Feathers and Fins

With BBQ sauce please.

Now im jealous Ar does not open till next weekend

You ever read the story of the famous Reel-foot picture?

If you are dedicated and love waterfowling this will be a read you will enjoy. http://www.newburyportnews.com/opinion/article_deca834d-0d34-515c-85af-3f9833c583b3.html I think a man could spend a lifetime gathering all the history of waterfowling in this country and putting it in a book and his life would not been wasted.

Nathan, Yak and I are going to do a video with them side by side when it cools down. As far as how far I really don't know haven't played with them yet been busy shopping for Jerky Ingredients. I would guess they can hit 30ft with the right line and right distance out. But its only a guess at this point.

Hmmm smoked shad!!!! Aint had that in a while.

September 5th 2014 Bass; Good luck to all in the big tournament this week. The only report I have for bass is one from me, I found shad schools in extremely shallow water of long main lake points with rocks on them, smallmouth and kentuckys from 12’’ to 16’’ hopefully after the tournament I will get more reports. Crappie; Look for crappie suspending in 20 to 30 feet of water along channel edges, also suspending in pole timber in the same water depths. Minnows and Bobby Garland jigs with 1/16th oz heads are working well. White Bass; Look for them at 12 bridge. Also they are moving in to Rocky Branch over the old road bed from the back ramp to the front ramp. Jigging spoons and bass minnows will be the top producers. Catfish; Trot lines anglers are catching them on goldfish from Horseshoe bend to Hickory creek with some nice fish in the mix. The grasshoppers are starting to pop-up and as some of the old timers say when this happens its time to put jugs out tipped with grasshoppers set 20ft below the jug. Stripers; Indian Creek to Rocky Branch is the area to look. The schools seem to have scattered more so this week, Top bait is always shad and as noted before they are moving to shallow water and should be more accessible, Secondary bait would be brooder minnows. People are also catching them on Flicker shad and Flicker Minnows set at 20 to 30ft. Umbrella rigs are producing a few a well. Walleye; Look for them along channel edges in 20 to 35ft using spinner rigs tipped with a crawler also flicker minnows have caught a few About the Flicker Minnow, I have yet to try them myself so I cannot vouch for how to run them or how they are working. What I am being told is to run them 300ft behind the boat to get them to depth. If anyone is having success and wishes to share it please let us know they are new and im sure there is going to be a learn curve. Hunting Regs are out and should be available at your local stores, no waterfowl regs yet. Though this page is dedicated to fishing if you hunt the lake for any of its game species Feel free to post pictures of your success. Lake is dropping fast so use caution, I watched several people this week think they could cut the bar at 12 bridge and their prop found out it couldn’t. Also the small island in front of Horseshoe bends is exposed and the tip of the long island as well. I watched a boater get stuck on it. Good Luck.

Its not a cold front so they should stick around, if its electrical stay home till its almost gone then go out in the field pick a spot and have at them.

sweet HUNT, I really need to stop blasting geese and get up to MO

Jerky I thought with hunting season now on us to share one of my favorite treats with everyone, Goose Jerky. Though you can make it with most lean meats I really love goose jerky though it seems wrong in some ways to be eating it while shooting them. 1st When I know this is what I have planned I try to take extreme care in cleaning the birds. I fillet the meat off the breast making sure to get all the fat off and to never pierce the body cavity and release the crud inside. Now this is where having a wife that doesn’t mind you making a mess in the kitchen or oven comes in real handy. 2nd Bring it in the house and clean the meat off good making sure to get all feathers off and remove any bruised meat from the shot as well as any remaining fat. I do this with very sharp knives to waste as little meat as possible. 3rd Is the brine/ seasoning mix, I personally have found Himalayan Salt is wonderful to use I will mix up ½ cup of it to 1 cup hot water and stir till dissolved and let cool on the counter while I fillet the goose in to ¼’’ wide strips inspecting each strip to insure no feathers or bruising, be sure to mix this in a bowl that will handle at least 4 cups. 4th Place the meat in a plastic container of some sort that can be tightly sealed as you complete each strip. 5th By this time your brine should be cooled and you can add spice’s, for this example I use ½ cup Bookers Bourbon, ½ cup A-1 Sauce ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce and stir for about a minute to mix it up. 6th pour the brine/seasoning over the meat and seal the lid and shake well for about 30 seconds. This entire process takes about 20 minutes minus the original cleaning of the bird. 7TH Soak for at least 24 hours and shake the brine/meat mix at least 1 time per hour while you’re awake to mix in to the meat well. 8th Place on metal skewers about 1 inch apart ( your oven racks are perfect for this ) with the meat hanging and be sure to keep them separated so none is touching each other. This allows the airflow to circulate around the meat perfectly. Place a pan under it to catch drippings. 9th Set your oven to 180 ( Note: you will want an instant thermometer ) close the door but leave it slightly cracked to allow moisture to escape, after 1 hour you will want to use the thermometer to check the temp at the top of the door where heat is escaping, I want it to be 165 degrees +- 2 degrees. 165 is safe internal temp for meat. If your oven is running to hot reduce heat by 5degree’s if it’s too cold increase heat and check in 10 minutes. Once you get the temp to the 165 range simply let it dry for 8 to 10 hours. I should also let you know if you did any canning during the summer and made salsa you can add the salsa to the brine mix for a mouth watering jerky. One of my favorites is to simply take ( Anaheim , Jalapeño, Banana, Green and Yellow peppers ) reduce them down to almost a mash and can them up then when I make my brine pull them out of the can and use them. Storage; In the refrigerator in an air tight container 5 months would be the maximum I will store it and in a freezer up to a year. I do not believe in storing it on the counter or in the open at all. Granted most jerky doesn’t even last a month due to its wonderful taste but that is my guidelines. Like with anything that spoils or can pose food borne dangers do so at your own risk.

Hey at least your getting in to them and learning each trip out and that is 90% of the battle.

Halibut also use to be called a trash fish, and many still think of catfish as one. As to the cockroach of the sea, Always loved them but boy people freak out when they find out they are eating a bug

Al, Do you honestly believe that giggers, snaggers, fishermen are honestly going to stop for a stretch of river, when they can do it above and below that ( closed zone )? In a perfect world sure they would but this is no perfect world and as I said before, I have seen use of unapproved baits, snagging, and out right illegal activities in trout parks, Those make far more money for MDC than wild rivers and are far easier to patrol if they chose. By your own admission all that is needed is better enforcement, so it seems like a big waste of department resource for study that's conclusion most already know the answer too. I will say it again ( If fish had antlers DNR agencies would have officers behind every bush and rock ) Probably even have a dummy in a deep hole complete with moving tail and mouth.

That is me being extremely lazy and proving a point to someone who said you cant get close to the geese on the lake. I had a range finder on them the entire time so I knew exact distance. when they got up they were at 27 and came in and then away. Shooting Heavy Shot #6's they would have been dead had I wanted them.

http://youtu.be/UsCEPv9zTNo

Come on down Marty there is more than enough to go around.

Another fine day on the lake, I needed a few more for Jerky so I only took 3 ( ok the truth is my trash can was full and getting rank so I only took 3 more ) I did see a good number of teal look like some came in from the last front. Showing a little support for CK today with the Legend shirt

Al, With rivers and streams changing all the time and possible flood years and drought years potential in your ( experimental area ) it would be very difficult to gain any decent biological data. But now throw in predation differentials and certainly poaching ( possibly to scew the data intentionally as we know those areas could not have 24/7 enforcement ) it is not a practical and any data obtained I would look at as no good as there would be way to many outside influences to have a good baseline control group. I mean come on just go to a trout park and you see people breaking the law all the time and you can tell me if you close an area that's even harder to police that it wont become a direct target just because of the that very protection. Hey I understand protection of our resources and im all for it, But we have laws already on the books that with the current number of Officers cannot be enforced! You can do all the studies in the world but you cannot account for poachers unless you catch everyone of them and that goes back to not having officers. The solution for this and many problems is not the laws, its getting the officers to enforce it and that means either more taxes or some other way to pay for them.

Um Lucky, Teal opens in Mo this weekend and early goose soon to follow, you can get it out of your system lol

Yes it is worth doing, I catch more than a few every year with them. 3 and 4'' bream are best size, 3/0 circle hooks and fly lined or light split shot behind or under the boat at a crawl is the ticket.

Christmas aint got nothing on opening week of Goose Season in my house. This is a time of year I love, Hunting and Cooking what more can you ask for. Crockpot goose and Jerky to go with the roast I already made.

I have sat reading this and many threads where Gigging is discussed and something just keeps coming to my mind. How a small group of people try and often force their wills on the majority of people. This forum is but a small group of people in compare to the vast majority of anglers, there is plenty of lurkers that do not post for many reasons who’s opinions are very different or similar to people here. What got me to thinking about this was a discussion I had with my best friend while hunting yesterday. It went like this, We use to be able to do a lot growing up in California but small groups influenced the politicians and things we took as a right, privilege or for granted quickly were banned. Let me give you a bunch of examples; first we use to be able to fish all night on lakes now it’s off the water by sunset. We use to be able to fish any beach and now there are beaches that it is illegal to fish. We use to be able to use multiple rods, now you can use only two but must pay to use a second rod. They use to allow gigging and archery, that is now illegal in most areas. You use to be able to use The National Forrest for free, now you must pay. I can keep going on with the list of things, people may say this aint California and that is true but they said the same in Colorado and its quickly going the same route as is other states. We should be proud of what we have in the Ozarks and stop looking at it as this state or that state and look at it as the Region that has a very rich heritage and one that should be protected at all cost. Instead of bitching about a few lawbreakers and changing the laws to stop the practice that is legal perhaps we should focus on holding law enforcement to task and working with the conservation agencies to put an end to the law breakers and protecting our game and heritage.

Marinate overnight in large container ( Bookers Bourbon 1/2 cup... Worcestershire sauce 1/2 cup.... 2 tablespoons salt..... 2 cups water or till meat is covered. Then in the morning us a rub Dehydrated onions, garlic, ( black red, yellow green and purple) peppers, chives from the garden, salt. Ground celery all mixed in a with bourbon and dried for that perfect rub. Rehydrate with Worcestershire Sauce paint it on the bottom of a baking bag then add the spices over it about a tablespoon more. Place meat on it then repeat to top of meat. Cook in oven at 350 until the center of the meat is 165 degrees and remove. Slice in 1/4'' slices and poor juices over.

No idea but it pays 3 bucks each on the cob

Marty, actually the first bird we ran in to I had to drop my buddy off up wind of him I came in down wind thought we would head him off.... As I came in he started walking away then turned and looked at me and came walking back while I stood there in the boat, guess he was looking for a hand out lol. All the rest were guns with the rain we left the bows at home but they will come out later this week.