Johnsfolly

Lots of boat ramps will have a deep hole downstream of the ramp that can get overlooked. Several years ago I went down to the Current river and was running later than I wanted. I got to one of the popular access points at 7 am. A couple of guys had camped at that access. The one guy was ready to get fishing but the other guy was still in their tent. He was taking his time to get ready. I was able to get my waders on and got my gear together, and. I waded across the river while that one guy was still in the tent. I usually don't fish the pool at this access but went ahead and cast my stickbait by a exposed rootwad and hooked up. This brown trout leapt several times and each time landed like a brick. By the time I landed this 19-20 inch trout both guys were standing on the bank watching me. I have never caught another brown trout in that pool and very few rainbows. I also will never know what those guys talked about after I released that fish. I'm sure maybe a couple of digs about sleeping in or not getting ready sooner.

I have taken microbiology and studied red tides yet still eat raw oysters and clams☺! Maybe it's a version of foodie roulette but just enjoy shellfish and raw seafood.

Now that was very funny. I SAID IT WAS VERY FUNNY!!

Good Luck! Your photos are getting me excited and I can't hunt for a couple of days nor do I have a spot like that one! Can't wait for the trophy photo!

Thanks for posting this information and the link to the publication. They provide a lot of potential answers to this fish kill. Once I blew up your DO graphs it is really evident how much DO depletion had occurred and how compressed that hypolimnetic refuge became as the season progressed. I enjoyed looking over the data that you provided.

Now my mouth is watering! Smoked tender meat yummmm!

During one urban gun season I shot a just out of spots fawn. She wasn't more than 60 lbs soaking wet. I decided to keep one whole ham intact with the bone to make as a roast. I had an idea to finely blend rosemary and garlic in olive oil to inject into the meat. I even communicated this idea with Scott Leysath and got his opinion. He thought that it was a good idea with a young deer. I went with the idea, made the marinade, injected the leg, and cooked the roast to medium rare. It was very tender and delicious. If I have the tags I have no problem dropping a young un☺!

I'm sure that they would be good to put on a spit☺!

Sounds like a great trip! Congrats on the hidef craw bite!

Who's on first!

I actually enjoy small game more so than deer hunting. That's probably because I don't have a lot of private access to hunt deer and public land hunting for deer can be a problem. I don't get a lot of other folks ruining my squirrel hunts! That and I can usually find huntable numbers of small game on even the smallest piece of public land. My wife can get more excited when I pull in with a buck or doe in the back versus when I come home with a brace of squirrels. That is until she gets to eat whatever I make with them (check out the What's cooking thread for my latest Thai inspired squirrel dish).

Flysmallie I know that you already know this, but we did remove or pushed out the primary predators for the otter. So now it is up to us to control their populations. Unfortunately the economics, i.e., fur prices, are too low to incentivize trappers to catch more otters. I know that I am speaking as a dipshit on this one, but without adequate population control of the otters they would ultimately decimate local streams and ponds of fish. That would in turn reduce the number of otters in that area either due to mortality, starvation or disease, or more likely migration to another body of water. Once that predation by the otter is reduced that would allow what ever fish remained in those systems to again repopulate those areas. This only becomes an issue to us when we want to catch those reduced fish numbers, i.e., remember when we used to catch 30 to 50 fish per day, or do not want to wait for the populations to rebuild if they even can.

I agree with that being a great trail cam photo. Looks like a planned shot. Saw your trail cam photos from this year. I would be excited looking at those bucks☺.

We saw a spotted fawn over the weekend as well. Maybe it was from from a yearling that went into estrus in Dec.

That was a great video! Really enjoyed it but probably not as much as he did fly fishing on camera. Glad that the fish were cooperative.

Coosa - I have the same experience with low water smallmouth. I also have caught some of my largest brown trout between 10 am and 2 pm as well. I often have wondered if that was because of the time of day or because I wade fish and that I finally have reached water that is far enough away from the access to get to low pressured fish.

The view from my blind last season. Some of the deer from my trail camera last season. No giant but I should have been able to some meat in the freezer. Looking forward to this season.

Ketchup the year has been getting away from me. I still have to buy my licenses for this season. I will try to post any trips that I will take this season. Had a lot of encounters last season, but no success in terms of meat on the ground and in the freezer. I hope for a more productive season this year. Good luck to you this season and to all other bow hunters!

I don't really want to get into a pissing contest, but five years is correct if the event occurred already in 2017. So that would be 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Okay let's finish this meal. I had bought baby bok choi and water spinach from the farmer's market on Sat and that was part of the inspiration for this dish. I coarse chopped the water spinach and bok choi. I also sliced carrots, crimini (baby bellas) mushrooms, and onion. I minced garlic and ginger. I started by cooking the carrots in a little oil, then added the onions, followed by the squirrel meat. After some more cooking, I added some powdered ginger and S&P to the mix. I also added a couple of teaspoons of chili paste and the sliced mushrooms. Cooked that a bit more then added the bok choi and water spinach and a little more oil, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Once the greens wilted, I added the juice of a half of a lime and then lime zest. Let the flavors meld and served with basmati rice. If you need an idea for squirrel meat this really worked. It took a while to prepare, but was worth the work. It great way to respect game meat!

That really does sound good and not just because I am hungry.

Tonight's dinner started at 6:45 this morning. I finally decided on what to do with our squirrels. I browned the squirrel pieces in a dutch oven just in a little oil. Removed the browned meat and set aside. Added coarse chopped onion, lemongrass, and garlic to the oven and got just a little color on the onions. Deglazed the oven with a quarter cup of dry whire wine. Added back the squirrel and covered the meat with chicken stock (stored bought not home made... yet).I added some chinese five spice and turmeric to the braising liquid. Put the dutch oven into 325 deg oven cooked for over 3 hrs. My betterhalf pulled the meat from the bones. Will make a thai style stir fry this evening☺.

Sounds good RPS. I really like cold sesame noodles. Especially if they have a bit of heat in them! My family was un Savannah visiting my step mother back in July. I haven't been there in some time. Really enjoy the food you can get in Savannah.

A friend of mine says that you always bleed when catching musky☺. Maybe that's appropriate since you did stick one or more sharp hooks into its mouth! He uses 60 to 80 lb fluorocarbon leaders and I don't hear about him losing fish to cut leaders.

That is am awesome looking McCloud! Congrats on another sucessful trip to Crane creek! If I can get the time maybe we can make a trip. Do you prefer to fish it during the week?