Johnsfolly

That's a great looking fly. On your Feb trip as long as you can get it near the bottom of the river, those trout should tear that up. Good luck.

Hey you got into fish under low water conditions. Congrats to that! Also this is a fantastic looking MCCloud river rainbow! I may have to get off the fence and head down that way to try for a couple before the end of Feb.

QB I'm with you. Haven't caught one. Yet!

Ketchup Thanks for posting his story. I hope that he does well. Agriculture is a fickle business, but he and his family seemed prepared to make it work. I have hunted near some pecan orchards in Georgia and was fascinated by the carpet high grass under the trees. Even got to watch one of the farmers out shaking his trees. When they vacuum up the nuts the short grass made a lot of sense.

Thanks for the information. That is definitely a big fish. Congrats again. Also you're definitely a road warrior going after those fish. When I head to SW MO to fish Crane creek or Roaring river I will typically put in 600+ miles over the weekend. That does include a couple of side trips. You'd still be on the road well after I have pulled in the driveway. However that looks like such a great fishery. It would be worth the drive. Billethead had asked sometime ago would it be worth all the effort just to catch one fish or even to just encounter that one fish. It seems that your answer is a definite yes.

That was a great read and I always like your photo essay. How far is your drive to SE LA? I drive a lot to get to many of my favorite trout streams. Just wanted to get a bearing on the miles you are putting it to get on those reds. Also to you what really constitutes a true bull red?

Dried black trumpets are great in venison stews. I know that they would work well in a braising liquid for some tree rats. The dried chanterelles from the summer were done in the oven and browned a bit. I may have to try to powder them and see what the flavor is like before committing them to a braising on those rodents.

Well I am looking forward to temps in the mid 40- 50s to get a couple more squirrels for the pot. I only have three in the freezer. With my brother-in law and a 16 year old boy to feed, I figure at least three or four more will be the minimum we need to make a great meal. I wouldn't mind a couple of rabbits. I just can't bring myself to shoot the rabbit in our yard with my bow. I'm thinking about making squirrel and mushrooms like I did back when the chanterelles were in full force. I'll see what wild mushrooms I can get at our store once we get enough squirrels. Still have some of the pickled chanterelles. So I might add some of them into the mix.

Seth Great bunch of slab crappie! You're tearing them up on those docks. Enjoy frying them up. Got my mouth watering just thinking about it.

I could do that as well, but the neighbors behind our house would get a bit concerned. Just need to convince my better half to get a pelletgun for the yard 'tails. Is that a .17 or .22? Magazine looks like it might be a 22. Braising those squirrels will also warm up the house for a couple of hours as well to get them to fall off the bone tender. I have hung up my bow without filling my tag. did have 5 bucks walk by my stand last weekend. They took the secondary trail below the primary trail covered in snow. Too much brush between them and myself. Yesterday did not see any and today too icy to venture out to the blind.

MOPanfisher Took awhile to convince my wife to make this sticky toffee pudding. Here's the pic I didn't set up the macro on the camera before Olivia took the picture. So it could have been a better picture. Also we are between dishwashers at this time. So we were serving only on the fine china. I had mine with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream instead of the double cream. Here's the recipe. Sticky Toffee Pudding Pudding: ½ cup (125 g) softened butter ¾ cup (175 g) light brown sugar 4 slightly beaten eggs 1 cup (250 g) self-rising flour I round TSP baking soda 1 cup (250 g) diced dates 2 TBS instant coffee (coffee essence) 2 TSP vanilla extract ½ (150 mL) cup brandy + ½ (150 mL) cup boiling water or 1 cup boiling water Grease a 9 x 10 inch cake pan and line with a double thickness of baking parchment. Preheat oven to 350 °F Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time beating constantly. Sift the flour and baking soda together and fold into the sugar butter mixture. Stir in the chopped dates and coffee, vanilla extract, and brandy/water (water). Stir until smooth. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours until firm to the touch. Remove from oven. Topping: 142 mL double cream + extra to serve over pudding ¾ cup (175 g) light brown sugar ½ cup (125 g) butter Combine the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and heat; stirring constantly until smooth. Turn out the pudding onto a double thickness of foil large enough to hold any spills of the topping. Remove the baking parchment and pour the topping over the pudding. Set under the broiler until bubbling. Serve while hot ; drizzle with topping and extra double cream.

That Bonneville is a great looking fish. Congrats on a good day on the water. How long ago did TU implement their egg box program? That looks like a 10-12" trout, which means it may have some age.

Drew So sorry to hear about your wife. We will keep you and your children in our prayers.

Good luck on your NY trip. I hope you catch some brookies. Looking at the public fishing land maps on QB's link, do you have to be concerned about trespass while wading? Or are those public fishing areas where you can wade and bank fish?

Didn't Larry Dahlberg create the whopper plopper to catch musky?

Wow I thought I was a bit of a species snob.What do you expect from a guy that goes by Micropterus . I stand corrected sir! A centrachid multi-slam would be great. We'll have to talk about this again come the warmer weather. I would like to try to get a warmouth if they are available as part of that slam. Maybe throw in a percidae bonus fish would be interesting. I have seen photos and read reports of catches of Perca flavescens in BSL. They don't seem too common, so not expected to get one in the boat.

I have not caught a mean mouth. Sounds like a place that I have to fish. Does BSL also have Ozark bass? Sounds like a BSL Bass slam opportunity.

Curtisce I don't believe that this trip was different than you remember. I had a fraternity brother that embellished all of his stories. Often I didn't even recognize the story even though I was part of it. BH doesn't seem like a guy to embellish his hunting trips, his food maybe , but not his hunting or fishing trips.

Looks like a spearfish. Nice catch!

Nice bunch of bass. Great job on a tough water day.

BH - great report. Congrats on your goose hunt. Looks like persistence paid dividends on these hunts under tough conditions. Pretty sure we will be seeing more goose fajitas on the cooking thread.

Jeff P Welcome to OAF. Good luck on your next Taney trip. I've enjoyed every time I have been able to get to fish that water. I would be happy to hear if you get into any white suckers. PM me if you do. That is a species that I have not caught before and am always trying to get a new fish on the line. For most species I am catch and release, so I won't clean out any hot spots you may have found.

Phil - I was going to ask if you thought that this was a triploid brown. Seems like the few that I have seen have that silvery brown coloration and not the deeper yellow / orange of diploid trout. They look like the browns that guys catch in the great lakes. That's a great big fish. I hope that it can be released.

Looked like a great time catching some really nice browns. I really enjoyed the video.

Great post Marty! Love the photos and the obvious friendships detailed by the pictures and the post. Sounds like a great time!