Thread: Caught a bunch of Arizona Bluegills

thats a good meal for sure

JJ

Right on.

Caught on slipbobbers and dillies? What's a dilly?

Dillies are like baby nightcrawlers here in Arizona.Like the size of a redworm,I guess,but look like a little canadian crawler.

If you don't mind me asking what lake is that in AZ?

Saguaro on the Salt River chain isn't it?

I was wondering the same, where it is? Its hard to say, definitely looks like either Canyon, Apache, Saguaro, or Roosevelt but then again I used to fish Mittry & Martinez north of Yuma that offer similar vistas and I ferget the name of the lake NW of Phx towards Wickenburg. Actually, Horseshoe Lake and Bartlett could be considered too.
Regardless, nice catch.
Are any of you boys familiar with the Yuma area? I used to go to a spillway on the Gila Rivers just above where it dumps into the Colorado and catch the heck outta tilapia. There were some pretty good catfish holes in the bends of the Gila and frog-giggin was
great there too. I used to make a pilgramige each year to Luna Lake on the NM border too. Trolling anchovies for stripers in Havasu. Man I miss "home". If I ever have my say, the finances, & live long enuf I have full plans to retire there. I know just where too- Star Valley just outta Payson. One of my fondest memories was after a horseshoeing gig that spanned several days in the Payson area I read Under The Tonto Rim sittin on the steps of Zane Grey cabin and a cow elk came nosing up to me snorting.
Anyone there ever been to Sheep Crossing on the Verde River north of Horseshoe Lake?
Is the bathtub still there fed by a warm spring? Man I had to beat my way thru a javalina run thru cane to get to it back in the 80's.
Whats the Apache Trail look like nowdays? Has it changed much? I was one of about 8 P.O. Box holders in Tortilla Flat for a cpl yrs. Is Kovacs Korner still in biz? I had some wild times in there and Jerry who with a partner was developing Goldfield at the time, the restaurant had just open and Willie Whitefeather had his teepee there and sold natural herbs and took folks out on Vision Quest trips. Are the barstools in Tortilla Flat still all saddles? Tell me all, I am starved fer news. I used to date the daughter of the damtender at Apache Lake Dam, they lived right there on site off the Apache Trail. She worked in the ice cream parlor at Tortilla Flats. Aint none of you by chance know a red-headed p-wood named Tim that lives on the trail? He always had a roadgrader parked by his house and was the dude who maintained the Trail. He had a horse I took care of along with another Trail resident dang I cant remember his name, a retired pharmecist from Mesa. He had a horse named Bud and we rode up to Reavis Ranch in the Supes many a time. When I left AZ they were talkin about taking a cargo chopper and reclaiming the old cast iron stove at Reavis Ranch, do any of ya know if they ever did?
It was still a mystery at the time as to how they ever got that stove there. Good lord this brings back memories of waking up to the vista of Apache Leap & Weavers Needle.
Musta been around 1988 that the city of Apache Junction was celebrating its Centennial, the Superstition Freeway was opening, and it was the 100th anniversary of the death of Jacob Waltz-the Lost Dutchman. An art store in Scottsdale was ran by a cpl who were both avid trail riders and used to ride frequently on the First Water Trailhead. One day as they were riding they said wouldnt it be cool to have a treasure hunt in the Supes to celebrate all the historical stuff going on. Long story short they commisioned a Western sculptor named Harlan Young who sculpted 3 sculptings. One was of a packteam of horses by itself, another was of Jacob Waltz on a horse and the 3rd was of Waltz with a packstring of horses. The sculptings were for sale at their art gallery for $3900 apiece, 300 of each were bronzed and the molds were broken. The sculptings were numbered and #1 of one of em was taken into the Supes by them and hidden. If you found it you got the $3900 it was worth from the art gallery and $1000 in gold from the City of Apache Junction. 2 clues came out in the Sunday edition of the AZ Republic every week. The first two were:
1) You will have no need of a pick or shovel
2) The rays of the setting sun can easily shine upon the bronze.

I was on a horse with provisions and a spotting scope in fast action. I figured take the
2nd Water Trailhead and scope the western exposures. I spent a full week glassing the Supes and only came out to get the newspaper for the next 2 clues. Well there were no more clues, the Park Service had jammed the art gallery folks that they could not conduct a treasure hunt in a Nat'l Wilderness Area so all they said was that it was still there but outside of park boundaries. Back I go cuz now it has been narrowed down considerably. I spend 5 more days and finally give up as horseshoeing obligations are pressing. I come to find out it had already been found by 2 punk mountain bike rider kids.
Sittin right off the trail in full view right where I had ridden past. This is why I dont play the lotto. Dadgummit in a big way. Willie Whitefeather tried to console me with some of his desert natural healing potions and I told him to go **** himself. Heck, I had ridden all thru & across the Supes many a time and used to chase cattle at round-up every yr for 6-7 yrs for the TU Ranch which is almost directly across the road from The SW Arboretum in Superior, AZ. Some of their grazing permit from the BLM was in the eastern Supes. I figgered I had as good a shot as anyone & better than most. Hey do any of ya know if Los Hermanos Saloon is still operating in Superior? Its on the right as you enter Superior comin from Phx way? If you ever wanna celebrate Cinco de Mayo they rope off the streets in downtown Superior and it used to be an absolute hoot. I rode my horse into one of the saloons downtown one yr at Cinco de Mayo and he promptly took a dump at the bar and went to eating all the popcorn they had set out in baskets on the bar. I didnt go home alone that night (bunkhouse at the TU) but I have no idea what happened once there. I told the lady thank you in the morning but aint sure I'm sorry wouldnt have been more appropriate. My friggin horse had the popcorn farts for 3 days.

Wow,horseshoer.I have been to every place that you have mentioned,lots of times.heck,you probably shoed my mule for me.Sally Fields,lol.Bay racing mule that used to kick it up in the Superstitions,Sheeps Crossing,Star Valley,Christopher Creek Them pictures are of Saguaro Lake.The lake that you mentioned up past Cave Creek is lake Pleasant.Come on back,fishing is just getting good.It was cold the other day,like 68 degrees that morning that I caught the bluegills had to put a longsleeved tee shirt on,lol.

Originally Posted by azslabber

Wow,horseshoer.I have been to every place that you have mentioned,lots of times.heck,you probably shoed my mule for me.Sally Fields,lol.Bay racing mule that used to kick it up in the Superstitions,Sheeps Crossing,Star Valley,Christopher Creek Them pictures are of Saguaro Lake.The lake that you mentioned up past Cave Creek is lake Pleasant.Come on back,fishing is just getting good.It was cold the other day,like 68 degrees that morning that I caught the bluegills had to put a longsleeved tee shirt on,lol.

Ok, rub it in then!:D I am an avid gardener and we are right at our average date of first freeze here. Not a problem though as I was born & raised in MN.
Lake Pleasant. Thank you. And I remembered the name of the retired pharmacist- Dave Duckworth. He is probly no longer with us, he was pushin 65-70 when I knew him. Is Turf Paradise still in operation there? I used to shoe some of the track horses there in the 80's. One of my bigger accounts was Weldon Stables in Papago Park. Another was Carefree Ranch Stables in Carefree/Cave Creek. Quit reading at any time cuz I feel myself gettin windy. I NEVER shoulda left AZ. I am gonna ask you a favor before I fergit- can you see if theres a listing for either Wally or Danny McKenzie, or McKenzie Bros Masonry? They lived just outside Cave Creek but were building a house in New River when I left. They were great friends and I am not asking cuz I am bill collecting or anything. I helped them lay the flagstone in the entrance of Alice Coopers house built into the side of Black Mt. in Cave Creek. 2 more hilarious Englishmen never walked the face of the earth. We knocked the suds off more than one brewski at Crazy Eds Cave Creek Corral in CC, the Horny Toad, Satisfied Frog, and the Mineshaft.
What were you doing with a racing mule, other than the obvious?:D I used to shoe mules at Fred Harveys barn at the Grand Canyon. And as ya drive the road going to Horseshoe Lake you can see a ranch just right of the dam. That was the KA Ranch when I was there and owned by Kenny Anderson, a constuction bigwig from Mesa. They had nuthin BUT mules there and a ranker crew of critters to shoe never lived. He used the ranch at the time mainly for entertainment purposes, it was not much of a working ranch. His hands were all Mexican and I'm sure wet, but man there was a dude there who was the ropenest fool I ever saw. I even entertained the thought of seeing if I could get him legal and take him to enuf amateur rodeos to get him a pro card, which there was no doubt whatsoever he would be able to do. Dang he was good. You wanna talk about a freaky ride, I took my horse across the walkway that is just below the spillway of Horseshoe Lake once, and lemme tell ya the concrete ramp that leads outta it going towards the KA is concrete & some kinda steep. My horse was shod and regardless if he woulda been barefoot traction was an issue and I finally got off and was able to lead him up it. I rode him across the dam though, and the spillway was dumping water and that was scary as crap riding along this narrow corridor with the drop one one side the dam provides, and a waterfall arms length away the whole trip. I actually rode the Verde all the way up thru Strawberry & Pine and on to Flag and the canyon. I got a pic somewhere of my horse standing knee deep in the Verde with 3-point hobbles on, drinking with about 15 mule deer. If you ever run into a length of 3/8 braided nylon on the east side of the Verde just below Sheep Crossing, thats mine.:D I cant swim a lick and before fording the Verde horseback I tied off to a Palo Verde tree and let the rope play out as we crossed. I needed a lifeline if anything went amiss.
Have you been to the spring there at Sheep Crossing? There was a cpl bldgs there that had partial walls intact and foundation remains from a cpl more.
I carried a certain amount of provisions in my saddlebags (no pack horse), and carried a skillet and coffee pot with me. I also had a 30-30 in a scabbard and the first time I ever camped at SC I shot a rabbit and made it for supper along with some freeze-dried & dehydrated stuff I carried. That night a skunk visited me and I mean on top of my sleeping bag. I chased him off without getting my bag peed on but that was enuf for me. There was a cement water trough or feeder there that had sides to it and was dry inside. I slept in it the rest of that night.:D
I had alotta good times in AZ. I have been up & down Gurley St. in Prescott
(Whiskey Row), one day I was sittin in Matts Saloon (Where'd Ya Git Dem Red Eyes) and Bruce Springsteen motored in with a cpl other dudes on bikes and ended playing a few songs on the equipment the house band had.
Oh man, the statue of Bucky O'Neil in courthouse square. "Hang em high in Yavapai." I even shod a cpl of the Bud Clydesdales that were there 4th of July for Prescott Frontier Days from the west coach hitch outta Loma Linda, CA. There is normally a farrier that travels with the horses to all events but the guy was down with the flu and stayed back in CA. I also did the 8-up hitch of Dominoes Pizza Ponies that came to Tempe from Michigan for the Fiesta Bowl parade. Those were one group of rank Welsh/Cobb ponies. Whoever their regular farrier was must not have had much horse savvy, or a heavy hand. Ialso made my only TV appearance riding with the mgr of Weldon Stables atop the mts Sun Devil Stadium is situated in. It was halftime break of the very 1st game the Cardinals played as an AZ team and they did a zoom focus of the surroundings near the stadium. Some of my other frequents was J Bar S Ranch right there next to Rawhide on north Scottsdale Rd and also Old McDonalds Farm in the same area and Happy Valley Ranch in Deer Valley. Bob & Leola Richardson owned all 3 places plus Weldon Stables. His son Tommy managed Weldons and one day a bunch of cops pulled in in uniform and rented a few horses- "Queer Patrol" making a tour of the park, its remudas, seems it was a hotspot for gay hook-ups. One day one of the wranglers there came galloping in screaming "Tommy, Tommy, theres 2 guys parked back in bushes just outside Papago Golf Course doing the nasty."
Tommy grabbed his rope, beet red with rage, and hopped on the closest dude horse on the picket line and lit a shuck. 20 min. later he returned, having taken the car license # and when one of the dudes bailed he roped him (heeled him) and came back draggin this sucker who had more red meat than skin showing. To my knowledge, it is the first incident of fag-roping I know of. It is a sport I have always been interested in but being hetero, I find myself in a fag-poor environment and thus it has never got any further than planning stage.
Del Westerns School of Horseshoeing in Phx was the one & only farrier supply at the time and Harry Porter was a legend of saddlemaking.
Do ya still ride? What are farrier rates in AZ? I get $30 a trim, $80 for a full set of cold shoes, $55 for shoes up front and barefoot in back. That is middle-of-the-line rates here right now. Hot shoes and corrective shoeing that requires forging is more. I just went up on my rates $5 for everything-they quit selling shoes by the lb and now sellem by the PAIR. I dont know who is behind that but I would like to do a tensile strength test on his ballbag. I have yet to meet an owner who has half a horse, or run into any 2-legged horses, WTH? Nails have gone sky-high, I think I am paying $40 for a 500 count box. I do this for a living and although I may use the leftover carrots in an omelette cuz I hate waste, I buy only the best quality tools, and recently paid $205 for a pair of GE hoof nippers. Rasps are $20 a whack. Its getting ridiculous man. Wasnt all that long ago I figured I had a $5 investment in 4 shoes and the nails to hold em on, now its right around $10. I hated like hell to raise my rates cuz I am country and although I have a good sense of economics I am not one of these guys charging $100 to shoe a horse, as long as I can meet my expenses and eat and buy my ol lady a vibrating toy each Xmas I am satisfied. I am getting crusty in my older age though. Just today I had a call from a lady who I dont know from Adam that wanted me to replace a shoe her horse threw. I basicly told her in nice words "if you dont buy yur tires from me dont call here to fix yur flats." Mine dont come off prematurely and if one does I will back up my work.
In closing, whoever thought up Grand Ave in Phx sure threw a screw in an otherwise perfectly laid out street system.

mice catch