The Tetons

August 18, 2013
Exploring, Food and Drink, Hiking
Leave a comment

The second day of our trip was a long one, spent almost entirely within Grand Teton National Park. What an amazing place to visit with scenic vistas throughout the entire Park.

IMG_1252

We decided to take a one way shuttle across Jenny Lake where we hiked up Cascade Creek, past Hidden Falls to Inspiration Point. Instead of venturing further into Cascade Canyon we turned around and hiked back around Jenny Lake. The view over Jenny Lake from Inspiration Point was awesome, but what we really impressed was looking back toward the Cathedral Group. Being a flatlander I guess I’m just always blown away by truly big mountains. 

IMG_1267

IMG_1507

IMG_1513

IMG_1015

IMG_1284

IMG_1288

IMG_1535

The rest of our trek through the Tetons was more of an auto tour, stopping at anything that caught our fancy along the way.

IMG_1301

IMG_1305

IMG_1308

IMG_1315

IMG_1546

IMG_1319

IMG_1324

IMG_1326

We got back into Jackson with enough time to stop into the Snake River Brewery for apps and drinks before heading out on a moose hunt at dusk. Kudos to the Park Ranger at Colter Bay for suggesting Moose-Wilson Rd. at 7:30pm because he was spot on as we saw our first two moose of the trip.

IMG_1327

IMG_1328

IMG_1565

IMG_1564

IMG_1034

Go West, young man

August 17, 2013
Coldwater, Exploring, Fishing, Fly Fishing, Food and Drink, Freshwater, Wade Fishing
1 Comment

Just got home from a whirlwind Western vacation with my wife and parents where we spent time in Utah, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho seeing as much as we could of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and the surrounding area.

On Day 1 we flew into Salt Lake City, stopped for lunch at a great little diner – the Blue Plate, then made our way toward Jackson, WY where we would spend the next two nights.

IMG_1230

IMG_0994

IMG_1466

While in Bonneville cutthroat country, I made sure to stop at a roadside stream where I might be able to catch a new-to-me species of trout. Sure enough, on one of the first few casts into a beaver pond I caught a beauty of a Bonnie. It would prove to be the only fish landed on the short outing, but it made it worth the stop.

IMG_1001

IMG_1003

IMG_1004

IMG_1238

IMG_1237

We continued through the Star Valley en route to Jackson, stopping to check out the Elk antler arch in Afton and the adjacent fly shop, Pioneer Anglers. After the town of Alpine, the drive takes you along the Snake River all the way up to Jackson, where we stayed in a creek side cottage run by the Alpine House, which proved to be an excellent place to stay for the four of us while in town. That night we checked out the town of Jackson and took it easy in anticipation of the Tetons the next day.

IMG_1240

IMG_1245

IMG_1246

IMG_1250

Yakin’ for Reds with Sportsman TV

August 7, 2013
Fishing, Kayak Fishing, Multimedia, Saltwater, Video
5 Comments

Back in June I had the privilege of filming an episode of Sportsman TV with host Greg Hackney that was focused on kayak fishing. Sportsman TV is a fishing show that airs locally on Cox Sports Television. I got the invite from Blake Gill of Massey’s Outfitters in New Orleans, one of our local Jackson Kayak dealers, who was generous enough to provide kayaks for both Greg and his cameraman/producer/jack-of-all-trades Jared Serigne. I’ve really enjoyed the new format the show has taken this year so helping them out was a no-brainer. Besides Blake and myself, Louisiana Sportsman’s kayak fishing guru Chris Holmes was also on hand.

Due to the presence of Tropical Storm Andrea in the Gulf, we decided the night before to head somewhere we could take cover from the relentless wind conditions we were experiencing.  As we got the launch that morning it was pretty evident that wind wasn’t going to be a factor, in fact it turned out to be a pretty awesome day. The only negative, for me at least, were the high tidal conditions we were experiencing.

IMGP8142

IMGP8143

IMGP8149

The water was high but we still had a really good day catching redfish. They were holding extremely tight to the grass. Greg picked up on that early on and wore ’em out. I think Greg really enjoyed his time in the kayak. It was his first time in one, but I’m pretty sure he outfished us all.

IMGP8147

I started the day off throwing topwater. I had a few throwback trout explode on my spook. One was right at the boat which was pretty cool to catch on camera. I picked up a couple reds later on and even ended up with a decent flounder to complete a slam.

IMGP8146

I’ve been holding on this report until the episode aired, which ended up being last week. I think Jared did an incredible job editing it all together, the episode came out really good. Anyway, check it out, let me know what y’all think: