rps

Pellicule is the film that forms when sticky, gooey wet dries a bit. It makes for a better fry. Panko is Japanese bread crumbs - they are chunkier and very uniform and make a great, light fry coating. Look at the picture carefully.

This is what you do with fresh walleye. You take the fillets and season them and then dredge them in flour. Shake all the excess flour off and dip them in egg wash. Shake off the egg drips and dredge them in panko. Let them sit on a wire rack for 30 to 45 minutes to develop a pellicule. Pan fry them. Use a homemade mango salsa to dress them and serve with a bit of sweet corn and a farmers market romaine and arugula salad.

Fresh walleye fillets, seasoned, dredged in flour and shaken, dipped in egg and shaken, dredged in panko and pan fried. Fresh made mango salsa. Sweet corn. Farmers market romaine and arugula turned into a salad.

Out early again this morning. Fished up river near Beaver at two areas where I have enjoyed top water success in the past. My brand new replacement WP did not draw a strike. Next I tried a new to me popper by 6th Sense. I liked it and after you try your twitches and pops you can walk it back to the boat. The four I managed to catch all hit during the walking part. Years ago I fished a Berkley Frenzy popper, and with it the better fish came on the walk back to the boat. I grew tired of replacing the pathetic hardware and stopped fishing them. Evidently everyone else did too. They no longer exist. You might want to check the bait out. http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/6th_Sense_Splash_Back_Topwater_Popper/descpage-6SSBTP.html After it warmed up and got bright, I went walleye hunting down lake. As I worked the 15 foot to 25 foot range, I noticed fish suspending at about 15 feet over 20 the 25 foot depths. I shortened my line to my bottom bouncer so that it swam off the bottom. I had two very good strikes before I caught the pictured 23 inch fish. Unfortunately the hook was in its gill and the fish was bleeding badly when I landed it. I did not buy ice this morning and I knew any time in the 80 degree live well water would discolor it and start the meat going bad. I started the motor and went back to Holiday Island a little after 11. View full article

Think of this situation in economic terms. Clothing makes real money. Expect it to expand. BP will keep Cabela' contacts and contracts in that area. Guns and knives bring people into the store. They will keep that going. Lures are a low margin item, but needed to appeal to the masses of fishermen. To keep that profitable, they will sell their own and the popular, middle of the road stuff like strike king, berkley, rapala/storm, and zoom. The same with rods and reels. Boats will become only White River Group brands - they killed stratos, bought ranger, and several others like Mako. Quality is good for the money, but we are talking cheap and you mostly get what you pay for. I loved early Cabelas, but their model was too elitist and did not generate the profit to justify that. Johnny, ever since he bought Don Butler's goods at Okie Bug and sold them in his daddy's liquor stores, has always had his eye on the bottom line. By his own terms and measures, he has succeeded wildly. I will visit the new BP's. Most of my money will be spent elsewhere.

I had some chicken breast left from the bird I roasted/smoked earlier. I used it to make curried chicken salad with grapes. I did this and that and some knife work to make a plated salad featuring farmers market romaine and daikon. The dressing is Penzys Green Goddess formula. The Ozarks are a blessing to me.

Haven't caught one yet.

I decided to go out this afternoon. Boat traffic seemed not nearly what it was Saturday and Sunday, and I thought I would go up river where there are fewer of the wake boats. I fished noon to 4 and caught 8 near keepers. I was fishing a Ned on steep banks with ledges. All the bites came on the first pull off the ledge. Nothing worth a picture but I had a good time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect

New to me.

Right at 5:30 this morning I was the first boat out of Holiday Island. I ran down lake to a flat I have been fishing for years and pulled up to one of the two better areas on the flat. On my third cast with a small whopper plopper I was short stringed by a healthy fish. I had no others (I only bought one) so I switched to my custom Top Dollar, Thanks again Hughsey. In the next hour I caught around 15 fish, lost nearly that number, and had as many blow ups that did not connect. Most were small spots but once in a while it would be something different. The best spot, the best largemouth, and my only meanie are pictured below. Around 10:30 I was bobbing more than fishing, so I came in. On the way in I saw two things of note. I saw I guy on plane in a bass boat in an area where the wake boats had chopped the water pretty badly. He had a women riding on the front deck in a pedestal butt seat. I assume it was his wife and concluded he either had a ton of insurance on her and wanted to get rich quick or he wanted to marry someone else and a divorce would take too long. The other item of note was a PWC with three people riding. Each had a greater girth than my own. The machine could not plane and was plowing the water. This post has been promoted to an article

As do I. I enjoy flank and skirt as much as rib eye and strip.

Another day - another menu. Flank steak, grilled, with garlic sauteed spinach some tots.

When I opened the asparagus, they had gone south. Way south. They went to the bin. Thinking quickly, I put some small potatoes to simmer. Veal, potatoes in butter with parsley, and mushroom sauce.

I took the boat off the lift and out of the water on Thursday. It really needed cleaning and the tackle sorted and rearranged. I cleaned it up Thursday afternoon - just in time for the downpour. This morning I cleaned the inside again as the rain knocked 40 gazillion cedar pieces into the boat. Then I took it to the Interstate battery shop near Golden to replace three batteries. I got three years out of the old ones and decided I did not need to see how much longer they lasted before failure. It was near 2:00 by the time I got back to the Holiday Island ramp. A group of 6 had their large cruiser in the middle of the ramp and were loading ice chests and such. I squeezed by them on one side, although I had to honk to get the two youngest to move from where they were skipping rocks. I did a one man, summer launch and put the boat back on the lift. I talked with Kolin about the coming weekend a bit and walked back up the hill to my car. They still had not put their boat in the water. One can only imagine the scene tomorrow.

Large bone-in veal chop is headed to the sous vide to spend time at 130. At meal time, while I sear the chop, I will pan roast asparagus and make a mushroom sauce for the chap. Film at 11.

Curried chicken with carrots, zucchini, peas, and rice.

James Gang - Funk #49

We wanted simple tonight. I made BLT sandwiches from applewood smoked bacon, Eureka Springs High School hot house lettuce, and the best tomatoes I could find. Think of this as a prayer for really good tomatoes! The beautiful wife wanted chipotle mayo and I chose sriracha mayo. I added a little arugula/cucumber/tomato salad on the side. Life is good in the Ozarks.

Good advice above! If you cannot hire a half day guide, fish a Ned on points for fun. Enjoy! I first stayed at Big Cedar before there was a lake, when it was called Devils's Pool Guest Ranch, and the mothers put their daughters in petticoats. I hope you love it!

People do not learn. I had a small high school class and one of us drove into the Arkansas river at speed. Sadly, he was not the last friend I lost to booze and alcohol. No one thinks they will be the dead one. The operative words are "no one thinks ..."

Fished upriver for a while early. Surface temp between Beaver and Houseman was 48 and the river was foggy. On the other hand the temp at Eagle Rock war 77. Today I looked for walleye. I was not successful. Saw two things worth sharing. First, I was saddened to come across my first wake boat of the season. My how I wish they wouldn't do that in skinny water. Second, bass fishermen need to be flipping docks. Just saying.