Johnsfolly

Now I got a preview of this meal but kept thinking that the Landry boys had visited Billetheadville and brought some gator and crawfish for the sauce piquante☺! Sounds like venison worked as well. Still would love to hear "Choot em Marty! Choot em!"

Looks like a great trip! Congrats on catching some nice stripers!

I know a spot or two that I had a trout surprise. Like you, I think about and want find out how they got there. Glad to hear that there are more such places where there are naturalized trout. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to find one or wo more. They tend to be fiesty fighters ☺ and that makes finding them special.

I will let my Betterhalf know where I will be hunting or fishing "most" of the time. On hunting trips it is all the time and only about 80% of my fishing trips. As Wrench mentioned, my Betterhalf may have never been fishing these spots with me. Since I wade fish most of the time, if they know the access should be able to find me with two people.

Congrats Dan! Glad that you were getting fish in the boat! Also great that you got to spend time with a good friend.

Everyone on OAF knows about that guy ☺!

I have a friend that he and his family will shoot squirrels out the windows with their bows. I wonder what the neighbors would think as they see the squirrels in the yard and then an arrow comes out of the window and sticks them to the ground.

That's a beautiful fish!

Thanks Chief. I should have thrown out that question to the larger audience.

Does anyone on this thread know if smallmouth bass are more susceptible than spotted bass to intersex development (development of both testicular and ovarian tissues within the same gonad; also know as ovatestis) due to endocrine active substances or endocrine disruptive compounds (EDC's)? I have not done a whole lot of research and the only thing that I could quickly find was this statement in a recent study in Maryland by the US Fish and Wildlife. These statements seem to suggest that their may be potential differences between smallmouth and largemouth in terms of their susceptibility for male fish to develop intersexuality. "The Results We found female germ cells (oocytes) in the testes of 82% to 100% of the male smallmouth bass and in 23% of the males from the single largemouth bass collection near the Blue Plains Wastewater Plant in Washington, DC. The baseline prevalence of testicular oocytes in male smallmouth is uncertain but may be in the range of 14% to 22%; baseline for male largemouth may be closer to 0%." With spotted and smallmouth bass considered by taxonomists to be more closely related to each other than in comparison to the largemouth wasn't sure if anything is really know about whether the two species respond differently to the presence of EDC's in the environment. It is likely for EDC's to increase due to urbanization (i.e., introduction of herbicides, pesticides, birth control hormones, etc.). Al - what is the differences in growth rate or better yet maturation rate between smallmouth and spotted bass. One could theorize that if smallmouth reach sexual maturity at a later age, then they would be more likely to be affected by EDC's due to the length of their exposure. The higher incidence of intersex in the population will likely cause a decline in viable reproduction.

What ratio do you prefer? When I make sausage I prefer to use 25% fatty pork to 75% venison. For straight up burger, I use 15% ground beef fat to 85% venison.

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.