Johnsfolly

Not as exciting as duck breast, but made burgers last night. I haven't ground my venison. So just ground beef. Did mix in garlic and onion powder, montreal seasoning, worchestershire sauce, smoked paprika, an egg, and some bread crumbs. Turned them to cheeseburgers with some melted Billetheadville smoked cheddar. Topped burgers with sliced onion and tomato. My Betterhalf made homemade cole slaw with horseradish. She topped her burger with the slaw. The rest if us just had it as a side.

You leave for Arkansas for four days and this is what I had to look forward to when I got home. Bah Humbug!! I hope that everyone has a Happy Holidays!!!!

I have ice fished on colder days, down in the single digits. It sucks when the fish freeze to the ice before you can get them unhooked. Though you don't need ice in your cooler, even though It's actually warmer in the cooler than the surrounding air. Was either never smart enough or went out in that cold often enough to get a shell/shelter.

Great post and some great fish! Congrats!

Haven't had too many post worthy meals. Did make a pot roast last Sunday. Coated both sides of the blade roast with montreal seasoning and garlic powder then seared both sides. I added the roast into a dutch oven. Added quartered portabella mushrooms, sliced carrots, onions, and celery, plus about 15 peeled garlic cloves. I deglazed the pan with beef stock and poured that into the dutch oven with the meat and vegetables. I also prepped the side dish vegetables. I had my Betterhalf cook the roast for almost three hours while I fished with a friend (still was trying for the fresh fish dinner) and she also cooked the side dishes as well. Served the pot roast with cooked parsnips and mashed sweet potatoes.

Ness - that's how I made deep dish pizzas when I cooked at a pizza place called The Chicago Loop in Connecticut. Everything was the same except for you using your quality crust and better ingredients ! That restaurant no longer exists. Not surprised. I did learn how to make deep dish pizzas even with less than quality ingredients. Unless it has a really good crust, deep dish is not my favorite style of pizza. I prefer nearly paper thin crispy crusts.

I'm sure that BH would suggest that you sous vide the pork first . A lot more control on the internal temp. Looked and sounded a very good meal none the less .

I have to say that Riley's have must have the horniest turkeys around. If you stand in the yard for more than a couple of minutes your are surrounded by them both spitting and drumming. I wouldn't want to know what would happen if you bent over !

Reading these posts from Gotmuddy and Billethead, you would think that all I did was hang up and not catch fish. I'll let them know that I got unsnagged more often than breaking off and I also actually caught some fish. I didn't catch the 61 fish that I had hoped for the weekend. I did catch a few and even have photos. One of the three brown trout that I caught this weekend (caught with Billethead on Thurs. night). This one was 14 to 15" in length and was the best coloration of the three. A nicely colored rainbow that I also caught with Billethead on Thurs. A chunky rainbow that I caught while fishing with Terrierman and Gotmuddy. Ham and I caught a few smallmouth bass. If they didn't put up as much fight they might have fallen into the stinking bass category ! I caught my largest rainbow of the trip on Sunday while fishing with Ham. Though I didn't get my numbers goal or a new species it wasn't for the lack of strikes or opportunities. I had a great time with some great fishermen! Hopefully still in the area for Jigfest (or Gigfest) 2018!

Cody - I only landed two of these rock bass. You should have seen the ones that broke me off ! I got very proficient at hooking these guys. In fact some folks like "The Billethead" and JesterHK were so jealous that they would say that they may have had Johnitis once they have hooked one of those big rock bass. Personally it is more appropriate that they got Folly Flu or Folly rigged that cast !

QB - you would think that this duo would be too distracted to fish effectively for trout. One of them would likely be constantly looking out for a new minnow or sculpin and the other scanning the skies or woods for groceries ! Though they did boat 30 trout and a white bass that afternoon !

Phil - a lot of inconsistent generation data led to few folks going over to Norfork. The water coming out of Norfork was pretty trashy. A couple of us wade fished, but not many fish biting. I did catch a lousy green sunfish in my attempts to catch a brook trout !

I had a great time again this year! Great to meet some new guys and meet up again with some folks I have met before. Great food and fellowship. Lots of laughs and self deprecation when you hang up your jig☺! And you get to fish the White and Norfork rivers! You also gain a lot of deer dodging experience as well☺. No "The Billethead" I did not bring home that spike though I did see him in the ditch on my way home. As always the biggest regret is not having enough time to fish with everyone. Will post some photos as I get them edited.

Most of the creeks mentioned will have some fish and a 12 inch fish will be a giant in the thinner water sections. Depends on what you want to do. Catch fish or to have a chance at catching a big fish.I would agree that with the bridge work that the Hinkson is a bit more urbanized. I have caught largemouth, smallmouth, and spotted bass in the Hinkson with some of the LMB being over 12". Actually caught two smallies just over 10" right below the Clark and 63 intersection. That was about 15 yrs ago. Stopped fishing that section about 12 yrs ago due to a transient village popped up in those woods. That was removed a while back. As was posted look for rocky holes with some depth and there will likely be smallies. In my experience the Loutre does have more spotted bass. Was the first place that I had caught a stream crappie. I do fish most of the creeks mentioned including Whetstone but now mostly fish for micros (lots of spots for that type of fishing). Agree that there may not be a whole lot of water holding bass in Whetstone. I saw a few small LMB that were less than 8". There may be smallies but will have to burn some wader soles finding them. Depending on my work situation might be able to fish a few spots with you and TR this spring.

Wrench You just mentioned carp☺!

I am bringing pumpkin and cream cheese bars for snacking ir dessert. Haven't had much luck on finding passable exotic mushrooms to batter and fry. Most of the local oysters i have been seeing in the bins are dry. I've got one last place to look in town. Willing to bring down more pedestrian varieties if wanted. How we doing on bags, napkins, plastic forks, spoons, etc?

Now I do process turkeys that way if I am not plannnig on roasting the bird. You simply skin the bird around the meat you are going to remove. I start with the breast and do remove some feathers so that they don't get stuck on the meat. I don't do this in the field but after I get the bird home.

Very nice fish. Congrats on getting them to bite the bizzbait!

Trophy size and quality is regionally specific. This is an Ozarks fish of a lifetime. With the skill of folks using reproductions, there would be no reason not to get this mounted while the fish gets to swim away.

That is a big smallmouth! Congratulations to the lucky angler!

I have spoken with Robert Hrabik (currently working a revision of the Fishes of Missouri guidebook) and he basically stated that the rock bass in SW MO are a mess. There have been lots of bucket migrations and possibly a fair amount of hybridization. I have not counted scale rows though have been inclined to do so for other fish id work. With rock bass I have fished in the traditional locations for each of the three species and tended to avoid cross over areas. Not yet Phil ! I'm working on it. Here is a listing of the sunfish, i.e., Centrarchidae family, that I have caught so far. Except for the redbreast, pumpkinseed, shoal bass, redeye bass, and the Florida largemouth, all of these I have caught in Missouri or Arkansas. Common Name Species Shadow Bass Ambloplites ariommus Ozark bass Ambloplites constellatus Northern Rock Bass (goggle eye) Ambloplites rupestris Redbreast Sunfish Lepomis auritus Green Sunfish Lepomis cyanellus Pumpkinseed Sunfish Lepomis gibbosus Orangespotted Sunfish Lepomis humilus Bluegill Sunfish Lepomis macrochirus macrochirus Hybrid Sunfish (B/G) L macrochirus X L. cyanellus Longear Sunfish Lepomis megalotis Redear Sunfish Lepomis microlophus Shoal Bass Micropterus cataractae Redeye Bass (Coosa) Micropterus coosae Smallmouth bass Micropterus dolomieu Smallmouth bass - Neosho Micropterus dolomieu velox Spotted Bass Micropterus punctulatus Florida Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides floridanus Northern Largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides salmoides White Crappie Pomoxis annularis Black Crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus

Congrats Phil! That's definitely a keeper. Best wishes to mother and child!

It's because the cows are grass fed! Oh it's Ireland, all of the cows are grass fed! Just didn't see a lot of corn grown there .

Anyone catch one of these guys? It's on my son's bucket list - the only fish that he really wants to catch. Could cost me a small fortune to get him on one.

How about this one that I actually caught.