An interesting mix of diverse activities in the Great Outdoors

Yours truly has just finished another fun-filled period of time in the Great Outdoors.

That period spanned a number of diverse activities ranging from working in my yard at home to cross country skiing in the High Sierra near Bridgeport, Calif. to being one of some 80 contestants in the annual John Riordan fishing derby headquartered at Topaz Lake.

It all began on a Wednesday when I spent the entire afternoon working on my tan, doing battle with hundreds of miserable dandelions and carefully mowing, trimming, watering and fertilizing the lawn in my backyard.

As a rule of the thumb, I normally enjoy yard work.

However, at this time of the year, I do not enjoy battling the dandelions. No matter what I do - dig, fertilize or spot poison - they keep coming back and in greater numbers. Geez, they are like mosquitoes. If there is any reason for either of them being on this earth, it totally escapes me. Mosquitoes and dandelions are both a big pain in the butt! And you can quote me on that.

Once my yard work was done, I shifted gears and began to plan for a cross country skiing trip scheduled for that Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Then early Thursday afternoon, Chuck Selover of Carson City, Bob Leutzinger of Reno and I left for the two-hour drive to their cabin in the mountains near Bridgeport. That snug, well-built cabin is situated at an elevation of 8,300 feet in a small high-mountain valley known as Willow Flat. It is surrounded on all four sides by either U.S. Forest Service land or the Hoover Wilderness Area, which offer great Springtime cross country skiing opportunities.

We managed to drive to within about one-half mile of the cabin before we were stopped by snowdrifts across the road. From there, we walked across the scattered drifts, carrying our clothing, food, drinks and equipment to the cabin.

However, on that short hike, it got ominously darker and colder with what appeared to be a winter-looking storm rolling in over the mountains.

Once we reached the cabin, we quickly unloaded everything, lit a fire in the wood stove, kicked back and relaxed.

That was when it began to snow. Within two hours, we received six inches of wet snow. It just dumped on us. At times, there was a total whiteout outside. When it finally quit snowing, the countryside looked like a Christmas card scene.

But we didn't worry. We were as cozy as three bugs in a rug. We had a crackling fire, tasty appetizers and Manhattens for cocktails. Who cared if it snowed.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying each other's company, the spectacular high-mountain scenery, the quiet solitude of the area, reading and playing cards.

Early the next day, I went skiing on the nearby slopes. However skiing was not that good due to the wet snow sticking to the bottom of my skis. The day gradually got warmer and warmer and by mid-afternoon all of that newly fallen snow had disappeared.

Late Saturday morning, we returned to Carson City.

On Sunday morning, I joined my regular fishing partners, Norm Budden, Don Hettrick and Bob "Slick" McCulloch of Carson City, for a quick drive to the Topaz Lake Lodge at Topaz Lake.

That was the headquarters for the annual John Riordan invitational fishing derby. It included Topaz Lake, Topaz Canal and both the East and West Walker Rivers.

By way of explanation, Riordan is the bar manager for the Pinon Plaza Hotel and Casino and the Carson Station Hotel and Casino. Twice each year, he hosts an invitational fishing derby.

In the past ten years, he has hosted that derby at such far-flung locations as Bodega Bay, Calif., Bucks Lake, Calif., the Walker River Resort in Smith valley and at the Topaz Lake Lodge.

This author has been a regular Riordan derby contestant since the very first one held at Bodega Bay. In that initial derby, I took home the prize for the largest rock cod and have not slowed down since then.

I won one year with the largest Eastern brook trout at Bucks Lake, another year with the largest Mackinaw at Bucks Lake and two years ago with the largest cutthroat trout from Walker Lake.

Last year, while competing in the Topaz Lake derby, I drove all the way to Walker Lake, the terminus of the Walker River system. At Walker Lake, I caught three nice cutthroat trout, while spincasting from shore with Tor-P-Do lures.

Those three "Cutts" weighed 5-pounds, 4-pounds and 3-pounds. They took first, second and third place in that derby.

'This year there was an interesting rule change: Walker Lake was no longer allowed as one of the derby waters. Hmmm, I wonder why?

However, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Armed with the knowledge that the rugged section of the East Walker River contains some very nice German brown and rainbow trout, my fishing partners and I decided to switch to that area.

That was a smart decision.

When the derby ended Tuesday night, here is what we accomplished:

- German Brown Trout Category:

First Place: Hettrick (3-pounds, 7.5-ounces).

Second Place: Richard Brenden (2-pounds, 6-ounces).

Third Place: McCulloch (1-pound, 15.5-ounces).

Fourth Place: John Miles (1-pound, 10.5-ounces).

Fifth Place: Hettrick (6.75-ounces).

- All Other Trout Category:

First Place: A tie between Don Quilici and Bill Cocking of Carson City (1-pound, 8-ounces).

Third Place: Hettrick (1-pound, 6.75-ounces).

Fourth Place: Quilici (1-pound, 4-ounces).

Fifth Place: Budden (1-pound, 3.25-ounces).

Not too shabby for the "Four Amigos."

Out of a total of 10 different prizes in the derby, we won seven of the 10.

However, all of that winning came with a steep price tag. And here's why:

My little pickup truck's tailgate latch jammed due to the rough, four-wheel drive, dirt roads that we had to travel and I had to have it fixed.

McCulloch ruined a tire due to those same rough roads and had to buy a set of four new truck tires at a cost of $500.

Hettrick broke his favorite fishing pole, lost a countless number of lures on the willows of the area where we fished and poked a hole in his chest waders.

Budden re-injured his foot (He had stepped on a nail and chipped a bone in his foot about a month ago) and he had to go back to the doctor when he returned home.

Was it worth it?

You bet! If for no other reason than for bragging rights!

Now the only question remaining is:

We wonder if after winning seven of the 10 categories this year, if the East Walker River will also be off limits next year, like Walker Lake was this year.

We'll just have to wait and see.

If the East Walker River is put off limits next year, we still have an ace up our sleeve. We have a secret spot to fish on the West Walker River.

In the meantime it feels good to be a winner...again.

- Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you what I used to catch and release 17 rainbow trout on Tuesday at the East Walker River.

If he answers, "It was a small, fire-tiger colored Krocodile lure," he could have been one of the other contestants in Riordan's derby.