June Fishing Trip

[RJB]

  My friend kris, Ptycodus4, and I planned a trip to the fish quarrys last september.  Kris is very much like me and would rather prep out the fossil fish that in much harder rock than all the 'split fish' rock.    I had to make a few phone calls but got us into a quarry that had some 18 inch material and some bottom cap stuff.  The 18 inch where we were digging was in places a bit weathered and wanted to delaminate but we still got some very good stuff.  The bottom cap was much more dense and in one place had some extraordinarily super duper preserved fish!   We arrived at what is now 'In Stone Fossils' after a 7 1/2 hour drive and set up camp.  Then the boys started lifting rock and in no time came across a very nice palm leaf!  Dean, the quarry owner was quite happy.  Had steaks over a fire with baked taters that had garlic onion and bacon all wrapped in tin foil and sat along the edges of the fire for 3 hours.  Oh, the texas boys showed up that evening too.  Put down a few drinks and had a blast just shootin the poop.  Got up early the next morning and my middle son found a very nice Diplomystus right off the bat.  Everyone was finding fish.  The texas boys seemed a little slow and then realized they were not used to the altitude but they still gots lots of really nice fish.  I think Kris was in heaven.  he and I both are going to be quite busy preppin for a long time to come.   My boys also uncovered a fossil that is extreamly rare and extreamly valuable but was asked by the quarry owner not to post anything about it till later.  Once I get permission from him this mystery will be told.  My youngest son is coming over today and we are going to go through these slabs and I will get a few more pictures to post here.   I have to prep out some of the best of these for my sons and their freind, but then I get to keep all the rest.  Woooooooop  woooooooooop!!!

 

RB

 

Nice palm leaf.  The missing stuff on the right is in another rock and will be saved and put back together.

 

 

My youngest son either making a relief cut or cutting out a fish. 

 

 

My middle sons very firs fish of the trip and early in the morning too.  A nice way to start the day.  You can see the delaminating in this picture.

 

 

A milk crate full of very nice fossil fish.  Just need a lot of prep time.

 

 

Back seat of my truck full of some very nice fish slabs! 

 

 

 

 

[Brett Breakin' Rocks]

The best fishing trip ... at least they don't move ! Can't wait to see what's hidden in the rock.

 

Cheers,

Brett

[Tidgy's Dad]

Nice trip report. 

Can't wait to see some of the prepped fishes. 

That palm leaf is wonderful. 

[Fossildude19]

Great topic so far, Ron!

Thanks for posting it. 

Looking forward to seeing more.  

[Jeffrey P]

Lovely palm leaf. Can't wait to see those fish prepped. Congratulations and thanks for sharing. Planning my own "fishing" expedition for September.

[goatinformationist]

Great trip account.  I hope you brought the sun screen, I see a red back and arms.

[t-tree]

Great report and finds !!! Did you manage to lift that wonderful palm leaf ?

The mystery find is very intriguing !!!!!

 

[Fossilis Willis]

Looks like you guys caught a few keepers. I hope you threw a few back, I'm going out that way in a few weeks and would hate to get skunked. You got my attention with this "mystery". I will be staying tuned.

[Al Tahan]

Killer finds!!!! Looks like a really awesome trip! 

[RJB]

4 hours ago, t-tree said:

Great report and finds !!! Did you manage to lift that wonderful palm leaf ?

  My boys and freind lifted that palm leaf the next day.  I didnt even bother to ask what it would cost to buy it cause I knew it would be waaaaaay too exspensive! 

 

RB

[RJB]

 Went into town this morning.  Needed an oil change and to get ready for a most interesting and exciting next trip that may be in 2 weeks?  On the way back home I had to slam on the brakes!!!!   Screeeech!!!!  Fossil slabs slammed into the back of my front seats!  My heart broke and cried all the way home.  Apon inspection, it wasn't so bad.  then I got to work, on the small stuff that is.  Now my son wont be here till tomorrow.  Then we can get to the big stuff.  Got lots and lots of gluing today.  Also glue all over my hands!   Need to learn to wear surgical gloves when doing the gluing!    Lots of little Knightia that I wont show just cause they are too common but a few of the other fish slabs.  Lots more of the big ones coming.  Maybe tomorrow for those?  Also, Im going to start a fossil fish prep thread soon. 

 

RB

 

 

  This may not look like much But this is an A-Grade Diplo that  needs a bit of prepping time.  This one is going into the collection!!!

 

 

This is the first fish my middle son found.  A very nice articulated Diplo.  I think a 16 or 17 incher?

 

 

A very nice little Prisci.  Not sure if these are lyops or cockerellites?

 

 

A big Diplo with some problems but a huge 19 or 20 incher!!!

[Pagurus]

Ouch. I'm glad the damage wasn't too awful. Your trip sure sounds like a lot of fun, and it helps to have those sons of yours to help with the heavy stuff!

I'm sure you're itching to get to work on those big, beautiful fishies. I'm looking forward to seeing more. Thanks for posting them.

 

[Ptychodus04]

@RJB, Dean announced the find so you’re free to tell all here. I’ll let you do the honors.

 

Man, going from 500 feet to over 7,000 feet of elevation is rough but a day in, we were running at full speed.

 

We left the quarry this morning after 2 additional days of digging with over 100 fish, multiple insects, leaves, feathers, and even a banana leaf packed in my SUV and trailer.

 

After the Montana boys left, they sent the extreme weather to keep us company. Thursday evening came with a monsoon. Lightning was striking the mountaintops around us, torrential rains, and strong winds. 

 

The next day opened up with us shoveling mud off the rock slabs and getting back to work. 30 minutes in and I pulled up this nice Diplomystus and Knightia double plate.

 

 

The day proceeded to turn up 2 Mioplosus, 4 Priscacara, several more Diplos and Knightia, flies, leaves, etc.

[Ptychodus04]

Then, at 8:00, the weather turned again. High winds pummeled the quarry and hurricane force wind snapped 2 of our tent poles, sending it toppling down on us. The temps had dropped into the 30s. What to do? Thankfully, Garey (one of the quarry operators) was staying in his trailer at the top of the quarry so we made the hike through the storm and piled into the camper to sleep on the floor.

 

This is what we woke up to: Snow!

 

 

What a week! I’ll be prepping fish for the foreseeable future. Thanks to Ron for setting this up.

 

Dean and Garey with In Stone Fossils are wonderful people and are very hospitable. After a day, it was like we were family. We will definitely be going back to dig with them in the future.

 

It was great to participate in the discovery of the fossil Ron is anxiously waiting to talk about.

[RJB]

 Well, here ya go folks.  My middle son was removing some top layers while youngest son and their friend were removing some bottom cap.  There was this big bump and dip in the rock that Dean had noticed about 4 years earlier.   Dean glasses the rock at night where ever rock has been removed cause you can really see things in the rock.  Once the sun is up its gets tuff to see things unless its very obvious.   It only took him about half second and the screaming, cussing and hollering commenced.  I was in bed in the back of my truck about 10 feet away and got up to take a looksie.  Wow!  To say the least!   Its about 12 feet!!!   Kris may have more pics?

 

RB

[Ptychodus04]

Here’s a few more pics of the articulated croc.

[Ptychodus04]

[Ptychodus04]

Ron’s rather tall son for scale.

[RuMert]

Killer find! Fossil of the month?

 

[JohnJ]

35 minutes ago, RuMert said:

Killer find! Fossil of the month?

 

Not really...only the actual discoverer can make an entry. 

[t-tree]

Wow that is awesome , hope we get to see it prepped.

 

John

[Plantguy]

Oh my lord!! the finds and the trip details are memorable to say the least RB. Congrats! Cant wait to see more of this stuff when prepped. Just phenomenal!

Regards, Chris 

[belemniten]

Wow that's an absolutely gorgeous find! Good luck on the prep 

[Pagurus]

Fantastic finds. Even the weather was excited. What a memorable experience. Thanks for sharing it, Ron and Kris. 

[smt126]

Great finds. That gator is pretty amazing.