Johnsfolly

Not all of the tomatoes on the porch are the same as those in the garden. So the large yellow and orange tomato and the purple and yellow cherries aren't in the garden either.

Did some bartering with BH a while back. After tonight I think that we got the better end of that transaction. Made fajitas. cooked red onion, green pepper, jalapeno, thai chili (BH), minced garlic, and tomatillo. Cooked the vegetables in goose fat (BH). The meat was thinly sliced beef and goose (BH) that we marinated in fajita seasoning, oil, and lime juice. Once the vegetables were partially cooked, I removed them the vegetables added more goose fat to the hot pan and cooked the meat. When the meat was close to done added the vegetables. Served on flour tortilla with home made guacamole, sour cream, and cheese.

I don't have any pictures of our dog, rabbits, tortoise, etc. Do have a photo of our japanese bantam rooster, Spike, and Red one of our easter egger hens. He's a bad@$$ in his own mind. She is a hugger that likes a lot of holding.

Tonight was roasted chicken legs served over butter/garlic/parmesan cheese bowtie noodles. Also a caprese salad with mozzarella pearls, S&P, aged balsamic, basil, over garden fresh tomatoes. Sorry do not know the varieties since we did not keep the labels .

This is a pretty interesting variety. Wished that my betterhalf kept the label. It is a pretty meaty tomato and fairly sweet. Went well with balsamic and mozzarella.

Ok seemed a little silly waiting on my tomatoes turning red. None of these guys were ever going to turn red.

Well it seemed to be just that one time. Just experimenting☺!

Mitch Gotta love bluegill on a fly rod. Haven't done that in some time. One trip I caught over 50 bluegill with the average size of about 9 to 10 inches. All were caught on a sinking bug fly my friend ties. Also caught a dozen or so largemouth with one over 16 inches. I have never found another place like this pond and only get to fish it every few years. But just a great day of fly fishing.

QB Sounds like a rewarding challenge. Couple of nice fish. No picture of the gar? Too bad! Thanks for the post.

Ness Haven't seen stainless steel cubes. I have seen the marble cubes. Never liked the idea of putting rocks in my drinks. These cubes do intrigue me.

Lunch today was farmer's market Cherokee purple tomatoes and microgreens on toasted multigrain bread sandwich. I just love that variety of tomato!!

MOPanfisher We had a cabbage sitting about and I thought about an old polish/Slovak recipe that my grandmother would make called haluski (or halupki depending upon whom you spoke with). Basically you carmelize thin slices of cabbage and onions adding a small amount of brown sugar and S&P. We also added caraway seeds to the mix. then mix in butter and thick egg noodles and cook that all together. We served it with kielbasa slices. I think grandma would be proud.

Mitch F Try to explain the thought process behind microfishing. I get a lot of you catch what.....?!? I personally would not qualify as a fly fisherman for this poll since I have not used my fly rod more than twice a year. I do have multiple rods and reels, just have not gone out that often using the fly rod.

Congrats to you and your dad! Sounds like you two had a great time fishing Bennetts. Glad that you were able to spend time with your dad. Those are special times. Also it's great to catch some sculpin☺!

Ham Those are great memories. I've never met him, but knowing the folks that he surrounded himself with I am sure that I would have liked this man. Thanks for posting those photos.

That looks like a lesser devil ray. That is a pretty cool catch! Congrats on that one and the sharks.

Marty I am sorry to hear of Richard's passing. But as you said he is no longer in pain. Now is the time to look after his family.

As a Masters student in Louisiana my friend went to catch chicken turtles with his buddy at a local farm pond. After catching a couple, his friend told him that he had caught an alligator snapping turtle. My friend asked him how he knew it was a big snapper. His buddy said that he was holding it's head. It seems that his buddy thought that he found a flat rock and he stood on top of it. Reaching down under this "rock" he caught a turtle. Turns out the rock was the snapping turtle and the "turtle" was the snapper's head. The two of them pulled the 70 lb turtle out of the pond. The turtle was donated to his school and may still be living there now.

Another reprise. I brought home a few trout yesterday. I dusted the filets with seasoned flour. I pan fired them in a little oil and butter until the fish was cooked through. I toasted slivered almonds with powdered tarragon, and S&P. Once the fish was done, I browned butter. I mixed the butter with the almonds, added some pinot grigio, and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Served the fish with green beans. Topped both with the sauce. Sorry not a great photo.

When I was trying for an Ozark Slam, I noticed a different colored topminnow in the mix of the northern studfish. I talked with some folks on whether those fish might be plains topminnows and received a seems likely and they are known to be in that creek system. After fishing Bennett Springs and the Niangua earlier in the morning, I headed to Beaver creek to try for these topminnows. This topminnow is a smaller fish than the studfish. They are also more olive in color, have a slight orange coloration in their fins, and a yellow stripe running from the dorsal fin to the head of the fish. The yellow stripe is readily seen and made it simple to differentiate them from the studfish. I hooked the first fish that I tried to catch. I got it into my camera bag and it jumped out as I was filling the bag with water. So no photo . I made several attempts at landing another fish. I pulled several right out of the water without getting a hook set. I even saw a pair spawning and pulled both of them from the water. Once they had that experience they shied away from the bait. The problem was that for every 5 to 10 studfish there were only two of these topminnows. Also they were much more skittish to my movements to position myself near enough to engage them with the bait. Finally I got another one hooked and into the bag. Here's one shot that shows the yellow stripe on it's back. This trip was worth the extra time to head to Rolla on my "way" home from Lebanon just to catch this new species. I wish that it had been a "supermale", which is fish with a bluish body and deep orange fins. I'll have to keep looking for that guy !

The consensus given was that the minnow was likely a carmine shiner, which was formerly the rosyface shiner. Looking at the this fish and a photo of a breeding male carmine that I caught last year in May, they are fairly similar in the body and head shape. Also the position and the size of the mouth are also similar. Without keying out a preserved specimen I am inclined to agree with the consensus opinion of a carmine shiner. This fish to me justifies my obsession to try to catch fish in their breeding colors. Saves a lot of conjecture after the catch.

I headed to the Niangua to try to catch a northern rock bass. I haven't caught yet this year and had caught them below the Barclay canoe access using a Ned rig. I brought a rod rigged for micros and the other with a 1/8 oz green pumpkin Ned rig. I went to the boat ramp and saw several minnows swimming amongst the rocks and brush. A few caught my eye, those were a couple of small groups of western mosquitofish (a relative of the guppy). I caught Eastern mosquitofish in Delaware, but not a western this year. I had my #26 tanago hook rigged with a tiny piece of a pink/purple rubber. I caught a couple of the westerns right off the bat. Also a couple of topminnows. I didn't see any other novel micros and went to the spot I had caught rock bass in the past. On the first cast I had on a panfish, but it got off and I didn't land that fish. The next cast resulted in a 5 inch smallmouth. Only got a couple more bites before I hung up on the structure that attracted those fish to that area. Once I tied on another bait, I was hit with the first wave of floaters. Then it was pretty much a non-stop wave after wave of canoes, kayaks, and rafts. Lots of loud kids and a few drinkers. Only caught one more bluegill before I just could not deal with the boats disturbing the fish. I headed upstream of the take-out and was going to fish where the fast water hit a deeper area with slower water. Looked like a good spot for trout. Just as I was beginning to fish a kayaker past through the spot I was about to cast into and he headed back upstream and cast in front of me. He hooked a rainbow on a crankbait. I did get at least one rainbow on a 1/8 oz olive and orange Zig Jig. After that fish I just could not deal with the boaters any further and left the river to them. I definitely have not had as much trouble catching a rock bass, but I will keep trying. I may catch an Ozark or shadow bass before I catch a rock bass. This post has been promoted to an article

I headed down to BSSP yesterday to take advantage of the more autumn like weather. The sky was clear and the temperature was cool. I got to the park around 7:30 am. There were quite a few fishermen along the spillway and the stream down to the hatchery outfall. Above the whistle bridge there were a few fishermen and the water was running clear. In front of the whistle bridge there were not as many trout that I have normally seen in this section of the stream. With the clear water I was using 2# P-line fishing line. Some folks were catching a few trout on vigorously worked small jigs. I caught a couple on white/salmon 1/16 oz marabou jigs. One fish was over 12 inches in length. Once they stopped responding to the marabou jig, switched to a pink/yellow/white glo-ball and caught a few more including this 13 inch rainbow. I caught several trout on a John deere microjig with the largest fish being just a bit under 16 inches in length. When fishing the small jigs or glo-balls most fish will react by circling or a straight out rush to the bait and not a strike and pull the line, then they just take the bait into their mouths then spit it immediately back out. So the best way to catch the fish was to anticipate the strike, and set the hook when the bait disappears or the trout flares it's gills. I was planning on fishing a few other streams/rivers, so I only fished BSSP for two and a half hours, caught eleven trout, and left with three for the table. All in all a great day on the stream. This post has been promoted to an article