For Casting Practice... May I Suggest

[ladystrange]

GOPHERS. a nice big field full of gophers and gopher holes.

 

 

i recently picked up the Amundson Wind Warrior, 9 1/2 foot, 8 weight for pike, and decided to take it for a dry run before the water test.

 

so i wandered over to the field near my house, there are a ton of gopher holes, full of gophers. originally i was going to use them as distance markers and aim points. which they are really good for because they generally just stand there and stare back. the odd time you get a mover. the holes seemed to be about 10 ft from each other so it was a good gage of distance.

 

finally i started getting good and close. 1 i bonked on the head with my yarn fly, it just kept staring back at me. he wasnt all that fun but i was getting pretty good at getting the yarn on top of him because he wasnt running around. i eventually got bored with him and moved on to the next distance.

 

this little guy was much more fun. he followed the yarn, so i was able to do some variable speed strip retrieves, once i got good and close to him i was able to get a hook up. the little bugger kept trying to grab my yarn and take it back in to the hole with him.

 

i spent a good hour or so with my casting practice which usually only lasts about 20 minutes before i get bored. i had follows, strikes, one decent fight for the yarn and others that would just sit there and let you bonk them on the nose with the yarn endlessly. some ducked, others ran.

 

all in all, i would recommend gophers as targets for practice, at least they are interactive, unlike flowers, hoops, rocks or books.

[Enigma]

 

OMG . . . that is seriously awesome

[JONJON]

if you live in ogden and was out around 5ish, howdy me thinks i say you....

[brewingup]

Practice??? Sounds like you created a new sport.

[ladystrange]

if you live in ogden and was out around 5ish, howdy me thinks i say you....

 

 

yep, that was me. casting at gophers and laughing my butt off

 

 

gopher fishng as a new sport... it might catch on

[tumbleweed]

I dont care who you are, thats funny right there

[WesG]

Likes this......... wait a second, this aint facebook

[jack]

What's a gopher and are the hooks barbless? Are they C&R only or is there a retention limit? Is there such a thing as a Gopher Hair Caddis ?

 

j

[chiasson]

Take a video next time.

[Avalanche]

you live in ogden

 

Seriously? Why have we never run into each other on the river there, or do you not fish that stretch of the river?

 

Oh...and back on topic...seriously funny stuff. I can't imagine what people were thinking as they watched...

 

[ÜberFly]

Back in Saskabush in the 50's, my mom & aunts used to get 2 bits a tail... I would think prices have gone up since then!!

 

LoL

 

P

 

What's a gopher and are the hooks barbless? Are they C&R only or is there a retention limit? Is there such a thing as a Gopher Hair Caddis ?

 

j

[Enigma]

I've thought about this a few times today, and it keeps making me burst out laughing (I think the people around me find it unsettling).

 

I would LOVE a demo

[ladystrange]

Jack - civilized people call them Richard Ground Squirls, Albertans just call them gophers, if you can get one to hold on long enough to net them, there is no catch limit and the tails are still worth something to someone somewhere. probably a fly fisherman looking for different materials. but i dont think gopher hair floats. i would use it as a dubbing for a cadis pupa perhaps

 

Chiasson - if you have a camcorder - i'm your girl

 

Avalanche - i moved to Ogden last August and didnt have much time before it got cold to do a lot of fishing around here. so when i do fish it is around Carburn,. if you feel like showing me the ropes, please do, i'd love to get out and fish around here. And i'm pretty sure they were thinking, what the hell is that crazy chick doing?? I think the White Jamaican was the guy driving the white truck staring intently at me trying to figure out what i was doing. the girl crossing the field gave me a wide berth and the guy at the house that backs on to the field came out side, looked at me and then turned around and went back. 5 min later, he, the neighbour and a guy in the next place over were out on their decks watching me

 

Peter - with the rate of inflation i think $0.25 is the going rate

 

Iasgair - i had the same reaction. you dont need a Demo, come out and join me, see if we can get people to stop

 

 

i did have a guy at the bus stop ask me if i caught anything, when i said yes, his face was priceless.. on the grass???? i said, yes - gophers and kept on going. he looked so confused

[ÜberFly]

I guess your "handle" matches up well!! LoL

 

P

 

Jack - civilized people call them Richard Ground Squirls, Albertans just call them gophers, if you can get one to hold on long enough to net them, there is no catch limit and the tails are still worth something to someone somewhere. probably a fly fisherman looking for different materials. but i dont think gopher hair floats. i would use it as a dubbing for a cadis pupa perhaps

 

Chiasson - if you have a camcorder - i'm your girl

 

Avalanche - i moved to Ogden last August and didnt have much time before it got cold to do a lot of fishing around here. so when i do fish it is around Carburn,. if you feel like showing me the ropes, please do, i'd love to get out and fish around here. And i'm pretty sure they were thinking, what the hell is that crazy chick doing?? I think the White Jamaican was the guy driving the white truck staring intently at me trying to figure out what i was doing. the girl crossing the field gave me a wide berth and the guy at the house that backs on to the field came out side, looked at me and then turned around and went back. 5 min later, he, the neighbour and a guy in the next place over were out on their decks watching me

 

Peter - with the rate of inflation i think $0.25 is the going rate

 

Iasgair - i had the same reaction. you dont need a Demo, come out and join me, see if we can get people to stop

 

 

i did have a guy at the bus stop ask me if i caught anything, when i said yes, his face was priceless.. on the grass???? i said, yes - gophers and kept on going. he looked so confused

 

[flyangler]

Well, it's been too long since I stopped in here, but it looks like you've kept the place in good order. Very very funny T. I still need to see video, though.

[ladystrange]

Well, it's been too long since I stopped in here, but it looks like you've kept the place in good order. Very very funny T. I still need to see video, though.

 

 

i just got a new camera so if i can get some one to film. i think i will make a mocumentary just for giggles

[Brunsie]

Why did the chicken cross the road?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.wait for it

.

.

.

.

.

.

.To show the gopher it coild be done

[Pipestoneflyguy]

Too Funny !

 

Back in my days of ski bummery, A fella I lived with in a large ski hill residence, devised a basket made out of a wire clothes hanger, rigged with a tied-on "breadball" (made by rolling bread between his palms) all set up on a spin caster. Anyway within an hour about 10 guys, with similar rigs, were "catching" gophers on the front lawn - anyway whole thing lasted less than an hour before the Wardens showed and offered to pass out fines and confiscate everyone's gear. Certainly is one of the weirdest visual images related to fishing in my memory bank. I hadn't thought about that in years !

 

 

GOPHERS. a nice big field full of gophers and gopher holes.

 

 

i recently picked up the Amundson Wind Warrior, 9 1/2 foot, 8 weight for pike, and decided to take it for a dry run before the water test.

 

so i wandered over to the field near my house, there are a ton of gopher holes, full of gophers. originally i was going to use them as distance markers and aim points. which they are really good for because they generally just stand there and stare back. the odd time you get a mover. the holes seemed to be about 10 ft from each other so it was a good gage of distance.

 

finally i started getting good and close. 1 i bonked on the head with my yarn fly, it just kept staring back at me. he wasnt all that fun but i was getting pretty good at getting the yarn on top of him because he wasnt running around. i eventually got bored with him and moved on to the next distance.

 

this little guy was much more fun. he followed the yarn, so i was able to do some variable speed strip retrieves, once i got good and close to him i was able to get a hook up. the little bugger kept trying to grab my yarn and take it back in to the hole with him.

 

i spent a good hour or so with my casting practice which usually only lasts about 20 minutes before i get bored. i had follows, strikes, one decent fight for the yarn and others that would just sit there and let you bonk them on the nose with the yarn endlessly. some ducked, others ran.

 

all in all, i would recommend gophers as targets for practice, at least they are interactive, unlike flowers, hoops, rocks or books.

 

[robert]

That's gotta be one of the most craziest things i've heard in years - but I love it!!! Going to have a go at it one day at cardiff park

[ladystrange]

i wonder if i can make a bread ball fly?!?

 

 

fines for what? harassing the wild life? not like gophers are endangered. really, fishing for them beats putting nitrogen down the hole and lighting it on fire only to watch flaming gophers run around the field lighting the grass on fire... (airdrie)

[Enigma]

It would be great to try this I suspect I will take you up on the offer. I have a high def vidoe camera. Unfortunately, I'm not a very good videographer.

 

I would like to see your Wind-Warrior in action, too.

[ladystrange]

i have to admit the 8wt is a little heavy for flogging for gophers. but i do have an Amundson 3wt midge that might do the trick...

 

 

you let me know and we can work something out

[Pipestoneflyguy]

feeding and harrassing wildlife are two of the charges I can think of, off the top of my head. From a Parks act perspective I don't think the intpretation would differ between a gopher and a bear, for example, in terms of defining a contradiction to the act (offence).

 

In other words you can't mess with any critters, big or small, within the park - even pests in our residences have to be removed and relocated with live traps - all just part of living in a Park.

 

As entertaining as a field full of burning gophers would be, I don't think it would bode well with the tourist crowd up here LOL

 

The magic of a bread ball is you can make it any size thus you could form nice loops with almost any weight rod if you "roll" specifically to the appropriate ideal targeted mass within the manufacturers reccomendation for weighting on a specific Rod. I guess there would be limits - remember the "A dog swims through it" You tube vid - that guy really needed something like a 20 wt rod for that giant rubber ball. Maybe one of this sites expert rod builders can offer some expertise on the science behind effective breadball casting technique.

 

Too bad this site is limited to fishing and not hunting, cause this thread is begging to be linked to a potato gun discussion - I just had a mental image of flaming gophers being sniped off with a potato gun - now that's a video that would get some hits

 

 

 

 

[AVE]

Jack you have to start drug testing for our pro-staff now

[mwb]

I dunno....nitro and gophers has large entertainment value and it's just getting too complicated to go shoot them.....I think you're onto something with this!