The weather finally turned to blue skies and sunshine, which I was not about to waste.

My cousin Joe was in from Michigan and he wanted the full experience of the Pennsylvania outdoors, and I had the day planned out for him pretty well.

First, we would hunt gobblers in an area that he aptly named Heart Break Ridge, and then we would spend the evening trout fishing at Sandy Creek in Venango County.

Heart Break Ridge was an area that Joe was introduced to several years ago when he came to visit me during the Pennsylvania deer season. It was in this area that Joe located an old trail that followed a ridge overlooking several draws and a beautiful white oak tree.

Over the last few years, Joe has had opportunities and hard luck on the ridge. He was ruined for normal buck hunting by sighting a trophy whitetail buck and missing his chance at scoring in the Pennsylvania-Michigan cousins’ bowl.

It all started several years back when I bagged a nine-point and Joe let a 10-point buck get away and the tally was Pennsylvania 1, Michigan 0. Last year, Joe saw a trophy and missed a shot but let an eight-point walk on by without taking the shot.

We all know Joe is lucky at seeing deer, but now he’s getting particular, too.

Back to Heart Break Ridge we went and set up for turkeys as the area was heavily scratched up all winter as the birds looked for the abundant acorn mast that littered the forest floor.

We were not disappointed as a gobbler boomed his voice time and time again just beyond our set ups. No matter what we tried, the gobbler kept a draw or two between us and eventually melted away into the grapevines.

If his gobble was as big as the bird, he was likely a monster bird. We wouldn’t expect anything else from the ridge area.

We went back to my place and regrouped for the afternoon and somehow got roped into some yard work. Joe brown- nosed the wife and forced me into participating as well. As a reward, she was putting steaks on the grill for him later in the evening and some frosted mugs. That Joe is a charmer, but now it was on for the trout adventure on Big Sandy.

We headed for a sleepy little village between Polk and Sandy Lake, located off of Route 62. The village of Ray Milton sits in the middle of State Game lands and Sandy Creek.

It is a wild area with few improvements and great access to trout fishing. The area is a local favorite and you can find a willing Rainbow trout or Brown trout nearly on any given day. This is an area that by using spinners and small plugs, you may have a chance at some hefty fish.

Joe and I went up the dirt road that parallels the creek for a mile or so until we found an area that I had fished successfully a few years back.

Although the waters were a little high, I thought we could still manage to fish here. I started out with some spinners. But with no luck, I switched up to chartreuse dough bait with some lead shot to weight my line.

Almost immediately, I was rewarded with a tap of a trout nipping off the bait. Joe was not doing much better as he was snagging up on the rocky bottom.

We call it being out of practice and losing touch. After awhile we were doing much better at bumping along the creek bottom without snagging up.

Things got interesting when I hooked into a small Rainbow by this waters legendary fish. With a smile, I looked over at Joe and said, “Pennsylvania 1, Michigan 0.”

That got Joe fired up and he promptly hooked on to a nice fish. Just before he pulled it up onto the bank, the fish shook off and back into the water.

I looked over at Joe, who had disbelief in his face and said “almost doesn’t count.”

On the way back out, we stopped to watch a Bald Eagle perched along the creek mere yards from us and both of us agreed it was great getting back to nature in Pennsylvania.