Johnsfolly

So my son has been craving pork and sauerkraut for dinner. We just happen to have some sauerkraut and a pork butt in the fridge. He got a lesson in my favorite pork rub, Starts with ca two tablespoons of brown sugar, then 1 1/2 TBS of garlic, Chinese five spice, and onion powder, a TBS of ground cumin, smoked paprika, and ground ginger. Mix well and he rubbed the entire pork roast. We seared the outside in some olive oil in a Dutch oven. Once seared then added two cups of chicken stock and about a cup of white wine. Into a 330 deg oven for 2 hours then up to 350 for about an hour. We removed some of the braising liquid and added the kraut. Into the kraut we added a couple of pinches of fennel seed (prefer caraway but none in the house) and the same with some dried tarragon. Back in the oven for another half hour. Made mashed potatoes with russets, hand made butter, milk, a TBS of sour cream and S&P to taste.

I would be more interested in some turkey thighs to make carnitas, but I heard that there is soon to be a shortage of those in BilletHeadville!

Great video. I haven't gone for smallies this year. Too busy chasing ghosts of new species here in Missouri and Maryland. After seeing this video may have to get after some bronze beauties. Thanks for the inspiration.

Looks great BH. I would have to check, but I think that we are out of goose at the Folly house . I am cooking with my son today making a New Year's day staple in our house, but more about that later.

On Tuesday there was a threat of rain, but I took Livie up to Tuckahoe lake to try to get her into some other sunfishes. As we walked the bank, there was no evidence of the sunfish nests that I had seen and caught fish off of earlier in May. I knew that we were likely to catch fish, but not sure which ones. I wasn't going to do anything fancy, just a small jighead with a piece of nightcrawler under a float. Livie made a cast and got bit almost immediately but did not get a good hook set. Then another bite and another, but no hooked fish. Once the bites stopped I had her reel in to get another worm. She hooked and landed her first fish, a small largemouth bass on her fourth cast. Now she had it down. She caught a few nice bluegill next. Then she got another bite and landed her very first pumpkinseed sunfish! Another new life list species. After the pumpkinseed it was more bluegill and another small largemouth bass. Since I have not caught a largemouth in Maryland I asked for the rod (OK I took it ). I got into the bluegill as well. Even a few nice ones as the sun was going down (they do look much bigger in Livie's hands). Livie did catch another pumpkinseed, but never any redear sunfish that were so plentiful in early May. Before we headed home, we headed to the creek below the lake. We were looking for eastern mosquitofish, but only caught a few more banded killifish and redbreast sunfish. Though there were several other species possible where we fished. Livie did end up with 5 new life list fish. She now has 26 different species for this year and is nearing her 40 species goal !

Duane they look great. I am certain that these would flat out get torn up by lots of different species in any Ozark creek. I would throw them with or without a float using 2# line. From hornyhead chub and longear sunfish to 14+ inch LMB and SMB. Let me know what the cost and COD for a couple dozen 😀.

Some great looking fish. Love that Pomme musky! Congrats!

After my Betterhalf arrived in Maryland a few things changed. We now had actual plates and silverware. I had picked up a couple of Pennsylvania Dutch classics (in this case Maryland dutch), smoked Kielbasa and whoopie pies, while at the Amish market. I also picked up new red potatoes. I sliced the potatoes and then the meat on a bias. I started by cooking the potatoes. Once they were partially cooked, I added the Kielbasa and got the meat cooking. I added some garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then added the slice green and red peppers along with the onions and cooked until the vegetables were tender. The best way to describe a whoopie pie is an Oreo cookie on steroids, made with devils food cake and a filling. These were some of the best that I have had is some time.

Another bachelor meal in Maryland. Packaged marinated pork loin was seared on all sides and cooked covered over low heat until medium doneness. Sliced patty pan squash, spring onion, and garlic from the Amish market. Sauted the squash first then added the onion and the garlic. A little Kickin Chicken grillin spices and served with e rested pork. Served on the finest china.

I took till near the end of my last stay in Maryland to have family with me, my wife and my daughter. (Yes there was a bit a drama even on this last trip from MO to MD). With Livie coming out I had made plans to try to get her as many new life list species as possible before we went back to Missouri. My Betterhalf likes to ocean bottom fish, so I booked a half day party boat trip for that Sunday. They pulled into MD by mid afternoon on Sat and it was raining. I had also found out that the party boat trip was cancelled due to high seas. So with rain, unpacking, etc. no fishing on Sat. The storm hit on Sunday with high winds and more rain. In fact it rained all day long. Finally Monday came with sun and no rain. We only had Mon and Tues evenings to fish before we headed back to Missouri. My plan was to hit the tidal creek near our house first. I had hopes that we could get two or three new micros for her. I checked near the boat ramp and did not see any sheepshead minnows that were large enough for my microhooks. I had on a small pink/white trout magnet jig and Livie had a #20 hook with a tiny piece of white plastic from the same jig. I would tease the fish up to the surface and she would try to get them to bite the small bait. I ended up catching the first fish and was shocked to have caught a redear sunfish on the pink/white jig fishing in brackish water. We never did catch another one. Livie did catch her first new lifelist species of the trip - an Atlantic silverside minnow. We each caught a silverside, but spent too much time at this spot and headed to a new location before it got too dark. When we got to Tuckahoe creek, Livie tried the pink/white jig and caught her first redbreast sunfish. Then another on a small piece of worm. We moved downstream to the spot where I had seen some topminnows and caught my first bluepotted sunfish. We took the same approach with me trying to coax in the fish with a larger bait and Livie catching them on the #20 with the small white plastic bait. We got into fish immediately and she hooked into the first of the topminnows. Then another that was a bit darker and more vividly striped. From what I found these are just likely female and male banded killifish. After catching a few (and with some whining from dad that he had not caught one of these fish before either ) Livie handed me the rod and I caught another couple of females. And then this one - which seems to be just a juvenile banded killifish and not a different species. I did catch the first bluespotted sunfish (yes that is the #20 hook in its mouth) of the evening then I had to give Livie the rod back to try for one herself. Livie finally did catch two of these sunfish that evening with this last one caught after we switched the white plastic with a yellow piece. It was near dark and we did not get a chance to get up to the lake to try for pumpkinseed or redear sunfish. Livie was happy with four new life list species for the evening. Hopefully tomorrow it wouldn't rain and we could try for more fish.

Just don't forget that you have friends that want to take on some of those multispecies trips as well.

Great report. I love seeing the photos. Those are some great fish. I'm glad that you could get our with your brother. That makes the time a bit more special than just going out with guys like BilletHead . He sends me his fish photos when he knows that I am not fishing or not catching the types or size fish that he is. Glad to see that he was getting your photos of some great fish. Seems like a fair turn.

When I worked in Newport Rhode Island the summers of '87 and '88 I would catch tautog (blackfish) and fillet them. There was a stray cat that would come around as I was cleaning the fish. I would throw it the skeleton and skin and it would eat all of the skin, bones and most of the heads. Nothing wasted there either .

My oldest is really particular about getting bones when she eats fish. So it became a habit to fillet them when I can even the small ones. May go back to frying them whole. I have eaten fried tails and like them.

The crappie run small in Little Dixie but are extremely abundant and likely stunted. If they set a 10 inch limit the overall size could get worse. What that lake may need are guys that can actually fillet 6 inch fish and to keep all that they can.

Great fish regardless if you were in the shot or not. Love seeing smallies blast topwaters! Plenty jealous seeing those nice fish.

Congrats on your successful transition from scenic trout stream to the mossy bass pond. Nice fish buddy!

Congrats on some fine looking McClouds! That is such a special little creek. I meant to get down to Crane last year, but just couldn't make the trip work. Not sure when I will get back there now. So keep posting and I can relive the successful trips that I had in the past.

DJ - Glad that you got it done! Great trip buddy! Congrats! I'm sure that your family is glad to not have to hear about the spots that you were thinking about fishing for trout, at least until the next out of state trip !

Very nice Brown trout! Great job!

Good Luck buddy. Can't wait to see some Colorado trout!

Great job on knocking off Arizona from your state/trout goal! Great looking photos and healthy looking naturalized rainbows. Also great way to milk the Likes buddy with the multiple posts ! Must have learned from the Master - aka BilletHead !

Happy B-day you old fart! Just Kidding, I wish you the best on your 60th. Tell Pat that the pie looks great just the way it is !

You know that I want to catch them all if I can. I did see that New Jersey seems to have a stable population of the black-banded sunfish whereas Maryland has only three to six locations that still may have these fish. May have to start doing the research to find them in the Pine Barrens.

Very sorry to hear about your loss Gary. We will keep you and your family in our thoughts.