San Gabriel Fly Fishing Report- East and North Fork

Ed and I hit the East Fork of the San Gabriel River today. With all the rain we had this year, we were hoping the river would be fishable by now. Flows are still high making wading extremely difficult. Fishing is also a challenge. The flows are just too great to present a fly. Our intention was to hike in a couple miles before fishing. We quickly realized that wasn't going to happen. I managed a few before we started to head back to campground where its flatter and therefore slower water. It was here at the the campground that Ed and I a caught the majority of our fish.

Once we had our fill we headed out. On our way out I decided to check out the West and North Forks to see if they were fishable. Both look much better than the East Fork. We drove along the North Fork and decided to throw our lines out. The flows were much more ideal for fly fishing than the East Fork. Since it was around 3 when we started we only fished for just over an hour managing a few fish. This was my first time fishing the North Fork. I really like fishing this river unforetunately since much of the river runs along the road its largely littered with trash from idiots who don't know better or who just don't give a damn. With all the trash, it really detracts from the whole outdoor experience lessening the pleasure. I really can't stand these bottom feeders who destroy our wilderness areas. Although Ed who has fished these waters before told me up the road more where one must hike to the river less of this occurs and its much more pristine. I hope that's the case and next time I'll have to check it out.




At the North Fork:

My first North Fork Trout:

Linder Trachtenmesser and Drahthaar Products

After placing an order on the 1st of April, my order from Linder finally arrived. I've ordered items elsewhere from Germany and I've never had to wait so long for a package. I was pretty surprised on how long DHL Germany had held my item. I checked the tracking number and the package sat at several distribution centers for days before moving to the next stage. That being said I've finally recieved my package.

I order a wild boar head trachtenmesser, a letter opener and bottle cap opener both with a Drahthaar figurine.

These Bavarian style knives have no belt sheath as they are intended to be carried in the specifically designed side knife pocket of German hunting pants or lederhosens.

I upgraded to the Forester sheath with has stags stamped on the German silver fittings.

Here are the close ups of the sheaths:


I chose the Wild Boar head model. Ever since I'd seen one in a Frankonia catalog back in the early nineties, I've always wanted this knife. The handle is genuine stag. Its funny when I was younger I never liked stag handles but now I really like them now. I actually prefer them now over wood.

The boar head is pretty detailed.

I also chose the "decorated" blade similiar to my Laguiole knife.

As a Drahthaar owner and lover, I purchased some of their Drahthaar figured items as well. I chose the cap lifter and letter opener. Both have genuine stag handles. You can tell by the picture below, the handle on the cap lifter is much smoother and less textured like the letter opener and my knife.

Unlike in Germany where the Drahthaar can be considered the national dog, here in the States, the Drahthaar is not a very popular breed. As such finding Drahthaar themed items is very difficult. So once I found out Linder had a few items I decided to snatch them up.

The figure deplicts a drahthaar proudly holding a hare in its mouth.


It was a long wait for some items that are difficult if not nearly impossible to obtain here in the states but they have finally made it home.

Oliver Hunts and Cooks Boar

In Italy



In France

Barrett Lake Tickets Going on Sale Soon

Barrett Lake's season opens next month on the 4th. Tickets will beginning selling on the the 12th of this month. I've started calling all my friends to see when the will be available and what dates they want to go. Since the heavy snow pack this year and all the recent rains have basically halted any type of fly fishing for me. I did have an opportunity to fish the Lower Owens a few weeks ago when the flows were hovering around 100 CFS but that will not happen now as the flows have increased to over 400 CFS. Because of these I've been concentrating my posts on guns and hunting but that may change soon as Barrett will open soon. I really am getting excited as I've never fished Barrett in the spring, hopefully it will not be blazing hot like all the days I spent at Barrett last year. I am considering bringing some big "guns" this year such as a 9 or even a 10 weight and throwing some real big flies to try and entice the hogs that are there. Last year there were some reports of 9lbers being caught on gear. A 5lber was caught by a gear fisherman on a boat next to me. Perhaps a larger fly may persuade the big boys to honoring me with a take.

Ripert Goes Boar Hunting in Tuscanny

I've known of Eric Ripert's PBS show Avec Eric for some time now but I never really watched it except when I came across it when channel surfing. Although I enjoyed it I never followed it religiously for some reason. I never saw this episode but if I had, I'd probably would have watched it more often. Hunting is generally portrayed pretty poorly on television but it seems that shows hosted by chefs show it in a more favorable light.

Another cooking show that did such was New Scandinavian Cooking. I remember watching an episode that showcased Grouse hunting and if I recall the hunter was carrying a Merkel side by side. Why can't we have more shows like that.

It seems Anthony Bourdain has been trying to do the same. The last two No Reservation episodes had him hunting Roedeer in Austria and Ducks in the Ozarks. I really enjoyed the Austria show, as it tried to explain European Hunting to the American audience. I don't think Americans, with an exception of a few, don't understand the European style of hunting. Most Americans would relate more with the duck hunting in the Ozark episode than the Austria show.

In any case why can't we have more shows like these?

The recipe from the show:

Serves 4

Ingredients

Ingredients for the pasta:
4 eggs
400 gr white plain flour
Pinch of salt
Semolina flour (optional)

Ingredients for the sauce:
500gr wild boar meat (typically thigh); the meat needs to be soaked in cold water for a day,
changing the water four times, which will eliminate the blood and reduce the very ‘gamey’
flavour.
1 medium red onion roughly chopped
300gr fresh porcini mushrooms roughly chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
2 bay leaves
100ml tomato passata (tinned Italian plum tomatoes passed through a foodmill)
100ml red wine
Extra virgin olive oil
½ l vegetable or meat stock
Directions
To make the pasta:
Place the flour on the work surface and make a well in the centre. Break the eggs into the well with a good pinch of salt. Gradually incorporate the flour together with the eggs using a fork.

When the flour is roughly mixed in, start to work the dough with your hands. When the mixture starts to firm up begin to knead it with the heel of your hand. The dough should be worked like this for about 5 mins, at which stage it should be wrapped in cling film and left to rest in the fridge for about 30 mins. If you are not going to use a pasta machine, you should work it by hand for a further 10/15 mins before leaving it to rest. After it is “rest”, roll the dough out to the required thickness and then sprinkle liberally with semolina and fold over a few times. Cut into large ribbons. The pasta should be cooked in boiling, salty water for about 3 mins.

To make the sauce:
Remove the meat from the water and dry it off. Chop it as finely as possible with a sharp knife and brown it in a frying pan with a couple of tbsps of pre-heated olive oil. Make sure all the liquid has evaporated from the pan and turn off the heat.

In a separate casserole, heat up a couple of tbsps of olive oil and brown off the onion, porcini mushrooms, parsley and bay leaves. After about 3 or 4 mins, add the wild boar meat season it with salt and pepper and pour over the red wine. Once all the wine has evaporated, add the tomato passata, some stock and cook for 2 – 2 1/2hours adding stock now and again as necessary.

To serve:
Toss the pasta together with the sauce and a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Serve with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Recipe provided by Villa Bordoni

This Luftwaffen Drilling sells for $25K at auction

From the website:

This is a unique example of a World War II Luftwaffe Survival Drilling that was manufactured by J.P. Sauer in 1941. The drilling is complete with the case, accessories and ammunition and is accompanied by the original capture papers dated June 12, 1946, and a history of the drilling by the lieutenant who brought it home as his personal souvenir of WWII. The drilling has two, 28-inch, side-by-side, shotgun barrels and a 9.3x74R under barrel. Barrel selection is controlled by a lever on the upper tang, which automatically raises a 100 meter folding leaf rear sight on the sighting rib. The safety is mounted on the left stock flat. The drilling has double triggers for the shotgun barrels, which act as an adjustable double set-trigger for the rifle barrel. Barrel indicator pins for all three barrels are located on either side of the barrel latch. The barrel group has a raised, matted, sighting rib with express style front sight with nickel-silver bead. Sling swivels are fitted on the under-barrel and the butt. The barrels have a high polish, commercial blue finish and the receiver, trigger guard, triggers, pistol grip cap and sling swivels have a case-hardened finish with vivid case colors. The stock and forearm are European walnut with a low-luster oil finish. The stock has a small oval cheek-piece, black plastic serrated buttplate with the "SS" monogram in relief, case-hardened pistol grip cap with engraved screw and bottom and finely checkered pistol grip. The forearm has fine checkering on either side of the blued and case-hardened barrel latch. The upper and lower tang, trigger guard and forearm catch are decorated with well-executed open scroll engraving. The Sauer "SS" monogram is engraved on the bottom of the receiver. "J.P. SAUER & SOHN, SUHL" is roll-stamped in small letters on both sides of the receiver and on the breech end of both shotgun barrels. The caliber, "9,3 x 74.R" is engraved in an oval panel on the sighting rib. The right side of the stock and the right shotgun barrel are stamped with the large and distinctive Luftwaffe Eagle and Swastika insignia. The Luftwaffe 'Stick Eagle/2' acceptance mark is stamped on the bottom of the barrel lug. The tops of both shotgun barrels and the right side of the rifle barrel are roll-stamped with the motto: "KRUPP-LAUFSTAHL" with bullets on either end. The serial number, "336339" is engraved on the tip of the lower receiver tang and stamped on the left receiver rail and the rifle under barrel. The partial serial number "6339" is stamped on the inside of the forearm. All of the visible serial numbers match. The underside of both shotgun barrels are stamped with the gauge "12/65" and the left underside of the rifle barrel is stamped "9,3X74R". "Eagle/N" proof marks are stamped on the bottom of all three barrels and on the right receiver rail. In addition to the capture papers which identify the drilling as "one (1) dbl shot gun w/ accessories"; the drilling is complete with the original manual entitled "Drilling M.30" and the original J.P. Sauer specification sheet dated "27 M. 1941" that lists the drilling by serial number. The drilling is contained in the original Luftwaffe aluminum transit case. The case is painted field gray and the lid is stenciled: "Drilling M30/ Mit Munitions (the balance of the marking is illegible). The case interior has wooden partitions covered with felt padding. The inside of the lid is stenciled with a list of the case contents. The case is complete with: (1) manual, (2) brown pigskin sling with maker's mark on the tip, (3) black cardboard box with four partitions, (4) wooden, jointed, three-piece cleaning rod with wooden handle and brass tip, (5) glass bottle of "Mapox, Wundol" with orange label in the original cellophane wrapper, (5) black fiber shotgun bore brush, (6) wire shotgun bore brush, (7) multi-colored cloth shotgun bore swab, (8) wire rifle bore brush, (9) multi-color cloth rifle bore swab, (10) fiber rifle bore brush, (11) two, ten round, cardboard packets of "RWS" 9.3x74 R rifle cartridges with orange labels, (12) gray, cardboard picture box of 25 "Rottweil Schwarz 12/65" shotguns shells, (13) gray cardboard picture box of 10 "Rottweil Brennekegeschoss" rifles 12 gauge slugs with eight shells and (14) 23, loose, red paper "Lignose" 12 gauge shotgun shells. The drilling is complete with a letter from the consignor, Robert J. Hinchcliffe. The letter states that during WWII he served as a Lieutenant in the 78th Infantry Division which saw action in the Hurtgen Forrest, Battle of the Bulge and the Central; Europe Campaign. When the war ended the 78th Division occupied the American Sector in Berlin. 1LT Hinchcliffe was Aide-de Camp to the commander of the American forces in Berlin, General Josiah T. Dalbey. General Dalbey was billeted in the former home of Hitler's personal physician, Dr. Theodor, Morell. Lieutenant Hinchcliff's letter recounts how this M30 Drilling, in this transit case and packed in cosmoline was discovered buried in the garden and recovered by the lieutenant who retained it as his "personal souvenir of World War II" until it was offered for sale by Rock Island Auction Company. Although Rock Island Auction Company has been fortunate enough to offer other Luftwaffe M.30 Drillings for sale over the years this is the only one of these scarce and very desirable guns that has ever been offered with capture papers and historical provenance. In addition, this is one of the most complete M.30 Luftwaffe Drillings ever offered for sale by Rock Island Auction Co. It retains the very rare sling, all of the original paper work, all of the cleaning equipment and nearly all of the original ammunition that was originally issued with the gun in 1941. Few M.30 Drillings retain all of the cleaning gear and more than a token amount of the original ammunition. In addition to the M.30 Drilling case and accessories, this lot also includes a commercial, pre-WWII, Carl Zeiss telescopic sight that is not for this gun, but was liberated by the same soldier. The scope has a commercial blue finish with fixed mounts, external elevation drum, 3/4-inch objective lens, standard German tapered post and cross-bar reticule and black leather lens covers. BBL: Stock: Gauge: 12/9.3x74 Finish: Grips: Serial Number: 336339 Condition: Gun is excellent plus with 99% plus bright original blue. Case colors are vivid and also 99% plus intact. Stock and forearm are both excellent plus. Case exterior is fair with corroded latches and no handle. Most of the paint is absent. Interior and accessories are all fine.