My Weekend Outdoors - 3/11/12

It was a pretty nice weekend here in the Northeast with warmer temps and clear skies, you know the kid of day you must take advantage of and spend as much time as possible outdoors and I did.  I did some backyard birding and photography, made a little maple syrup and even got into some trout with the fly rod and before I get yelled at, I even did some house work.

With the night time temps warming up the sugaring season may be coming to an end and I can't say I am sorry to see it end.  As tasty as pure maple syrup is, it is truly a labor of love and Monday started week 5 of the season which includes many late nights during the week and longer weekends.  On Saturday Bubba and I bottled up another 6 gallons which helped us get closer to the 60 gallon yearly average, down some from last years 101 gallons though.  When you poor this stuff over your pancakes you quickly forget about those late nights and long weekends. 

Where the Magic happens - 30 gallons of sap per hour

 

Finished Product

Makes the time all worth while

The activity at my bird feeders has really picked up over the past couple weeks with new visitors showing up which is a good sign spring is on the way as the birds start migrating back North.  The newest visitors around my house were Red-winged blackbirds, American Goldfinches, Common Crackles, Mourning Doves and finally a couple of Robins.  At one point I had 10 American Goldfinches enjoying my offerings at the same time.  I think that is a record for me.  The highlight though was a hawk that thought he would get an easy meal at my feeder.  He didn't but came close twice.  I'm not sure if it is a Coppers Hawk or a Sharp-shinned Hawk as they are very similar and hard to differentiate.  I do hope to see the Baltimore Orioles come back this spring.

Coopers or Sharp-shinned Hawk?

Mourning Dove

Red-winged Blackbird

Sunday afternoon found me fishing the Willimantic River TMA which is a fly fishing only section open year round for catch and release fishing.  I took a quick lunch run up there last week and was skunked but today was definitely more productive as bent rods and tight lines produce some nice trout to hand.  All released to provide someone else with the enjoyment they gave me.  I broke out the Greys Streamflex 10' 4wt and rigged up to Euro Nymph using a coiled sighter.  I picked up fish on brown rubber legged stonefly, a Frenchie style pheasant tail and a walt's worm.  I did miss a few as well.  The two best fish was a 14"  hefty rainbow and a 13" tiger trout.

This hefty 14"+ Rainbow took a size 18 Frenchie PT w/Orange Bead

This Rainbow trout took the size 18 Frenchie

Tiger Trout took the Rubber Legged Stone

A little video from the release of the bigger rainbow.  Looks like I need to work on my one handed video release technique though.  This was taken using my Olympus TG-310.

My daughter and I even got a little archery practice in and man were we rusty.  Not bad for a weekend outdoors.  So what did you do this past weekend?

My New Camera - Olympus TG 310 Review

I had an unfortunate accident with my wife's new Canon Rebel T2i a month ago while our fishing the pond at my office one evening with my daughter.  I was sitting on the side of the pond taking pictures of Kaleigh fishing with her new fly rod and put the camera down and went over to help my daughter out.  About 30 minutes later we decided to leave so we gathered up our gear and headed to the truck.  On our way home we saw 4 deer on the side of the road and stopped to take a picture and that is when it hit me.  The camera was still at the pond.  I raced back to the pond and began to frantically search the area and tear my truck apart only to find no camera.  Kaleigh and I started around the pond in opposite directions for what I knew was a fruitless look because I could see the grass all around the pond and the camera was no where.  As we did I heard Kaleigh call me and when I turned around my stomach twisted in knots as I saw her lift the camera out of the water.  I knew I was going to catch heck for this one.  I was sick to my stomach knowing that this was my fault and I had no clue how it happened.

Olympus TG-310

I thought for sure my wife was going to hang me, but instead of making it worse she went out and bought me a new camera for my fishing adventures.  I now have a Olympus Stylus TG-310 that is both waterproof and shock proof which is a lot safer for me and exactly what I wanted.  I'm sure this purchase wasn't meant to make me feel better, but to keep me away from her cameras instead.  Well it worked.

From the Olympus Website

Tough on action, but soft on your budget. This Tough camera captures high-quality pictures and HD video of all your family's adventures. Waterproof, Shockproof and Freezeproof, the TG-310 is the perfect camera for a family ski vacation or just an afternoon by the pool. Reliable and economical – an ideal combination.

The TG-310 is a nice little 14megapixel compact camera at just 3.8"W x 2.5"H x 0.9"D.  This camera fits anywhere and fits nicely in my fishing vest.  It doesn't float which is probably a good thing when wading in the water, but not so good when in a boat.  I solved the floating issue by adding a couple of large fishing floats to the wrist strap.  They get in the way a little bit but I figured they are worth it in the long run,especially when wading in deep water or fishing from the boat. 

Taken with the TG-310 during an early morning fishing trip

It is amazing at the number of features on this little camera from the typical standard shooting mode feature like Landscape, macro and sport mode to feature like automatically taking a picture when your pet's face is detected  or the panorama option or even the new 3D feature.  Way more features then I need but once you get the hang of how easy the shooting modes are to select and set it's no problem at all.  I especially like the one touch video feature that allows you to take HD 720P video with the push of a button.  No need to go into a video mode, just it the little red button to start and then again to stop.  The mic is on the back panel so it pics up the shooters sound better then those you are taking video of but I like it.   You can even take movies underwater which the kids used in the pool this summer.

The TG-310 has a 3.6x optical zoom with a 2.7" LCD screen.  I am always shooting outdoors and I would have liked a larger zoom , but the upper end models of the TG offer a larger zoom if you really need it.   The TG-310 is also listed as Freezeproof but I will have to test this out during the late waterfowl season.

Penns Creek Brown captured with the TG-310

There is a lot to this camera so make sure you take the time to read the manual and understand the features or you will get frustrated.  I am extremely happy with this camera and very pleased with the image results and thankful that my wife didn't kill me.

If you are in the market for a new point and shoot camera to take along on all your outdoor adventures make sure to give the Olympus TG-310 or any of the TOUGH series cameras a try.

Disclaimer:  I was not compensated in any way for this review.  This product was purchased by us and the opinions and comments in the above post are mine and mine only.