connector knot in the line, going through the rod guides, bothered it under all the pressure put on the line.

Anyway, this went on for three or four trips. I had my back harness on which is really great. While I was fighting the fish, with the help of the harness, I was able to bend down and bring in my spinner line so it didn't get all messed up during the fight - which ended up going back and forth, up and down river a few times. It would have got the two lines all messed up for sure. I was worn out after that 7'er...

One thing I noticed yesterday - both 5'ers had weird side fins. The first one had both side fins messed up and were sorta like knobs instead of fins. And, the second one had one of the side fins split down the center with the other one good. I will have to keep track of that. The first two I caught the other time seemed OK, as I didn't notice any problems with their fins. The little baby 2'er I caught a couple of weeks ago at the Lower Salmon Dam had one side fin all knobbed up also... I don't know of this is a by-product of their food gathering techniques or something else. I don't remember noticing soo many fish having such problems before...

So, all in all, this Scotts Access place is working out great. It is beautiful with all the waterfalls and I have caught 5 fish in two trips there. And, with today's gas prices, going 10 miles is much better than 80 miles for a day fishing trip. The road getting down the canyon wall is crazy, but the Jeep handles it well. You just have to go slow and watch where you are going and what you are going over. I am going to have to get some hedge clippers and clean up the road shrubs though, as I now have scratches all over the Jeep from them.

I am still looking for those big fish down there and they are there. I have heard too many stories about them from many sources. Its just a matter of time and effort, I guess, as are most things here in DaHo...

Finally Landed a Nice Fish this Year...

After many, many days and hunderds of hours of trying this year, I finally caught a really nice fish this weekend.



This is one of the guys I went fishing holding my fish in front of the dorsal fin and tail. I think it was around 7' long which would be in the 175# range. I wanted to get a picture with it, since I rarely have other folks around when I am fishing, but he unhooked it and let it go before I could stop him. I was holding the rod with both hands and cannot talk with my hands full...

This was caught at DaHole - my favorite spot to fish - and where I haven't had much luck for a few weeks. My friends had never been there and wanted to check it out after we first went down to the new place close to the house, Scotts Access, and it was 'full' of folks.

Last month, when my brother Don was here, we went fishing down there and I am thinking this fish, or one like it, is what Don had hooked up with as it fought about as hard and the one Don was fighting and ended up loosing to a broken line.

So, I am happy again. You can only have soo much fun fishing and not catching any big fish...

I played in the Tuesday night 9-ball tournament and had to be home early. So, I was playing this kid that has luckily beaten me a couple of times and was beating him 3-0 on a race to 4 games. In the fourth game, I ran the table down to the 9 ball and picked up the cue ball, handed it too him and said I quit... He was stunned and real happy. I saw him again on Thursday and he ended up winning 2nd - his first money win.

Then, last Thursday, we started playing our summer 9-ball league. Our team didn't do that well, considering. We all won 4 games out of our 6 games for a total of 12 games for the night. I should have won another one, but missed an easy shot, by not taking the time to focus on it, and lost the last one by my lucky opponent getting a 9 ball break... Well, I will do better next week.

They are starting the free evening concerts down town on Wednesdays again. Those are always fun to check out.

Well, that is about all that has been hoppening around here in DaHo...

July Newsletter Article...

This is my July Lary Worldwide Newsletter article...

Looking over the Edge…

By Lanny Keithley

The other night I was in bed watching some light TV, surfing the channels, and stopped on the History Channel. This show called “Last Days on Earth” just started. It was describing the seven most logical choices of events, or circumstances that could do in all of humanity. Such things as black holes, giant asteroids, viruses, technology turning against us – all sorts of fun stuff…

Then, they got to one on super volcanoes, which after all the previous ones, wasn’t that big of a deal, until they said that the most logical choice of where it would happen is Yellowstone Park. They were showing some great graphic presentations of how it would happen using a map, which identified the states in the region. I then realized that if such an event were to take place, living in Idaho, we would be cinders in about 2 minutes or less. This was not good news mentally, as one of the one things that I have always felt good about moving to and living here was that it was relatively safe from a natural or man-made disaster point of view – about a thousand miles from the coast or anything worth destroying…

Immediately, my mind started doing its thing - bringing up all sorts of past experiences, past images from movies or whatever, and all the ‘stuff’ in my 60 years of computer’s memory about such scary things. I mentally grabbed it and wrestled it to a halt, but in the past, it could have evolved into a real lather, in no time, if not controlled.

When I was stopping my mind from being concerned about the super volcano, I was thinking “Heck… I could die a lot easier than that, and it wouldn’t take a mega-disaster to do it.” And, besides, I have already looked over the edge of life when I had my throat cancer and all the recovery.

Then, my mind brought up an event that just happened the day before. I was going fishing. Close to my home, there is this strange little uphill curve in the road that is blind to both sides until right at the top. There was this young girl driving the other way, going too fast and talking on the cell phone. She came over the top and barely was able to control her car, make the turn, and therefore not crash head on into me. At the time, I thought about how close that was and again how fragile life really is.

Then, I remembered driving on Highway 1 below San Francisco along the cliffs and being passed by two crazy guys on a totally blind corner. If there had been a car coming the other way, it would have probably been the end for us all.

So, this article is about the fragility of life and enjoying every moment that you have of it. Unless some pending disaster occurs that can define how many days you have left, like with the giant asteroid on the TV show last night, you just never know what is around that next corner. You never will know until your there, but if you don’t at least figure there could be something bad, its hard to really make the most of now, and each successive now you have left in your life.

When I was diagnosed with the throat cancer and within days had the operation and then recovery, I had never really pondered the fragility of life. I had always had reasonably good health and had nothing I couldn’t deal with before. I had also been pretty insulated from death, except for older people, like my parents. Then, BAM, as Emeril would say, there I was – looking over the edge of life with my eyes wide open…

Since then, I have often pondered “What is the most important part of life to savor?” Or better yet, “If you only had time left for one thing, what would it be?” I guess it depends on what you are most needy of - To a starving person, it’s the next meal, and to a suffocating person it’s the next breath. But, figuring all your immediate requirements to survive are met, what things are most important to do and enjoy as possibly your last?

I say “Do” and “Enjoy” separately as they are two very different things to ponder. Each of them necessary and important, in their own right, and should be considered.

Things in the “Do” category include ‘unfinished’ and/or legal business. If any items come up when pondering this question, they should be completed so you don’t have to worry about them anymore. If you don’t do them now, when will they get done and by whom? How many more of your life’s remaining moments do you want to spend worrying about stuff that you need to get done? The unfinished business includes things you feel the need to get done to be happy and satisfied with your life, whatever they may be. The legal business is those things that legally you need to get done to wrap up your life so it won’t be left to loved ones or others to have to decide for you after you are gone.

All the items in above “Do” category were brought up so you can continue freeing up your life of worry and concern, which has been the overall topic of this series of articles, so you can spend more time in the “Enjoy” category. Once you have looked over the edge of life, or even seriously pondered the concept, you know every moment is precious and that life is made up of very few ‘special moments’. And, the more ‘special moments’ you can experience in life, the more enjoyable it will be.

Most everybody had a whole list of things they want to enjoy in life before they die. This list probably includes what you might consider ‘wild and crazy’ or daring things for you to do. If you really ever want to do them, and enjoy the thrill or excitement of having actually done them, you really should consider it now. In most cases, those ‘wild and crazy’ things are doable and would be added to the list of ‘special moments’ in your life’s memories.

In addition to the daring things on your list, you probably have lots of things that you ‘always wanted to do when you got time’. Well, the time is now, or its probably not going to happen. And, with each passing year, your abilities and options will be reduced to further limit any such things from ever happening in your life.

Becoming a lary limited my life’s options and abilities in many ways. It also gave me new options that I never had before. I could have easily become completely depressed, limiting my activities and overall scope of life’s choices. But, I chose to embrace what life I have left and have had many ‘special moments’ that I might not have considered had I not been forced to look over the edge of life.

It is good to keep aware of the fragility of life on a frequent basis. It is so easy to let it become buried in the constant barrage of daily activities and events. If you allow that to happen, it will be over and you will have missed out on the best parts of it.

When your life is being thought about or discussed, most of that process will be about those ‘special moments’ you had in life. I hope you all have many of them.

I would like to wrap up this article with a tag line I have stolen from Buck Martin, a fellow author in Whispers on the Web. It pretty much says it all…

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out, leaking oil, and proclaiming, "WOW, WHAT A RIDE!!!" - (Bill McKenna-professional motorcycle racer)

Time Flies When You are Having Fun...

Sorry for not reporting in for a while there. There has been lots of stuff happening around DaHo lately and I just haven't gotten around to reporting it all. So, here goes...

We have been doing a lot of work around the 'estate'. Pam has been spending hours with her new Mother's Day gift, the Sears walk behind brush whacker, and has most of the back half of the grounds weed population removed. I finally got the fountain fixed and it is up and running great. In fact, all the grounds are looking great.

Pam did her March of Dimes 6+ mile walk last weekend and was even on TV, on the news, and hasn't been quite the same since... She has been working out and dieting and has lost about 15 lbs and is looking Hot.

My pool tournaments have not been going too well. I have been playing pretty good, just not getting the breaks and playing lucky players, grumble, grumble... I am starting to play in a summer 9-ball league again this year. I am playing with Storm and Steve again, so we should be able to win it again this year. Last year, Steve and I tied for the top player in the league.

I have been spending most of my time either fishing or working on fishing stuff. All the Sturgeon seemed to disappear about two weeks ago and I have been going all sorts of places trying to track them down. Last week, I went back down to the Bliss Dam and this time went down on the rocks to the water level to fish. Boy, I am sure glad that fish I had hooked up there last time got off by itself. I had a hard time just walking down there - without having a 200# fish on the end of a line... All the rocks there are granite and all broken up making all sorts of very sharp edges that would not have been fun to trip and/or fall on at all. And, the 'path' was this sand sort of stuff over rock that would slide and bury your shoes with ever step. All I caught were 'Rock Salmon' loosing my weights and hooks every time. I don't think I will go back there again...

Today, I went to a new place that is only about 5-10 miles from home. It about 5 miles or so down the river from the bridge. After all the places I have been searching for the Sturgeon this last year, this has one of the most 'interesting' roads so far. It is a very challenging four switchback 'road' to get down the canyon wall. You have to do a couple of 'back-and-forths' to get through a couple of the tight turns. The sign pretty much says it all...



But, once there, it is one of the prettiest places I have been...



The waterfall is just stunning an the fishing was good also. There are also a couple of other waterfalls down the way if you get bored with that one. I ended up catching two 5' Sturgeons and had a bunch of bites. More action that I have had in weeks and well appreciated. I heard about it from a friend while playing pool the other night and they said a friend of theirs caught a 10'er there that they couldn't put their arms around - my kind of fish...

The Honda Mini-Trail is running better and better and Pam has been out riding it in the BLM lands next door. She said she has found a place where there are a lot of bike jumps and has been having big fun.

The weather has been mostly good, except for the occasional wind storm and all in all, things have been going great here in DaHo...

Happy (mini) Trails to You...

The ongoing event of the week was getting Pam's 1970 Honda Mini-Trail 'motorcycle' resurrected after being in a storage locker for the last 7 years. It was not prepped for storage and the gas in the carburetor ended up eating through the cast metal float bowl during its storage. The whole fuel system was a mess. So, I tracked down a place on the Internet that specialized in parts and info on them and I got a brand new carb and headlight assembly from them. I had to remove the gas tank from inside the frame and clean it all out and replace all the fuel lines. Storm, a friend, helped me with it as I really have never messed with them and didn't know anything about them. Anyway, after a few trips to the local Honda dealer for a spark plug and various bits, it is now alive and well. It starts on the first kick and is really a hoot to putt around on. I have cruised DaHood a few times and its a fun little bike. I think it will even fit onto the back of the Jeep and can be taken camping. Pam has yet to ride it, as she has not been feeling good, but I am sure once she does, it will be well used...

I have been trying to fix the broken water fountain in the front of the house. The corner of the bottom of it broke by freezing with some water in it. I got this special hardening putty from Home Depot and have put it on twice now. The first time didn't harden as it guess it was too thick in some spots. So, I filled the bottom hole up with sand and reapplied the special hardening putty and it didn't harden again - but was close, so I put another thinner layer on top and will see if that does it. If not, I am not sure what to do next. I have had the sprinklers turned off during the last two days to try and get it fixed and will do in the lawn shortly if this doesn't work soon...

Sunday, the church was having their water baptism and Pam wanted to get it done again, as her first one was when she was very young and was done in the Mormon faith. Her sister, Roberta and husband Vic came down for the blessed event. I am sure she will write more about it.

Speaking of Mormons... Last week, I had to go to town and got caught in my first real traffic jam here in DaHo. They had the major road to get around downtown blocked off and I had to take the detour through the side streets by the the new Mormon Temple they are building. Boy, what a mistake. Everybody was just stopping their cars in the middle of the street and running out into this field. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on. They were putting up the 14' golden Idol, Angel Maroni or something, on top of the 150 foot steeple and every Mormon in DaHo was there taking movies and pics. I had to wait until it was all over and people started leaving to get out of there. It ended up taking me about ½ hr to go 3 blocks.


They didn't have enough people to play the Tuesday 9-ball tournament last week, but I did play in the Wednesday handicap 8-ball one. I came in third after having to spot a lot of points and some general good luck on the parts of the players I played. I was playing well, but not well enough, I guess. My friend, Jeremy, won it which was good. He is a good player, but is his own worst enemy sometimes, and it was good to see him do well.

I have spent a couple of days fishing. I have been venturing out from my favorite spot, DaHole, as you can only have soo much fun not catching any fish and I just don't know where they took off to lately. So, the first day, I went below the dam in Hagerman. I ended up catching a really healthy 4' to 5'er that was very big around. Probably in the 60# to 80# range. It put up quite a fight and was big fun. I also caught the smallest sturgeon I have ever seen - about 2' long. It was a real cutie.

Then, yesterday, I went down to Bliss Dam. I haven't been down there since last year when I ended up breaking my rod after I hooked up with a large fish and it came toward me and then looped back around, at high speed, and when the line tightened, BAM - as Emeril would say.

I saw quite a bunch of wildlife on the trip. On the way there, by a railroad crossing, I saw these two antelope running across the road very close to me. I stopped and they stopped and walked back toward the car. They were about 20 feet away when they stopped. I watched them for a minute or so and then I reached back for the camera bag and they took off back across the road, in front of the car, and across the field and were gone. Pretty amazing. Then, when I got to the dam area, I was checking it out and reading these signs there, and looked down to the river and saw a whole family of red foxes drinking the river water and playing around. They were real cute and playful. Then, later on I saw a family of Geese and a whole cliff of these mud bird houses with all sorts of little birds that live there at the dam. Also, lots of larger water birds, cranes and the such, fishing the area.

Anyway, its a 'challenging' place with all the rocks and steep cliffs. I talked to a worker there at the dam and he said to fish right off of the road about 50 yards down from the dam. They had these makeshift rod holders there and it was all good working out of the Jeep. The only problem was that the water was about 30 feed straight down from the road. And, to get to the water required going down the road about 50 yards and then down a slippery rock and sand covered 'path'. So, if one was to hookup with a large fish, you would have to fight it to submission and then maneuver yourself, with your rod, and the fish, down the road 50 yards, then down the path, to get to the water to release the fish... This place definitely screams for having more than one person, and I was there alone as usual. But, I didn't really have to 'worry' about all that stuff unless I caught a large fish - right?

Well, after about 2 hours or so, BAM, I get this really large fish hooked up on my heavy duty casting rid. I hooked it up in the fighting belt and back brace and was starting a big fight. These two trucks full of Idaho Power guys came by from the dam and stopped and watched the action for a while. I was fighting it for about 30 minutes or so. This was a big fish. You could feel each tail movement it made and each time the rod would dive and the heavy drag on the reel would scream with line being taken out. When, I could, I would bring line back in but the fish was winning as it was out over 200 yards at that point. Then, it turned and came back toward me fast - just like before. I tried to bring the line in fast, but couldn't keep up with the fish. Then, it was gone. I kept reeling line in expecting the fish to still be on there and looping around, but then I saw my weight and hooks on the water surface.

So, it was probably good that it got off as I really don't know what I would have done if it didn't - without help. The dam guys had all left after a few minutes as these fights can go on for a while. I would have loved to have seen the fish as it was way larger than the 8'er I caught last year. And, with the fighting belt and back brace and all the heavy equipment I now have, I could have fought it effectively and won. It would have been quite an event in my fishing history here in DaHo...