Dave's Adventures

Reduce Outrageous Monthly Satellite TV Expense

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:23:00 +0000

When can I get rid of my outrageous Satellite TV bill? TV is free, so why are we paying so much?

I am currently paying over $110.00 per month for DIRECTV. This includes 4 DVR’s, HD content without any movie channels like HBO. As a result of economic conditions I am continually looking for ways to reduce expenses. This has prompted me to keep an eye on current and upcoming technologies that will allow me to reduce expenses. I am looking for a solution that will allow me to keep most of the features and capabilities as my DIRECTV service offers. I can’t live without my DVR. The DVR is the best invention since sliced bread.

It seems like people have forgotten that TV is free. With an inexpensive off air antenna you can receive local channels in HD which I have found recently includes many more channels than you might expect. All your prime-time favorites like CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC and many more are available for free. You can even see a Guide that will tell you what is playing on each channel. What is missing is the ability to record, pause and rewind and best of all subscribe to a season pass.

Option #1:

The closest option for replacing DIRECTV and keeping the features I love is “TiVo” using the free Off Air TV signal (supported on TiVo Premiere & Premiere XL but not Premiere XL4). Switching has some upfront costs especially when replacing 4 DVR’s.

To go the TiVo route here is the low down on costs.

Costs for 4 TiVo Premiere receivers with multi-service discount:

	DVR's	Monthly	Total Monthly
1st year	$149.00ea	$12.99	$101.63
2nd year+		$9.95	$39.80

Costs for 4 TiVo Premiere XL receivers with multi-service discount:

	DVR's	Monthly	Total Monthly
1st year	$249.00ea	$12.99	$134.96
2nd year+		$9.95	$39.80

What you will be missing:

Unless you pay for Cable in addition to the fees mentioned above, then say good bye to Discovery Channel, Nickelodeon, DIY network, ESPN etc. The grass isn't always greener on the other side. I am hesitant to switch although this option is looking increasingly attractive.

Option #2:

What about all the other streaming options where you use your internet connection along with a subscription service to watch TV and movies on demand?

Apple TV and PS3/Netflix users are the only ones that offer HD 1080p content. Read the fine print. If they say they offer HD content you are most likely only getting 720p.

There is also Amazon Instant Video, hulu, and Netflix. Did I miss any? Here is a good comparison post I came across. How they stack up.

Show stoppers:

No access to popular prime-time TV shows.
I would need 4 devices, one for each TV.
No DVR for recording live TV and sports from off air signals.

More info coming soon….

Control Iphone on PC Without Jailbreaking

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:27:00 +0000

A new enhancement that I hope will be available soon is the ability to control your iPhone/iPad from your PC. If you are familiar with “Jailbreaking” there is a solution which involves installing software called Veency via Cydia and using VNC software on your PC/Mac all for free. Installation and usage can and should be much more simple and convenient so that your average user can benefit. I have been Jailbroken before, but I have been using my phone without Jailbreaking for a while now and I am doing just fine. I may have to revisit Jailbreaking again though.

As an example, I have a radio docking station which plays music from my iPhone. If I want to make any changes I have to get up and make the change. If I want to read email or text I have to remove it from the doc. If I could cut the cord (See Cut the Cord post) this would diminish the need for this feature. Even if the phone is plugged into the computer I want to be able to control it from my PC. I work from home so I am on my computer all day. This would be a great benefit but I would prefer not to have to Jailbreak my iPhone/iPad.

Resources:

There are plenty of videos on how to do this on a Jailbroken phone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ2FP2Ppz2E

Jailbreaking is legal now and there are tons of sites that will help Jailbreak your phone. Just Google “Jailbreaking”. I just found this comprehensive guide on Jailbreaking http://www.idownloadblog.com/jailbreak/

iPhone/iPad - Cut the Cord Please!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:18:00 +0000

With Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and soon to be Near-Field Communication we should be able to eliminate the need for the cord to stream music, movies and photos to a PC, TV, Home/Car stereo, PS3, Projector, Printer and other devices?

I have seen examples of this technology on NCIS and Hawaii Five O and other shows where they swiftly swipe from their iPad in the direction of a screen and the image is magically thrown onto to the nearest TV. Does this exist or is this just Hollywood special affects? We are already syncing wirelessly. Obviously manufacturers would have to add functionality to their devices. Most new TV's and other devices have WiFi capabilities or are connected via Ethernet already and software updates can provide new enhancements.

If I want to listen to music on my car stereo, I have to purchase and plug into an RF transmitter cradle or if my car stereo has an auxiliary input I can use an audio cable to listen to music. With three iPhone's an iPad and iPod in our family, things can become very messy in a hurry on family trips. Between the 12 volt charger cables, FM Transmitter cradle and/or audio cord and Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive, I have a messy maze of cords and hardware in my center console. If I dock my iPhone in an RF transmitter cradle I sometimes can't read it and wish I had it in my hand (Accept if I am driving of course. Don't text and drive!). Good luck texting or answering a phone call from the passenger seat of course while the iPhone is docked in a cradle. I hears Ford is building WI-fi connectivity in their vehicles so this could happen.

Apple Remote is a step in the right direction, but what if I am at a friends house and I want to be the DJ or share some photos on their equipment.

Are you listening Apple? You are already working on this right? I would find it hard to believe if I were the first person to think of this.

In the meantime while you wait for this feature and you are looking for an FM Transmitter cradle there are two important features I would like to point out.

If you use a cover for your iPhone make sure it will work with the cradle without having to take the cover off. You will notice this one has a short flexible power connector VS some that have a fixed power connector. This one works great with my Otterbox Case .
The FM Transmitter cradle shown here has an adjustable mount that is NOT flexible. I would avoid using ones with a flexible neck if possible. I don't like mine. For one it is permanently stuck in the 12 volt adapter hole but most of all the adjustable neck won't stay in the position that I like.

Future Technologies - I Can't Wait!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:36:00 +0000

iPhone/iPad fling transmitter - Lets cut the cord please
Control on iPhone/iPad from your PC without Jailbreaking
DVD’s a thing of the past? Details forthcoming.
Near Field Communication
Why are we paying so much to watch TV? Solutions to keep an eye on:

Free over the Air TV with TIVO
Netflix, HULU, Apple TV, Amazon, Roku
HDMI over Air
in order to get HD quality signal transferred to your HDTV, both the transmitter and receiver need to be plugged into the same circuit. In other words, both plugs need to be connected to the same breaker in your fuse box.
RF TV Remote
Near Field Communication

Details to Follow....

New Apple iPad plays 1080p HD movies - 500GB Seagate GoFlex Wireless Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 19:05:00 +0000

My 7 year older daughter was always complaining about her portable DVD player. The DVD's are scratched and her selection is dwindling. I really wanted to replace the DVD player with newer technology. I know that DVD's are going the way of the 8 track Tape which is fine by me. I started to think about all the reasons the family could use an iPad or similar tablet style device. We have a lot of movies stored on a portable USB drive, so I figured I could just hook it up to the pad and watch movie. Not so easy if you buy the iPad.

I researched how I could watch them via an iPad on the road. If I couldn't find a way then I wasn't sure I could justify buying the iPad. The iPad comes in 16, 32 or 64GB sizes none of which are enough to suite my needs. One movie alone can take up 8GB. Sure, you could shrink them, but I am picky when it comes to picture quality. You still need room for apps, photo's and music.

I read it may be possible to connect a USB device using the apple Camera kit, but it wasn't clear enough to me that it would work. I eventually found out about the Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive and was convinced to give it a try. The GoFlex drive runs on a rechargeable battery and creates a Wi-Fi hotspot allowing the iPad to connect to it wirelessly. We bought the new 3rd generation iPad and the GoFlex and I am happy to say the combination works very well. If your movies are stored in 1080p you will be amazed with the picture quality on the retina display.

How it works(short version):

Upload movies to a folder on the GoFlex Satellite drive
Unplug GoFlex Satellite drive from the USB port on the computer - (Required before the Wi-Fi signal will activate)
Turn on the GoFlex Satellite drive and wait a few moments until both lights are solid green.
On your iPhone/iPad go to "Settings" then "Wi-Fi" and connect to the "GoFlex Satellite" Network. Should see a blue light flickering now on the drive.
Using the free iPhone App called "GoFlex Media", open it and watch movies, view photo slideshows, listen to music and view documents.

It's that simple once you are all setup. My 7 year old is a pro after just a couple times using it.

But wait: It wasn't simple at 1st. Don't worry. I have resolved my issues and I thought I would pass on my knowledge to help improve the success of others. Problem is the iPad will only play certain video formats. Supported formats: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, .m4v, .mp4, and .mov. More details found on their web site (http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/). These format limitations can be worked around in some cases which I will explain later.

The Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive comes with a Free iPhone App (GoFlex Media) which will play the iPad supported formats. Formats that I tried and confirmed do not work are m2ts, mkv, avi, mpg and others I presume. I found only a small percentage of my movies were in a format that could be played through GoFlex Satellite. I anticipated this and was confident there was a solution out there. This is where I spent a lot of time trying to make things work. To speed things up for you I recommend the free Handbrake Video Conversion software. I had issues with it at first so I will hopefully save you some time with some settings which I will explain later(See Bonus section below "Air Playit").

Handbrake settings and instructions for converting unsupported movie formats:

Download and install the free Handbrake Video Conversion software.
In HandBrake, select the Source button and pick the video you want to convert.
Under "Presets" select "Regular" then "High Profile" if you want the highest possible quality.
I recommend you set a desired Default path so that you will know where the new converted movie file will be located. To accomplish this go to "Tools" then "Options" then "Output Files" and

Remember that the quality of the output is dependent on the quality of the source file. Here is a screen print showing the settings.

Other key points:
Make sure to install the latest firmware which improves on battery life and will allow you to connect to the internet while connected to the GOFlex Wi-Fi connection.
The when the Seagate GoFlex Satellite drive is connected to your computer via the supplied USB cable the battery will automatically recharge. It also comes with a 12volt and 120volt cord for recharging.

Bonus:
The GoFlex system will work great when you are on the road, but when you are at home on your wireless network you will prefer to use "Air Playit" (http://www.airplayit.com/). The big advantage is it's ability to play many more video formats. No need to convert your movies. I haven't found a format it would play yet. Additionally you don't need to connect to the GoFlex Wireless network which is an extra step.
You will find the free app in the App store.
Requires a PC version of Air Playit to be running on your computer.
I think Apple has something similar as well but I have not tried it.

Fishing Rancho Seco Reservoir in Sacramento

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:47:00 +0000

My dad and I fished Rancho Seco reservoir in Sacramento this past Sunday and I thought I would share some photos and information. My dad caught most of the fish. He had the hot fly. The crappie he caught is the biggest i have ever seen but I heard about a 2lb+ bluegill caught here as well.

There was a fishing derby here this weekend and one in the past. They have been planting lots of trout including fish 2 lbs up to 6 according to the Fish Sniffer report on Feb 16th. They actually dumped some trout on Sunday. We suspect two of the trout we caught were from the truck that dumped while we were fishing. The trout delivery caused frenzy. The doc was underwater due to so many fishermen fishing off of it. Four Sheriff's showed up just to make sure things remained peaceful. I actually saw one of them casting a line out to try his luck. I wonder if he had his fishing license.

Fishing was slow overall. We had to work at it pretty hard but did better then most of the other 200 people fishing the lake. The biggest trout was (17" 2.22 lbs) using T-14 line at about 10-15 ft deep late in the day. Best fly was dark green with black tail with Flashabou wrapped along with short shuck on body. All my fish were caught on this fly.

Someone caught a big bass there too. I snapped a photo from afar. I am pretty sure i heard them say he was over 8lbs. Nice catch. Judging by the size of her belly I presume she was feeding on fresh planted trout.

Christmas in Puerto Morelos

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:31:00 +0000

My family decided to spend Christmas in Puerto Morelos Mexico this year. Puerto Morelos is a short drive South of Cancun. There were 12 of us in all. Rather then spend a bunch of money on gifts we spent it on travel expenses and excursions. Puerto Morelos is a family friendly town and was not overrun with Tourists. It is much less expensive then Cancun and not so crowded.

We stayed at the Posada El Moro. It may be the best deal in town for the money. It was no 5 star resort by any means, but for location and staff I give it a 10. It has a pool with a shallow area for kids. It is less then a block away from the center of this family friendly town and has free Internet Access in the hotel lobby for its guests. There is some construction going on and they have some kinks to work out with the hot water heater and AC unit in the room we were in, but over all it was a pleasant stay.

We snorkeled from the uncrowded beach just a couple blocks from the hotel. You won’t see much more life if you took a guided snorkeling tour at the reef so you may want to save your money. Snorkeling off the beach was great. Schools of bait fish swarmed by our feet as we entered near the beach. We saw countless Barracuda some of which appeared to be at lease 4 feet long. They seemed to hang out in about 12 feet of water just 30 yards from shore. If you keep going you start to come unto some rocks about 50 yards out and you will see all kinds of life.

I came across a flat fish that appeared to be some sort of Flounder. I was able to get close enough to it to touch its tail. As I did this the fish made a hard left hand turn and appeared to try to reach back to my hand to bite me. I of course evaded his attack and decided I shouldn’t bother him any more. Little did I know this fish is a member of the Electric Ray family? This Ray will stun its prey with electricity. Had I known this Ray was electric I might have kept my distance. It pays to know your fish.

I made two tank dives on this trip and after this I now understand how Steve Irwin (R.I.P.) may have been succumbed to an attack by a Sting Ray. I was cruising along near the bottom of sandy area. I had no idea I was directly over a resting Sting Ray. Out of seemingly nowhere a Sting Ray jumped out from under his sanding shelter and swam away. I was startled and also lucky to have my Camera ready and snapped a quick pick. Perhaps I was lucky to still be alive. The long spear that extends out of the picture appears to be very dangerous. Since this was a popular dive spot perhaps the ray didn’t feel threatened as he was used to encountering humans.

13lb Lincod, Salmon Season Closure

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:53:00 +0000

We went fishing on fishing on Sunday and had a great trip. We decided to fish out of the Half Moon Bay marina. Normally this time of year we would be Salmon fishing, but as many of you know the Salmon season has been closed for 2008 off the coast of California for both Recreational and Commercial fisherman. The closure was done to help reverse the catastrophic disappearance of the King Salmon population. So instead of Salmon fishing we went out in hopes of catching Lingcod, Halibut and rock fish. See the video at the bottom for some of the action.

We left Tracy at around 4:45am, got gas and headed to the Half Moon Bay Harbor to launch my Dads 21ft Wellcraft fishing vessel. I towed his boat with my 03 Dodge Cummins to help cover fuel expenses. We launched his boat and headed out in search of anchovies, hoping to net or catch some live bait. No luck. The bait just wasn’t thick enough apparently. There was a recent and mysterious die-off of Anchovies at Half Moon Bay recently that you can read more about here. There is a Video here as well. Some theories as to the die off include depleted oxygen and methane gas that is created when they die. I heard the stench was pretty bad for a while in the Harbor. The birds enjoyed it I am sure. I guess the bait goes in the Harbor entrance and doesn’t know how to come out so more and more come in and the rest is history. At any rate we headed out without fresh bait.

Since we can’t fish for Salmon we were targeting Lingcod, Halibut and rockfish. The weather conditions were ideal. We started the day with high fog, very little wind and just a 1 or 2 foot swell. We headed out and north towards the fleet and started fishing near the south end of what I believe is Montara St Beach. We were able to go in closer then usual due to the excellent sea conditions. We drifted and slow trolled over sand and eventually some rocks. There were no Halibut to be found, but we manage to catch what turned out to be a personal best Lingcod trip.

The best bait I know of for catching big Lingcod is Squid. You can buy it by the box in your local grocery store. I used a two hook rig consisting of a single hook followed by a treble hook. Although this rig can increase the snag potential it did well in catch rate for me. It wasn’t long before I hooked into a large Lingcod. He turned out to weigh in at almost 13lbs. Not bad for the 1^st fish in the boat. He would have been more, but he decided to upchuck two small octopuses which together must have weighed at least a pound. It is common for Lingcod to do this. We love it cause we know whatever they upchuck might be able to be used as bait assuming it is in relatively good condition. I know this sounds gross, but this is exactly what I did and it paid off. We managed to catch at least one or two more Lingcod on the two Octopus that the 1^st one gave up.

We also used large sardines which are a favorite of Halibut. We didn’t find the Halibut, but Rock fish like them two. We boated several small rock fish and the largest Cabazon I have seen. We ended the day with 6 Lings, one Cabazon, and 5 small rock cod split 4 ways. We ate the Cabazon that night and I think it might have been the best rock fish I have ever had. We also heard of one guy that limited on Cabazon. I wish I knew where he was fishing.

I also had what must have been a shark on my line. Although we never saw it, based on its behavior, it must have been a shark. The speed at which the line came of my line was just to fast, smooth and long to be anything else. He immediately took my line towards and around a rock and almost took all the line off my spool. I had braided line or it would have snapped in an instant on the rock. We managed to back the boat up enough to get off the rock. I had a ton of line to real up and although it felt like I still had something on my line eventually things went limp. The line broke off at the knot. Wish I could have seen what it was. It wouldn’t have been the 1^st time we have hooked up on shark in this area so that must be what it was. On a previous trip years ago we lost several shark and but managed to bring two of them near the boat that weighed in at around 60lbs each. Species is unknown, but could have been a Brown Smoothhound or something similar.

Networking info and WEP or WPA encryption?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:24:00 +0000

More tech advice for you today. I have been immersed in research in hopes of solving a wireless networking issue. I now have three devices that need access to the internet. Since the PS3 will connect wirelessly I am ok there for now, but the DirecTV needs to connect for Video On Demand. The SlingBox needs a connection so I can watch TV on my PC from anywhere. I have a Linksys Game adapter that works as a wireless connection, but it only supports one device. So I have internet connectivity for two of the three devices. If I want to download Video on Demand and watch it remotely through my PC, I can’t unless I find a solution that will support the three devices.

It appears my best option is the D-Link DAP-1522 > Xtreme N Duo Wireless Bridge/Access Point. I am also surprised at how long it took me to find this. I would think this is a popular item, but BestBuy doesn't sell this according to their website. Linksys live chat support based in the Philippines recommended their WET54G Wireless-G Ethernet Bridge but wireless G is old and slower technology. The D-Link DAP-1522 bridge will allow me to connect up to 4 Ethernet-enabled devices such as Game Consoles, Digital Video Recorders (DVR), and Digital Media Adapters (DMA) to my wireless network at 802.11n speeds. I just bought the Linksys Gaming adapter and now it already needs to be replaced. This is why I am blogging. Hopefully someone else will benefit and I get to vent my frustration.

One very important fact that I learned as a result of my research today involved encryption that you use on your Router to prevent unauthorized access. Up until today I have been using WEP. I learned today that WPA is actually better and I learned that as a result of using WEP I was not able to take full advantage of the speed potential of my router.

Do you still use WEP encryption for your home network? Do you have a router that supports 802.11n speeds? If so you may not be connecting at full speed. If you are using the D-Link Gaming Router DGL-4500 (This may or may not apply to all routers that support the 802.11n technology) and you want to take advantage of the fast wireless speeds, then don’t use the WEP security option. This was news to me and the news paid off big time. If you choose the WEP security option the router will only operate in Legacy Wireless mode (802.11B/G). This means you will not get the 11N performance due to the fact that the WEP is no supported by Draft 11N specification. You spent the money to upgrade to this technology, so it aught to do what it advertised to do. To bad D-Link doesn’t let you know this important fact during the setup process. It should be shown in bold red print rather then a small blub buried in the manual.

What does this ultimately mean? Prior to using WPA my SlingBox streaming was ok, but there was some delay in optimizing which meant choppy audio initially as well as pixilated video. After making the change to use WPA security my SlingPlayer is streaming video at around 5500kbps. Smokin! Now when I change channels the picture shows up quickly without cutouts in audio. While slinging at work I was limited to around 300kbps. Next time I am at work I hope to see much higher #’s now that my Slingbox is slinging media at a much faster rate.

I still need to connect the sling box with HD cables. I might stop by Best buy tonight to pickup the required Sling Media HD Connect Cable. I will see if they will price match Amazon who sells the item for $10.00 bucks less and free shipping. This way I can use my Best Buy Rewards and I don’t have to wait to obtain the item.

SlingBox Pro Review and Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:14:00 +0000

When I am not on some adventure I have adventures in the home. I have been busy enjoying new software and taking advantage of some recent technological marvels lately. Slingbox Pro, PS3 Blue Ray disc player, DirecTV HD with TiVo, Battlefield 2142, Cyberlink Power Director and more. All this new Software and tech toys are keeping me occupied at home. Maybe a little too much. That’s ok partly due to the fact that there isn’t much on TV lately until the new fall shows start airing.

Gas prices are keeping us at home more as well. We passed on a trip to Lake Davis which turned out to be good fishing according to my dad. Gas alone would have cost 200.00 round trip which in hindsight isn’t too bad for a week of fun. Is my math wrong. Over 440 miles round trip at 11 MPG would require 40 gallons of Diesel. At close to 5 bucks per gallon not including oil and general wear and tear that would be $200.00. Prior to writing this blog I had it in my mind that it would cost more. I only drive into work once a week or less lately. When I do drive I try to drive the Honda Accord rather then the full size Dodge Dually. So the timing is right to enjoy some new technology at home.

As I write this from work during my lunch break I am watching the News being broadcast from my home using my new SlingBox Pro which is connected to my DirectTV HD Tivo receiver. I can pause and rewind, watch prerecorded programs, PPV, ESPN or whatever just like at home. The quality is not the same, but it looks good. I am not yet connected using HD connections so the picture quality may improve. The install was surprisingly simple. I already had a working internet connection avail. I just plugged in and ran the install. The firmware was automatically updated for me during this process. Once complete I was watching TV from my laptop wirelessly.

Here are some tips you should be aware of if you plan to buy a Sling Box.

1. If you plan to hook up to the SlingBox Pro using HD cable connections you will have to purchase the Sling Media - SlingBox Pro HD Connect Cable. Out of the box there is a sticker covering the HDMI connector on the back of the SlingBox stating that this cable is a must if you want to connect in HD. Bust buy sells them for 50.00 or only 40.00 with free shipping from Amazon. Question is do you really need this. I plan on buying it and will let you know if it helps the image quality. If you don’t have a fast network, it may not matter much. Even with this connect cable you will still be using Component Video cables rather then HDMI.
2. The Sling Box supports up to 4 devices, but it only comes with an IR cable designed to control up to two devices. If you want to control 4 devices you will need to purchase another cable.
3. You may want to wait to buy the SlingBox until Q3 2008 when the SlingBox Pro-HD is supposed to be avail. Read more about it here.

Issues I still need to resolve.
1. Recently I went from needing just one internet connection to 3 behind my TV. One for my DirecTV, Slingbox and the PS3. I have three different Linksys 4 port routers at home. I tried two of them with no luck, so I have some work cut out for me to try to combine them with my Linksys Dual-Band Wireless-N Gaming Adapter. Can it be done, or do I have to buy more hardware. It’s either this or keep swapping Ethernet cables between devices.
2. What if you wanted to watch and control several HD sources. I think there may be a way to use my HD Denon A/V receiver as the HD Input. I think you can create separate profiles for each device so that you will have remote control over it. We shall see. Wish me luck.
3. It would be nice to use my Sling Player on my work laptop from home while connected to my work through VPN. So far no luck. It would be great if I could do this and print to my networked home printer and access shared folders on my home pc etc. VPN is very private. Nothing outside can get in and nothing inside can get out through VPN even if it is trusted from what I have found so far.

I have more information surround this and other items mentioned above. More about them later. Time to get on the road so I can get home and play.

La Paz Fly Fishing

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:29:00 +0000

I spent a week in La Paz which included 5 days of Fly Fishing organized by Jay Murakoshi of Flies Unlimited. This trip titled Isla Cerralvo Adventure which you can read more about here was well organized. Although I have not gone on any of what my dad calls rich man trips, I am betting this one would be listed near the top overall. The price was very reasonable too. Although I consider myself an excellent angler I learned a ton thanks to Jay’s tips and the experience.

The 1^st two days looked really promising. My dad and I both lost big fish. My dad lost a big Mahi Mahi the 1^st day. You have to move with the fish and he didn’t move fast enough and his line caught on the out board motor causing the line to break. I managed to catch a small one around 5 lbs shown here. Out captain Beto is holding him. Had I known it would be my last Mahi Mahi I would have held him for the photo I presume, but there were other fish around. We just couldn’t hook anymore up. We both caught some decent sized Black Skip Jacks.

We tried our best to stay away from the needle fish like the one shown here, but they managed to take several of our flies on this trip. They are toothy critters and if you are lucky and they don’t take your fly you will at least have to retie your fly as they will do damage to your leader almost every time.

Day two of fishing was better then the 1st day aside from rookie mistakes. It was windy and we weren’t sure we would fish, but someone recommended an option that would get us out of the wind so we headed towards protected waters for bait. We got bait and immediately started fishing and hooked into around 7 small rooster fish each give or take a few. It was an exciting start and good practice as I was new to big game fly fishing.

We had aspirations for bigger and better fish and with the strong northerly decided to make a move around the south side of a point where big roosters sometimes hang out. It turned out to be a great move. We had the place all to our selves at 1^st. The captain threw bait and it wasn’t long before big roosters were circling the boat. We boated one or two Pacific Jack Crevalle’s before my dad hooked up with his 1^st big rooster. He fought the rooster for around a half hour. He had the drag set pretty tight and eventually the ling broke at the knot. Jay was on the boat with us and estimated the fish at around 50 or 60lbs. My dad was plagued with broken leaders on this trip and as it turned out the 20lb leader material we were using was lucky to withstand 14lbs. Although it was recentl purchased, we theorized that it must have been on the shelf too long. I was using the same leader material, but I think I used less drag then he did. I was religious about checking for abrasions on the line and always retied with the slightest imperfection.

On Saturday before our 1^st day of fishing Jay gave us the lowdown on what to expect, fly’s, tackle and technique along with some photo’s to get us excited. He brought up a story was a guy that lost a big fish. The fish took enough line to get down to a spot where a knot was. I guess the guy knew about it and forgot to fix it. He lost his fish as a result. I didn’t think anything of it, but that was a mistake. I was borrowing a reel and had faith that it was setup properly and didn’t check the backing to see that it was wound on tight. This turned out to be a mistake as I too lost a big rooster. As soon as it pulled enough line out to get down to the loose backing it somehow managed to tangle under another strand and the reel froze and the line snapped instantly under the pressure. Needless to say I will be removing the entire backing and putting it back on tight. If you roll your thumb over the backing, the line should be tight and not move. Lesson learned.

Day 1 and two turned out to be our best opportunity. We mainly targeted Mahi Mahi since we wanted to take home some fish. We caught more fish, but none of the good eating variety until the last day. A school of African Pompano moved in and I cheated. Since they were deep I put a sinker and a live bait on my fly rod and dropped it down and hooked up and boated a nice one around 10 pounds. We ate him up last night. It was excellent. It was like tuna only softer like a salmon.

We saw some amazing things while out there. We drove by a bird sitting on top of a turtle floating out in the middle of nowhere. A whale passed by as well only about 300 yards from shore. We saw flying fish. We watched needlefish scoot across the water like it was on ski's. Pretty amazing. What was even more spectacular was the large Manta Rays that would jump 10 feet in the air and perform aerial acrobatics. They would flip two or three times in the air sometimes before crashing down. You have to see it to believe it. Scary thing is sometimes they have been known to inadvertently jump into a boat. Most are 50lbs and bigger. Many were well over 200 lbs I am sure. I wouldn’t want one of them in the small panga’s that we were in.

Fly fishing takes a lot out of you. We were using 10 weight rods with heavy sinking shooting heads. You are casting all day long and the 1^st few days were grueling. There was pain in the back, shoulder, forearm and wrist, not to mention the normal tired eyes from being in the sun all day. We would take Aleve at night and by Thursday I was feeling less pain, and by Friday I don’t recall any pain. Guess your body will recover and build up those muscles. So why do we do it? Honestly if it were up to me I would have enjoyed using some conventional tackle, but there is more honor and respect if you can catch the fish on a fly at least amongst the fly fishing crowd. In hindsight trolling around with conventional tackle would have produced more fish, but with day 1 an 2 being so good we really thought we had a chance at the big one during the remaining three days.

It is amazing how many varieties are out there that people don’t eat. There are a lot of rock fish that are good but we were not targeting them. I did catch a small Cabrilla which I let the captain have. We tried to avoid catching Ladyfish. I free dove on Saturday out in front of our hotel La Concha. Saw several species including a puffer fish, a couple trigger fish.

We had great weather for most days. Some things in life unfortunately require you to learn the hard way. As a result the big fish got away on this trip. This however just makes you want to go back. If it was easy catching big fish you probably wouldn’t fish as much. It was a great trip regardless and I look forward to doing something similar again. Thanks for the Birthday present dad.

Lake Tulloch Summer 2004

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:34:00 +0000

I made a video/slide show of our trip to Lake Tulloch, Ca back in the summer of 2004. We enjoyed relaxing, tubing and wake boarding. It has a short video of some deer that wandered into our camp looking for a hand out. Pictures show a small spike that I am sure has been on someones dinner table by now.

I had seen deer eating marshmallows once before at Lake Davis so when I saw the deer mulling around our camp site, I grabbed the marshmallows and the camera and told the girls to follow. I threw a couple marshmallows to lure them. The small buck was a little timid as well he should be. His mom wasn't shy though. We all got to feed her and the pictures keep the memory fresh.

There are some photo's of some water sites that I recommend especially if you have a boat. Just make sure you call ahead to reserve them, perhaps a year in advance from what I recall. We parked our boat at the dock which wasn't bad, but you have no way of keeping an eye on it. The dock rocks about due the the waves of other boats, so make sure you bring extra bumpers.

One camper found an injured bird that took to him. Here is a photo of the bird sitting on his head. Not sure what eventually happened to the bird. You never know what can happen when you get out and see the world. We did some fishing, but had no luck as I recall. In fact I have never heard of Lake Tullock as being a fishing lake. Perhaps we just didn't use the right technique. It is great for camping and boating though. the sites are close together so you may be forced to get to know your neighbors whether you want to or not.

Lake McSwain Campout May 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:20:00 +0000

The family and I went camping at Lake McSwain, Ca this past weekend. It was a fun and eventful trip filled with Trout fishing, potluck’s and wildlife viewing. Check out the video. This was my 1st attempt at video production with the new CyberLink PowerDirector Ver 7 software that I purchased so cut me some slack. The jury is still out on the software though. I am not too happy yet.

I have had several crashes already and I can’t find a simple fade out feature on a video clip. It crashed the 1st time I attempted to use it right after the installation. I believe it was due to the FFDShow software. As soon as I uninstalled the FFDShow software PowerDirector ran fine. It does look promising but there is much to learn and it has crashed several times. I recommend you save and save often.

I attempted to use the feature that allows you to upload your video to YouTube, but it doesn’t seem to want to take my Google login id. So I had to do the upload manually. The nice thing is that it creates the video in a format that YouTube will accept. If I were using a normal YouTube login, it would most likely work fine.

We arrived at the lake Friday evening and pulled into our designated RV camp site. We were greeted by my parents who were already up there. My dad had already been fishing so he had the technique down. Although I wasn’t expecting to fish that evening, the offer was made so I took it. There wasn’t much light left in the day but we went out for an hour or so. Roland caught all the fish on this trip. I had a few strikes, but the hook wouldn’t set. We were slow trolling rusty colored wooly bugger style fly’s. We theorized that the tail on the fly’s we were using was too long.

The next day after a nice breakfast I took my wife out for some tolling. I used an old favorite fly of mine. I was not confident in the rust colored fly that I had used the night before. Not long after setting the lines I hooked up and caught a nice sized trout on my fly. After that we didn’t catch a fish for an hour and a half or so. We were kept entertained though by some of the local wild life. My wife was also reading her ladies magazine and sharing what she read.

We were trolling along and I heard some twigs breaking behind me. I turned around and saw a Deer strolling along the shoreline heading for some shade less then 50ft away. It was approaching 100 degrees so I can’t blamer her and was actually surprised to see a deer up and about this time of day. I quickly grabbed the camera and caught the tail end of her as she went behind a tree.

While filming her I glanced up and to my right I saw a Bobcat, just 50 yards away from the deer. I got some good footage of the bobcat as well which you can view on the video as well. Perhaps the bobcat was looking for an easy meal and woke the deer up from her resting place. Had the deer had a small fawn with her, then I bet the bobcat would be eating, however the doe appeared to be alone.

We were finally reached a point as we were trolling up the canyon where the water temperature started dropping from 57 degrees. Lake McSwain is fed by Lake McClure. The water from McClure must be taken from the bottom of the lake cause it is really cold. As it fills in lake McSwain the water temperature will change significantly throughout the entire lake. In a short space the water temp went from as high as 60 down to 51 degrees. Once we neared the temperature change around 11AM, the fishing improved. I caught two more trout on the same Rusty colored fly within 10 minutes. I had shortened the tail by ¼ inch and I didn’t miss any fish on this trip. The fish we caught were slightly larger though so this may have had something to do with it as well. It was 11 and we needed to get back for the potluck so we had to call I quits for now.

While back at camp I cleaned the fish, filmed a small cottontail rabbit and a California Whiptail lizard that seem interested in me. Perhaps he was waiting for a hand out. We enjoyed a potluck lunch had a long nap and then I decided to do some free diving.

I needed to try the wet suit without my hooded vest to confirm if the suit would still fit. It is still much too tight. So I will be looking for a new suit before my next dive in cold water. The water in the lake was around 55 degrees so there was no way I was going in without the suit. By the time I was done, my face was numb. I can see why the hood is important to be comfortable.

I didn’t see much underwater. Visibility was low and it wasn’t an ideal dive spot, but this was just another learning dive for me. I started with 20lbs which was what I thought would be good for this dive. It was too much. I ended up being most comfortable with only 10lbs. Diving in fresh water is different then salt and I wasn’t wearing the hooded vest so this must be the reason for the difference in weight requirement. I did see a carp that appeared to be guarding his nest. I forgot batteries in the underwater camera so no pics. But it wasn’t all that interesting. The rest of the dive consisted of mud, weeds, clam shells and rocks.

We went on a couple more fishing trips. One Saturday evening and Sunday morning and caught more trout. We saw a Coyote on Sunday morning taking a stroll. Trout fishing was decent and we enjoyed the fish Sunday evening. The fish was fresh and tasty. I will be having the rest for lunch today. Mmmmm. I have to apologize for the quality of photo's. They are all video snapshots.

Monterey Ca Free Dive Trials

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:47:00 +0000

I went free diving in Monterey on Saturday. It was my 1^st time free diving in a 7 mil dive suit. My main goal was to do some experimenting. I wanted to try it out and find out how much weight I would need to be comfortable. I dove from a popular beach near lovers point. It was easy walk in diving. I brought my camera to take a few pictures.

I started out with only 10lbs on my weight belt. That wasn’t near enough so I added more for a total of 26lbs. This was a little too much as I felt I had to work too hard to rest between dives. As it turns out 20lbs to 24lbs might be good. But that could change due to the issues I have with the suit.

My suit is too tight with the dive hood vest combo. I had a hard time breathing. Between the breathing issues and being a couple pounds over weighted it made for an uncomfortable feeling. My plan is to try the suit without the vest. I am going to a lake this weekend, so I might give it a try. I lost my sunglasses in the water there last year, so maybe I will find them. Lots of luck. More likely I will find someone else’s, but that might not be a bad thing. Diving without a hood in Monterey just might be too cold though. I would modify my dive vest with some scissors but it is real tight on my neck as well.

It is supposed to be really hot this weekend at the lake however the water in the lake comes from the bottom of a larger lake, so the temperature should be pretty cold still. I may still need the suit to be comfortable. Free diving in a tropical location is so much more fun. Conditions in Monterey where I dove were not clear either. Less then 10 feet of visibility I presume as you can see by the photo’s. I was told going further north would have been better, but this was an experimental dive so I opted for an easy entry location.

My ankles are torn up from playing soccer all these years. It was a little painful to move the fins underwater. I suppose with practice the pain will eventually go away, but I wonder if smaller fins would be advisable. I might try my wife’s fins this weekend as well to see if they are helpful. All in all it wasn’t a good dive, but after making some changes things should improve.

The big one got away

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:36:00 +0000

I am finally getting around to reporting on last Friday’s fishing trip. We went Striper fishing again and we did slightly better then last time. Unfortunately the big one got away this time. We got an early start launching in Antioch and immediately went to my favorite spot, a sand bar on the San Joaquin which didn’t produce any fish. As it turned out it was still the tail end of the Incoming tide but I still expected to do better here. We hit another spot upstream that we had heard held fish, but no luck either. The seal we trolled by in this photo didn't seem to mind being bothered by us. He barely lifted his head after his sleep was rudely interrupted.

We shot by Brannon Island and started trolling up the Sacramento River near the old Dairy and caught our 1^st keeper. It was caught on what must have been an antique. It had a white jig head with a spinner and long ribbon styled white rubber tail. The remaining fish were all caught on my rod for some reason. This trip out we were all were using various colored Yo-Zuri shallow running rebels with worm trailers. I was using my favorite with an off white with sparkles curly tailed grub which I shortened a bit to make sure if I do get a hit that it sticks.

We caught two more just north of the Rio Vista bridge on the East side. One around 22 inches and one that went 7 lbs. We then headed south and I ended up hooking into a large striper near Decker Island. I was just about to fall asleep after a long day when my rod started to thrash from the striper attacking the Yo-Zuri shallow runner. I jumped up and grabbed the rod and fought the fish up to the boat. He took a dive and I held him, and the second time he came up he turned hard and dove and the lure popped off. This was the second fish to pop off today for me. My dad said my drag was set to tight and I agree. I am always learning. The fish was definitely over 10 lbs, of course there is no proof of that. You just have to take my word. J

We hit my favorite spot one more time since it was on the way home and caught one more, so we had three fish in the boat. All fish were caught in Shallow water in the 6 to 10 foot range. I found two more area’s that hold fish now, so this is good for future trips. This will just about do it for striper fishing for a while. This weekend we will be camping on a lake catching trout, and after that I am off to La Paz Mexico for 5 days of fly fishing for big game. Should be exciting.

Dave's Trophy Room

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:58:00 +0000

The two photos shown in this post came within a couple weeks of each other. Talk about some incredible luck. A 41 pound Salmon and an amazing 4 point buck.

It was late October 2004 when the 41lb Salmon was taken right around the time my daughter Alyssa was born or about to be born. The actual dates are a little fuzzy. I just remember having to plan carefully to avoid missing out on the birth of my daughter. I didn't want to be out to sea when my wife went into labor. In any case I managed to sneak out for a day.

We fished out north of the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge in an area called Duxberry. It is commonly known to hold large salmon late in the season, so if you want to catch them big this is the place and the time to go. The odds of catching a 41 pounder is still very rare though. My previous record was around 24lbs, so this was a step up.

It was an amazing battle. Salmon have sharp pointed teeth and the longer the salmon is on the line the more likely those teeth will do harm to the line. Not to mention seals are known to come steal the salmon off of your line. This bruiser made us work for it. It was a three man effort to get this monster in the boat. One on the rod, another driving and a third with the net. The fish would circle the boat and it was a constant effort to keep the boat line up with him. I can remember seeing him come close several times teasing us only to turn away effortlessly leaving a trail of blood in its wake like sports car leaving rubber on the road. It is one of those moments that you never forget.

41 Pound Salmon

We waited to go hunting until after Alyssa was born. This kept the wife happy. :) We chose a D zone knowing we would want a short drive to get to the hunting grounds. We hunted what was probably the last weekend of the 2004 hunting season right after a big storm hit. We camped just below the snow level waited out the rain and walked out of camp in the late afternoon. I was nearing the end of a semi open ridge line and nearing the point at which I would want to turn around. I was able to walk fairly quickly and quietly as the ground was wet. There was some tall bushes that I was traversing through and as came around a bush a deer came into view about 60 yards down the ridge. At this point it's head was down. I remember thinking it must be a buck as I could see branches of a bush being rustled as he ate, but in the end I think it was just it's antler's. I had never seen antlers on a Ca black tail that big before accept maybe on someones wall or in pictures.

The gun came off my shoulder, safety switched off, and I aimed my Remington 247 all in one smooth motion. This wasn't my 1st time doing this. simultaneously the buck raised it's head and turned to stair at me. About the time he caught eyes with me I had him in my scope. It was over in a matter of a second or two. 2004 was by far my best season for trophy's. Most hunters are lucky to see any buck and a nice 4 point like this is rare. The timing was right and luck was on my side.

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 07 May 2008 19:40:00 +0000

I have decided to create a second blog to log my adventures. My 1st blog http://catmandreams.blogspot.com/ will now stay on topic and this new blog will be for any of my adventures that are not related to Catamarans. I feel this will be better for readers that view my blogs. I imagine in the future many of my adventures will be accomplished on a Catamaran, but for now I think it is best to keep two separate blogs.

The summer is coming and I have plans to go fishing, camping, diving, boating, hunting, playing soccer and more. I look forward to logging these adventures here for friends and family to enjoy. I will try to be informative and instructive as well to enhance the value of this blog to random readers.