ACA Sheridan Derby

Well another year for the Abbotsford Christian Assembly men's fishing derby. The weather was perfect for another great weekend of fishing. First day and we hit our favorite little lake Higgins in high hopes of catching allot of fish. Well the timing seemed off as we only managed a few fish each. Perhaps we were a little to early after ice off. So we packed up and went back to the cabins for dinner and a new plan of attack.

Day two saw us at French Lake trying for the big lunkers we have seen in there in the past. We must have fished the entire day with not even a bite. We decided to pack up and try for a hike in lake we heard about that guaranteed huge fish. Well we got into some nasty 4x4ing and just couldn't find the way in. So plan B had us at Irish lake a lake we had heard got winter kill last year and was not producing any fish but we decided to try to finish off the day there.

Well the fishing was slow at first but then bang I got a huge fish on. He jumped out of the water right away and the mouths dropped on all the guys around me. It was huge and took a huge run right off the bat. I reeled the fish to the surface and he bolted again peeling line off my reel until I was into my backing (reserve line) Well just as he was peeling line off my reel stopped spinning and the line was all caught up. I quickly wrapped my pointer finger around my fly line and the backing snapped away from my line. So now I have this fish on the fly line that is barely wrapped around finger and he wants to make another run. I hold my finger tight to the fly line as he bolts for the bottom of the lake straight down. I figure he will break off with all that pressure but he didn't. I was able to start stripping in my line by hand now instead of by the reel. I get a huge pile of line stripped into my lap and off he goes again headed for the bottom. All the line I just stripped in fly's through my rod and then I get a huge tug on my finger as it gets to the end. I hold firm and begin stripping in again so by the time I strip in the entire length of fly line he is finally done and I'm able to net my prize a 4.7 pound rainbow trout and bring him home. I got him on the stringer and floated around while I fixed my fly line and attached it back onto my backing and reel. During my repairs I got to watch one of my buddies catch a somewhat smaller fish and then a good sized 3.2 pounder. We all tried for a while longer but eventually it started to get dark and he packed it in for the day.

Once back to camp all the talk was about my huge fish and that I was a shoe in for the biggest fish trophy. It felt good but I tried not to let it go to my head. I also was a shoe in for another prize of best fishing story due to my reel mishap. I shared that prize with another buddy as he was crazy enough to strip down and wade into a lake that day to retrieve a fishing lour he had just bought and hooked onto a log. That water must have been pretty cold but us fishermen are crazy that's for sure.

Day three had us packing up camp and hitting another lake before we came home. Well Irish it was as everyone else wanted a crack at a big fish like mine. One buddy caught a small one but that was it so we just slowly came back in and called it done for the weekend. With a big smile and a shiny trophy I headed home to the family I love.

The Great Coal Rush

What can I say about such an awesome event, Dustanne an I had an amazing time. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves each and every minute of the event. To sum it all up I am going to share with you my post for just one of the 34 amazing caches we found that weekend which pretty much says it all. May 16 by TESKELLY (896 found) FTF May 16th 2009. Ok this will take allot of words to describe this find so I’m sorry for those who hate long logs. Just as we were getting close to the cache we find ourselves stopped at a point as far as we could on the road. There were trucks with snow mobile trailers parked right at the beginning of snow on the road. I snuck past them and parked in front of them all in case they wanted to leave before we got back. Nothing like an angry snow mobiler who can't go home cause of a 4x4 is blocking his way. So with that nightmare smartly averted we surveyed what challenge we had before us. The distance didn't seem so bad and the area had not even one foot print to be seen ten feet ahead of where the snowmobiles took off from. I looked at Best Red and said to her in as confident a voice as I could muster "If we do this cache I can guarantee you an FTF on this one as I believe no one has been there yet". I know I know what a huge chance I was taking of being wrong and getting the beating of a life time from my wife if I was. Somehow though it all just felt right in my heart that we would truly succeed. So we loaded up with water, food, and an emergency kit into my pack just to be safe and wrote down our departure time of 2:35pm on a card for the dash of my truck. Off we went and well it started off kind of sloppy as we were sinking down a foot or so with every step. We quickly figured out that if we followed the snowmobile tracks we only sunk down every so often as the snow was somewhat compacted from their tracks. Although this was working somewhat we did notice each time we sunk down it was getting deeper and deeper. We past a side road on our right at about 1.4 miles away from the cache but did not see any snow mobile tracks going down that road and the cache was still showing somewhere along the road we were on. I said let’s continue straight and we did until the compass arrow finally took a turn to our right and was showing 500ft to the right into the forest going downhill. Well we looked for an entrance into the forest or any signs of a trail but could not find one. I looked at Best red and said that the snow would get much deeper if we try to hike into the cache from here and it was a long 500 feet if we were going to even try. She agreed that was asking too much and she opted to head back to the other road and see if that would get us closer. We got back to that side road we found on the right of us and decided we would walk down a way’s to see if the countdown to the cache improved and it did. So we were back on the hunt to find the cache. A little ways down we got a reading of about 500ft or so and we saw what we were looking for a trailhead sign naming the lake. I yelled out yes honey there it is the entrance to the lake trail. Well we looked down the trail and again I said to my wife it’s going to get allot deeper in there once we set in. She being the trooper that she is said that’s fine lets go. We took a first big step each and sunk down to the bottom of our hips. I said to Best Red we will have to take pictures of this first step when we come back up. She agreed and we continued on. As we were trekking in I could hear running water under the snow every so often but couldn’t quite judge exactly where the running water was under the snow so I proceeded to sink down and step into the rushing water under the snow about half a dozen times along the trail. 450 feet or so later and I could see a green roofed structure ahead. This became comforting as it was now 3:23 and the clouds were rolling in and it was getting darker out. By no means was it sunset yet, however the light change was significant enough that we wanted to hurry up and get done with finding this cache. At this point I also started to hear the freaky creaking of the trees that sent shivers down my spine. There was quite the gust of wind blowing across the still frozen lake which wasn’t helping the situation. We zeroed out at the structure which was now discovered as a snowmobilers open concept cabin. Inside was a wood burning stove and a few other furniture pieces. My hunt began and took like what seemed forever but I just couldn’t find the cache. We didn’t have any info with use as far as a hint goes so we were starting to get discouraged. The wife was getting mad and at one point mentioned we were not leaving here until we find it as she was NOT accepting a DNF on this hugely fought adventure. I kept looking and looking until bingo I found it. We opened up the ammo can with HUGE anticipation and I gasped and shouted out yahoo first to find. My wife broke out in a huge smile and threw up her hands for a big high five. I can’t remember the last time we were so closely bonded in excitement for an achievement we shared together and I felt so proud to have her with me accomplishing this together. She was such a trooper and didn’t complain even once during all the trouble she was having keeping up to me on this trek as she endured soaken feet, a few falls face first into hip deep pockets of snow, and many painful knee twists during some of those falls. Well it was now 4:15pm and I said we better get back before someone notices we have been gone over two hours. We came out the same way we went in and made it back to the truck by about 5:15pm. We looked at each other and I thanked her for being so brave and taking on the challenge. I also told her I loved her and felt very proud to be her husband. We kissed and climbed into the truck and smiled the entire way back to the tent with a deep sense of accomplishment and pride on a truly awesome adventure indeed.

Abbotsford Cito event

Well it went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect as there was a nice breeze and just enough cloud cover so the sun didn't burn a hole through us. There were about a dozen cachers who came out to attend my very first Cito event (Cache in trash out) and helped clean up the park around Albert dyke lake. My hidden prize containers where a hit and the kids had a blast running around all over the park. Best Red (Dustanne) and I each hid a brand new geocache in the park which was a bonus for those who came out. The kids hard hats donated by Lafarge were fun as even a few of the adults where wearing them for kicks.

The same morning before my Cito there was a Flashmob event being held at another park close by so we got up early to attend that one before heading over to the lake. What's a Flashmob you ask? It's a quick 15 minute event where a spot outside is chosen as ground zero, then a mass group converges to it at a designated time. Once gathered we do a few quick activities, draw for some prizes, and sign a log book. Then exactly 15 minutes later we all dispearse leaving the area empty again. In and out like a flash if you will.

Looking back I can definitely say it was a busy weekend with all the preperation that was involved and of coarse the event itself seemed to fly by. With that said I still am glad we did it and will be looking forward to attending or perhalps organizing another one next year.