rps

I'll have you know I don't scramble. I poach, I make omelets, I create frittata, I bake quiches, and when I feel nostalgic, I fry over easy. Besides, I use Cooks Illustrated instead of allrecipes when I need a basic recipe to alter. Barkeep, pour this man another round and put it on my tab.

If you are fishing Table Rock or Bull Shoals or Beaver, I suggest 10 or 12 pound YoZuri. Less stretch than mono, better knot than fluorocarbon. Easier to learn baitcasting with a non braid. My 2 cents.

A less expensive bisque can be made from crawfish shells or shrimp shells. If the crawfish were cooked in one of those spicy Louisiana style boils, rinse them thoroughly before you roast them.

Lobster Bisque This recipe is a combination of techniques. No single task is difficult, but it does take time and does dirty dishes. Serves 4 Ingredients Four (1 – 1.25 pound) lobster shells with juices from dismemberment if available 1 leek, white part cut in half lengthwise 1 small onion rough chopped 1 small carrot, peeled and cut in three pieces 1 stalk of celery cut in three pieces 1 clove of garlic, crushed 2 shots brandy 2 shots dry sherry 1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste 1 bottle clam juice 1 cardboard container Swanson seafood stock 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning 1 cup tomato juice ½ pint heavy cream 8 ounces cold lobster or raw shrimp, cut in bite size pieces 8 peppercorns 1 Tablespoon cornstarch Salt to taste Method Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove the stomach contents from the lobster carcass as well as the gills. Cut the large shell pieces with kitchen shears to roughly 3 inch pieces. Place all of the shells on top of the onion, leeks, carrots, and celery in a tray pan. Roast the tray of shells and vegetables for 30 - 40 minutes. Brown edges for the vegetables are good. Black edges are not. Any juices should go into an enameled Dutch oven. When the shells and vegetables are roasted, place them in the Dutch oven. Pour the two shots of brandy over the shells and carefully ignite. Allow the brandy to burn off. Pour in the clam juice and the seafood stock. Add enough additional water to cover the shells. Add the garlic, the peppercorns, and the tomato paste. Stir to mix in the paste. Heat over medium heat just to the boiling point, then reduce the heat and simmer for 40 – 50 minutes. Use a fine mesh sieve (china cap) and drain the strong stock into a saucepan. Boil the stock gently to reduce it by 25%. To the saucepan add the Old Bay and the tomato juice. Bring the stock just to the boil and reduce the heat to simmer. Add the heavy cream and simmer until the bisque thickens and the dairy taste disappears. Dissolve the cornstarch in the sherry and add the mixture to the bisque to flavor and thicken. Add the lobster or shrimp as well. When the bisque thickens, taste and adjust the salt and sherry flavors if needed.

Friday steamed lobster with french style glazed carrots and champagne (early Valentines because of the delivery of live lobsters). Saturday I did an appetizer with a zesty lobster salad wrapped in lettuce bundles. I turned the lobster shells into a bisque as the main course. Last night I made salsa, guacamole, and a red enchilada casserole with ground deer meat. No pictures. Sorry.

HI Drive is not heavy traffic except for golf carts. My slip at the marina is about $900, but I had to by the lift off the previous owner. I had to wait on a list for about a year before a slip with a lift came open as I did not want to pay for a brand new lift. The new concessionaire for the marina has not yet set winter hours and I don't have his number. When you rent a slip they give you a magnetic pass key that you use to access the boat when the gate is locked.

Upper belly? OMG -> Fish Bacon!

Other useful things I have learned here: Rameys in Cassville has great butchers who can do what you want. UPS and Fed Ex have good service here. BTW the UPS store in Eureka is fantastic. Holiday Island Heat and Air, Acords Hardware, Advance Pest Control, Friendly Glass, and the Tues/Thurs farmers market are incredible. Old Town Electric too.

Many are saying, "A little later this year ..."

I am sorry. I did not intend to insult. I only meant that much of what I have learned has already been written and posted. Please forgive me if I seemed abrupt.

Years ago I bought a spinner holder at Okiebug in Tulsa. It had two plastic disks separated by a washer on an axle that ended on one side with a nut to hold one disk in place. On the other end a round plastic finger piece held the other disk on. One side had a series holes through which you put the sb hooks that were spaced around the wheel. The other disk was solid except for the one slot you could rotate over an empty hole to hang the sb or over the hole that held the sb you wanted. The diameter of the disks was a little larger than a dvd and one storage device held about 30 baits. It was great! Unfortunately, by the time it broke after many years, Okiebug was out of business.

My wife and I moved here from Tulsa for the 2002-2003 school year. We both teach as second careers. We live in the development but not on the "Island." We love our situation here, but we have learned to accomodate certain things different from our prior life in Tulsa. Pros: Diverse, tolerant people. Lack of traffic lights. Low crime rate. Less expensive housing than Tulsa. Low taxes compared to Oklahoma and Tulsa. You can actually see the stars. Table Rock Lake and Beaver Lake and trout fishing within minutes from the house. 18 hole and 9 hole golf course on site. Fully functional civic organizations (Rotary, etc.) Many local businesses, the vast majority of which give good and honest service or products. Several high quality local eateries ranging from burgers to lobster. Things that required adjustment: Two local grocery stores that work hard but are on the tail of the delivery chain meaning the produce is more seasonal than what you see in cities. Good movie theaters are an hour away - as are Home Depot, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Sams, Sears, and all the other big box stores. The closest WalMart is in Berryville, 15 miles away. (We go to Cassville instead.) Gasoline is more expensive. Learning to avoid downtown Eureka on "parade" days (Corvette weekend, Diversity weekend, Alcholics Anonymous weekend, Bikers, Blues, and Barbeque weekend, etc.) Learning your way around. This is NOT a grid layout area like Tulsa or Omaha, and everyone else assumes you know the location of which they are speaking. Choose your cell phone provider based on where you live - in these hills both ATT and Verizon have coverage holes and Sprint is worse. We love it here, now that we have learned to adjust.

The channel, at the point of your picture, is around 30 fow right now while the lake is down. The trout are mostly five miles upstream or more. Up there the channel is 10 to 15 feet right now. Down stream from here to Eagle Rock is 6 or so miles and the channel at that point is 50 feet or so right now. Largemouth and spots are abundant. Smallmouth exist, but not in the numbers you see closer to the dam. Yes we have walleye as well. I have lived in and fished out of Holiday Island for 13 years and all the reports I have posted on this board start from the marina here. If you search the archives for my posts you will get a good idea of what is available. PM me for more specifics.

Well that just sucks.

When and what species desired?

WaR Eagle Twin Spin with a hand tied hair skirt. Works just as well as the Shannon did.

Great explanation kdc!

Spoonbills! Great pics!

Stripers tend to spend themselves in the fight. Other than in cold water, the big ones are dead regardless if you let them go. In cold water, F&F's release ratio is the best you can expect.

hyperbole among the news as entertainment groups http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2012/sep/18/education-action-group/portland-schools-spending-half-million-dollars-dec/

If Buster says it, I believe it. Oddly, my local sources of information up here have not yet been on fish. I do not know if this is lack of trying or trying the wrong things. They are still waiting for the move.

Welcome Nick!

I rarely fish in the winter, but today was so nice I decided to run up river from Holiday Island to see if the walleye had started to cluster. I ran most of the way to Houseman. At lake level 909 that meant I had to stick to channels remember where the trick stump was on the right side going up. I fished a partial keitech swing impact in ice on a 1/8 ounce horsehead jig. I had one white bass style smash attack bite but did not hook up. Many others were out, including the "we only fish for crappie in the Spring" crowd. Several boats were trolling the river channel and a couple boats were throwing jerk baits. I did not see a fish caught. Water temp was 46.

Ok. Make a fly up. Start with a name. The Sunshine Lady. Use red and orange and yellow and tie a fly with a seductive wiggle but no brains.

A 27 inch fish is always awesome. Unfortunately, the picture did not show up for me.