Johnsfolly

We are done rearing monarchs for this season. Livie ended up releasing 8 female and 7 male monarchs. Five butterflies never emerged from the chrysalis. Surprised that we had one of best season in terms of butterflies reared and released especially since it seemed like they didn't start laying eggs until later this year. We did get a first this year, a major hatch of milkweed tussock moths (also known as milkweed tiger moths). First picture is just after they hatched. This guy is getting fattened up and is almost ready to pupate. They don't like to eat too much of the latex like the monarchs, so they cut the veins close to the stem to allow the latex to drain before they eat the leaves. I found out that they overwinter in their cocoons. So it will be next spring before we see any adults from this hatch.

While out squirrel and mushroom hunting last Weds we got into a couple of turkeys. We even had a couple of hens come into my diaphragm calls and land in trees 45 to 65 yards from us. We backed out hoping to not spook them before I could get after them properly. So with fall turkey tags in my pocket, I switched gears in this little woodlot on National forest land. This property is within 10 miles from my house. I got out again Friday afternoon/evening to go after these turkeys and was in the woods by 5:15 pm. Armed with my Tight Wad turkey choke and turkey load shot shells I figured that I would just get into a bunch of squirrels, though distracting I am focused on turkeys. As I got a 100 yards or so into this woodlot, I heard a couple of soft clucks in the woods out near the distant field edge. I made a couple of calls on my diaphragm call and no response. With birds already in the woodlot I couldn't get much deeper into the wood than I was already. I set up next to a giant white oak tree that one hen landed in on Weds when we were out for squirrels. On Weds the birds had come into this area from my right. In front of me was an open oak flat that was split by a winding creek. The far edge of the creek was about 45 to 60 yards from me. If the birds came into that flat I was not sure that they would try to cross the creek. I was also in no position to be able to try to break up any flock that came in from that side. As the sun was setting, I made some more clucks and soft yelps this time on my slate call. I caught some movement out in front of me on the farthest bend in the creek. I put up my binoculars and confirmed that a hen was coming in. As she skirted the creek edge, I spotted another and then another following her. With the birds so close I quietly called to keep their interest. When it appeared to me that they were not likely to cross the creek, I stopped calling and just watched them. There were now at least 6 and possibly 7 birds within 80 yards of my position. Once I stopped calling they turned and headed towards a couple of large oak trees. Those trees were in the spot that I had hoped to reach this evening before I heard any birds. One after another the birds started flying up to roost. They flew into one or two close trees and a couple of ones farther from me. I backed out and hoped to get on them in the morning. I wasn't too comfortable that if I spooked them trying to get into that area they would just get out in the open field. I was not able to convince my Betterhalf to get up and hunt along the field edge opposite of where I intended to be to keep the turkeys in the woodlot. So I did what I could to get in as quietly as possible in the morning and set up near one of the large oaks for an ambush. It was about 5:45 when I crossed the creek in the oak flat. as I got near a large sycamore tree, I saw and heard a raccoon. This guy saw me and started a quiet chitter. I had to pass this tree to get to my set-up point. I saw it come down the tree a bit as I approached and passed it. The whole time it chittered at me. When I set-up next to the first giant oak tree (opposite of the raccoon tree). I kept waiting to hear the raccoon coming after me. Fortunately that fear never manifested. As I waited for sunrise and the turkeys to become active on the roost, I kept thinking whether I was close enough to get into any birds or if they had moved closer to the field edge before settling down on their roost. The minutes dragged on and the mosquito bites accumulated. As the woods lightened with the dawn, I waited for some birds to begin talking before I called. I caught movement high in the tree near me and confirmed it was a turkey. Now it was a waiting game. Finally the bird above me dropped off the roost and was met with a load of #4 shot and dropped. One turkey that was in the same tree flew off to my right. The other turkeys called from the roost and I called back hoping to get another to light down near me. I waited close to 20 to 25 minutes before going to tag my bird. Figuring that I could get back into these birds later this month, I wasn't aggressive in trying to get a second bird. I ended up seeing/hearing at least four other birds. I took my prize and envision fried turkey breast and carnitas with the legs and thighs !

As always another great video! Looks like a challenging but rewarding place to fish.

Gavin I hope that you catch some nice fish to honor your friend using the rod that you built. Can't wait to hear how you did.

We haven't had his faijitas but have been fortunate to have the master chef's version of szechuan duck using goose at Billetheadville ☺. We have made goose fanitas using goose provided by BH. Both meals were delicious!

Et tu BH? They were catching a binch of fish but not too much size difference than what is found here in MO. Sure you could find smallies that size within an hour or two of Billetheadville. Don't know if that would qualify as "close to home". Takes me a bit over an hour to find smallies like those.

Ness I'll have to find out what starter she has been using.

Those are nice reds but that black drum is a giant! Great photos from the brine!

I read through this entire thread and you just missed the point. Wrench was extending an olive branch (or more appropriately a balsa or basswood block) to cut through the BS from both sides by showing interest in what you were making. Of course he knows that you are making lures. There are lots of guys on this site that make lures or tie flies and share what they make. Wrench is one of those guys. Not giving away any secrets by saying that your are making deep diving crankbaits, walk the dog type baits, stickbaits, etc.

After dinner, my Bettehalf and I went out to hunt some small game and the elusive fall fungus. In this part of the national forest land there could be squirrels, deer, and/or turkeys in this woodlot (approx. 12 to 15 acres in size) right up to where I typically park. We got out of the car and got our gear ready and closed the doors as quietly as possible. We got about 40 yards into the woodlot and I clucked and yelped on a diaphragm call just in case there were some turkeys around this evening. We didn't get a response. We found some wood ear mushrooms and got them harvested and Sue motioned that there were a couple of squirrels within 40 feet of us and headed our way. The closest one didn't give me a shot at first since it was creeping under the rose bushes. Then it climbed a small tree and it was the last thing that it did before coming home with us. We headed deeper into the woodlot. I made a couple more clucks and yelps and got a response on the far end of the woods. Since I did not have my gun set up for turkey and I did not bring my fall turkey permits, not wanting to spook this turkey we started to back out. We got about halfway back to where I had shot the squirrel when a hen flew up into a large oak tree about 45 yards from us. She looked us over and not sure what we were she flew deeper into the wood lot. As soon as she flew off another hen came in from our right and flew into the trees near us. I don't think that either of these hems knew what we were and I don't think that we spooked them out of the woodlot. Unfortunately I have meetings all morning. So I will have to try to get after these birds Friday morning. Hopefully they stick around. If they do, I'm sure I may be posting on the turkey forum.

The sourdough was not the only loaf that my Betterhalf made today. Paying homage to a recipe posted some time ago by BH, she made our first Jamaican coffee meatloaf. Livie was not keen about the banana in the pepper/olive topping. She doesn't like bananas. Personally I think that the banana worked in this recipe. I really liked it with a slice of warm "sourdough" bread.

My Betterhalf on her second attempt at sourdough bread. The last batch was good bread, but not that distinctive sour taste. She let the starter go a bit longer this time. Still it's good bread still just isn't "sour". May have to get pointers from Ness on this one.

HW Is that your bait peeking out of its anus? Need to set the hook a little sooner☺! Seriously a nice fat smallie! Congrats!

It seems that the goal with the Texas program is to raise larger bass to increase out of state fisherman coming to fish these lakes with the hooe of catching a 10+ lb florida strain or hybrid largemouth bass. These lakes must get a tremendous amount of fishing pressure. I would agree that a program to protect as well as enhance the native genetics like the river walleye would greatly benefit that species. The problem is how to do that program without increasing the fishing pressure on these species and how does it get funded without bringing in money from outside of MO? Also there needs to be a lot of pressure to release fish. In the case of walleye that is going to be a huge uphill battle. Trophy stamps may work but very hard to effectively manage. Worth a continued conversation.

Glad to have you back on the forum. I haven't fished the Auxvasse in years. I caught some smallmouth and largemouth bass. None were very big but were cooperative. You'll have to let us know how you do if you fish that creek.

I am planning on staying Thurs, Fri, and Saturday.

My Betterhalf made a roasted chicken last night. I got home from fishing way too late to have any and there were lots of chicken leftover. I picked off the remaining chicken from the boanes and we salvaged as much of the cooking liquid as possible. I cut a spaghetti squash in half, removed the seeds, placed them cut side down in a pan with a bit of water and baked approximately 35 minutes until soft to the touch. I took the squash out to cool. I heated olive oil over medium / medium-high heat and cooked minced onion and garlic until the onion was translucent. I cut a zucchini into slices that were thicker than matchsticks. I added the zucchini with the onion and garlic and continued to cook on medium heat until mostly cooked. I added salt/Pepper, dried basil, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes, and the chicken to the pan. I also added a little more oil. While the chicken cooked I shredded the squash into the "noodles" and put on a plate. We added a small amount of butter to the "noodles", salt/pepper, and parmesan cheese then heated through in the microwave (since I could not fit the all of this in the pan with the chicken). I added the broth to the chicken mixture and once heated through was served on top of the squash "noodles".

Marty -thanks for sending it. It was a great surprise. I just wished that I had been able to try out the gar flies on this trip. Maybe soon!

On Sunday I took my daughters to the KC renaissance fair. We usually go every year. One of our favorite things is to buy and crack one or more geodes. This year was not an exception. We like to look for the lightest geode in the bunch and look for different coloration on the outside that might give us a clue to what is lying inside. Our experience did not prepare us for the treasure we found this year. This geode cracked with just a slight pop and fortunately we did try to crack it further. The inside is black as night and there are white calcite crystals on top of the black ones making it look like the night sky. I have to say this in one of the coolest geodes were have ever see, let alone owned. So has any one else out there seen a black geode? Any thoughts on what is causing this type of coloration?

Dan - just watched it again and again laughed heartily. I love it when the one spooked the other! Too funny.

Not as exciting as a meal by the streamside. We got a fair amount of rain this morning and that made the decision to not go out hunting this morning a simple one. So I turned over, slept till after 8 am, and opted for a breakfast sandwich. I mixed a whole Folly farm fresh egg with the whites of another and scrambled with a little salt/pepper and garlic powder. Put the egg on multigrain toast, added two thin slices of cooked ham, and half a slice of aged swiss cheese. Not a pretty picture, but a tasty sammich !

I got out yesterday to fish one of my favorite creeks looking to catch a northern rock bass as well as the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful day on an Ozark stream. I have caught many of these fish in this stream in the past. I was looking forward to catching what has been an elusive fish for me this year as well as catching any number of different species. If not successful on the rock bass, hoping to catch more than 100 fish on this trip. Not planning on targeting bass, but will catch what I can. I started fishing right under the bridge and saw several larger bass in the mix. I started with a green pumpkin Ned rig and got bit quickly. The fish got unbutton just as quickly. On the next cast got bit again and set the hook harder this time and popped the leader. Switched to a 1/32 oz tube jig with a green pumpkin slider with chartreuse paddle tail and cast to a roving smallmouth. The bass quickly hit the bait and the line held. I landed my first fish of the day - just 99 more to go. I cast to a large bass and got bit again and again the line popped when I set the hook. This time right at the knot between the Nano-fil and the leader. Instead of just retying with a leader, I spooled on about 40-45 yards onto the reel so that the 8 lb line would be on the reel as I caught more fish. Under the bridge I caught a few green sunfish and another smallmouth then I moved upstream to get after a few more fish. In this stream a great bas will be over 14" with 17-18" being some of the largest that you can expect. These are chunky fish with thick shoulders. I had some more success fishing rocky bottoms and deeper water, but kept catching green sunfish. In the next deep hole saw a few larger smallmouth and had success with a fluke. I also had a couple of large fish hit and get off. I switched to a 1/8 oz PBJ Ned rig and landed this chunky 10" smallmouth at the head of the pool, loved the red eyes on this one! By this time I had caught over 20 fish, but no rock bass. I had a dozen red worms in case I got into some interesting microfising opportunities. With the warm weather the worms were not fairing well. So I switched to fish live bait while there was still some "life" left in my baits. The first fish was and unusual one for this stream, a redear sunfish. I have never seen one in this stream before. The worms landed lots of sunfish including this fuzzy longear sunfish (still one of the most attractive Ozark fish that you can catch on a variety of baits). I never switched to my small hooks on this trip. I got back into rock bass waters and put back on the green/chartreuse slider. More smallmouth, a few largemouth, and lots of green and longear sunfish. Every rock pile, deep holes with wood and/or rock held fish. Still no rock bass. Finally I got into a long deep pool with a large tree lined up against on bank in the deeper water. I saw a pod of largemouth that ranged from 10" to a three that were close to 18-20" in length. I had a special lure in my bag of tricks, a Billethead (BH) special topwater bait. I love topwater fishing in this stream, particularly in the summer. I had tried this on the last deep hole, but just couldn't get a hang of getting a hook set with the single hook. So trying again with I was getting lots of blowups in this long hole. I finally got the right time between the blow-up, to the tug, and then the hook set. This was a nice thick 13-14" largemouth. I know that I was a green bass and not a hybrid, but I was pretty proud catching this fish with the BH special! The bass weren't the only chunky fish that I caught. This was the largest bluegill that I have ever caught in this creek. Also on the green/chartreuse slider. It was getting late in the day So I kept on the slider for the rest of the day. I hit a long hole that had three separate rock piles and fished each of them as hard as I could. Again lots of green sunfish. I saw a couple of larger smallmouth and landed three on the sliders as well as this 13" smallie which was my largest of the day. I fished until it got dark and ended the day in a hole that I caught several rock bass on a Ned rig last summer. I caught fish after fish, with lots of longear and green sunfish and a hornyhead chub, but not a single rock bass. I fished for 6 and a half hours. I caught 40 green sunfish, 26 longear sunfish, 12 bluegill, a redear sunfish, a hornyhead chub, seven largemouth (two that were 12-13" and lost two larger ones), and 17 smallmouth bass (four over 12") for 104 fish on the day. Not only did I have a great day fishing, I got to experience a beautiful day on the stream with views like these.

Flysmallie - another great photo essay! That just looks like a great trip whether you actually caught a fish or not. No worries since this trip had it all including nice fish on the line ! Even JoeD would like the enjoyment of the campfire cooking!

Now that the dates are set, it's just a matter of selecting the right Jigs. Maybe this will help the selection process !

Ham I hope that you and your dad have a great trip. You guys need some good going your way.