rps

Some of you are old enough to remember when old man Lowrance started to sell the green boxes. I heard the same arguments then that I am now reading on this thread. The sonar did not teach us to look for changes on changes ( drop offs with bumps), it only made it easier to find them. Buy all the tech you want. If you do not understand your target species and how they behave, and how to find what they want, you will just be motoring around looking at a screen.

I have been fishing more than 60 years. I have never caught a state record fish of any species by any means. The closest I came was a 4+ spot in Broken Bow in the mid 70's. Had I done the official weigh thing, I would have been a couple ounces short. The young man deserves credit and should be proud for the rest of his life.

Heat determines tender, every degree above 130 they become a little less tender. At 140, I would not bother to eat them. As you can see I did not slice them thin. Domestics usually have their pinions or flight feathers clipped on one side to keep them from flying. It keeps them home and more tender. As for the wing area and the tendon, you are spot on.

I used the sous vide set at 132. Were I doing just for me, I would have set it at 130. After that, all I had to do was sear the fat. Not too long ago, Nancy and I were at the upscale dining venue here in the retirement community. We stopped to chat with friends who had ordered the duck breasts. I asked how they enjoyed them. They told me it was overdone, which I could see. Without thinking. I told them I could do a better job. Simultaneously, they said "prove it." Just like that I was on the hook for a six person dinner party. Do you have any idea what duck breasts cost when you want only the breast? BTW, they agreed I could do a better job.

Duck breast (domestic) with mushroom and pea risotto.

I dislike spinning gear. I cannot accurately cast, and my touch is not as good. In fact, the only time I use spinning gear is in locations like drift fishing a large river. There, accuracy does not matter as much, and often I am using 6# or less. I dislike it so much that I built a bait cast rig to cast neds. A 1/16 jig head with half a zinker? No problem with a good reel and the right rod. It may not be everyone's solution, but it's mine.

A couple of evenings in the last week. Faux chicken biryani, bean soup, and fried rice with pot stickers.

Brussels sprout chiffonade with bacon, tots, hamburger steak with onion gravy.

Did anyone check for sinkers? 😉

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/11/briefing/omicron-deaths-vaccinated-vs-unvaccinated.html

Anecdotal memories and stories are powerful stuff. They are not to be confused with science and statistics. I truly wish I could have kept smoking. I liked it. However, science convinced me to stop for the sake of my wife and children. Many were sure the covid vaccine was not needed, that the disease did not exist, or that the vaccine was more risky than the disease. Review the statistics. Those without vaccine died more frequently than those vaccinated. Facts are cold blooded things, harsh and unyielding, no matter the good stories to the contrary.

Walleye love fire tiger, silver, white, and purple/blue. Bass love purple, brown, red, black, green, and chartreuse. White bass, hybrids, and stripers love white/silver. I have come to believe it is actually a what can they see or not proposition, all based upon a white and black perception combined with vibration and smell. Will thta change color choices i follow after many years? No.

Probably true for many: From the time I was 6 or 7, until I was working landscaping precollege, I spent the summer in shorts, no shirt, and Keds or work boots. Coppertone sold tanning oil and not sun block. You all remember the white buns ad. I have had several "removals" and two Mohs procedures. Did not know then what we know now. I m on an every 6 months schedule with the dermatologist.

Tomato mac and cheese with ham.

Three great alternatives: https://www.seriouseats.com/hot-borscht-beet-meat-soup-recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/dinner-tonight-vegetarian-borscht-recipe https://www.seriouseats.com/roasted-beet-soup-thyme-lemon-creme-fraiche-french-in-a-flash-recipe

Done right, pickled or otherwise, they are great. I am particularly fond of borscht.

Braised some bratwurst and served it over polenta.

I think my niece may have found the answer. She says someone got raptured.

Guys, how many movies have they made from Louis L'Amour's books? Kinda like Raymond Chandler, L'Amour's penny a word stories built the genre. Wayne even did at least one - Hondo.

In 2010, my classes had the benefit of a visit by a local poet who regularly entered and won Poetry Slams. Poetry Slams are competitions where the entrants extemporaneously write and recite free verse poetry on random assigned topics. During his visit, I always wrote on the same topic assigned by our visitor. This one was on Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho I’ve never tried to remember that Christmas, But sometimes scenes sneak inside my head. Not nightmares, exactly, but discordant Noises that jar life’s balance. Like some greeting card or market magazine cover We were bound for the grandparents. Christmas at their ranch on the Rio, El Paso, Texas. 800 miles in an 8 year old Dodge Wedged in with luggage, packages Squirmy sister pasted beside me Little one pasted to her. Two long days there, arriving Christmas Eve In time for a dinner, 10 cousins, 4 aunts and uncles, 6 great aunts and uncles, Booze, loud laughter, arguments, joy. Christmas morning! Charge the packages, Rip the paper, gotta find those toys. Cousin Susie squeals at her doll, Her brother gloats and holds his bb gun aloft. Grandmother gave me socks, yes socks. Sister Danni got a slip, Amanda a jumper. My father got a tie, and I watched Uncle Bob Put a check in his pocket. All day my father’s face shape-changed. More reds and eyebrows that drew closer And somehow darker Mother grew more defensive every minute. After the dinner brawl that night I listened through the wall. Mom and Dad discussed the day, Loud and angry voices late into the night. Mother Nature delivered a rare gift that night. She blanketed Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma With one to two feet of snow. Travel stopped. No one owned a snow plow on Route 66. Father’s temper blazed anyway. I wondered if he would melt our way home. We packed, slammed car doors, and if the wheels had traction He would have laid rubber. Four days later we pulled in our drive. Mom and Dad hadn’t said a word in three days. I remember that Christmas Only when I let my guard down.

One View of Father It is sad that my students don’t know John Wayne. He was a cultural icon for half a century and the favorite actor of the best movie story teller ever, John Ford. They do not understand that Ford and Wayne’s body of work together defined an ideal man for generations. I bet they do not “get” the Shanghai Noon joke when Jackie Chan introduces himself to Owen Wilson as Chong Wang. I recently discovered their ignorance when I described my father as a less handsome John Wayne with a normal walk. At 6’4” John Wayne was a half inch shorter than my father. Like John, father was long waisted; their height was in their torsos. Shoulders, necks, and hands were ridiculously broad. By contrast, they both had surprisingly small feet for their size. In The Quiet Man, John jumps across a brook in pursuit of Maureen O’Hara. If you watch, you realize that John was not a lumbering large man like his friend and frequent fellow star, Victor McLaughlin. John was agile and quick footed. Father had that same quick quality despite his size. The comparison does not end with their physical attributes. Each was given unusual, mouthful names: Marion Michael Morrison, Kenneth Leroy Stainer. Both escaped ordinary lives by way of football. John attended USC. Dad enrolled at Tulsa University. Both were linemen and each lost his scholarship when injured. The last comparison is based on an assumption. I have always assumed that John Wayne made his career by playing himself. When we see him hold the baby in The Three Godfathers, we see a gentle giant concerned lest he harm the child. When John comforts Maureen in the storm of The Quiet Man, he looks stricken he cannot do more. If my assumption is correct, then they shared those traits. Father spent his life trying to please and protect his wife and children. He kept a brutal temper in check, quietly endured, and did what he could. One image captures his nature. When feverish and ill, it was his great ham of a fist with fingers the size of nickel rolls that was the coolest comfort. Unlike many, I have no particular interest in celebrities’ lives. I would not go out of my way to meet one, and when I was in California, I did not visit Graumans or go on a star tour. The only star I wish I had met was Wayne. I would like to have shaken his hand and looked in his eyes in person. It would be nice to know if the Duke measured up to father.

Look carefully at the clouds behind the houses. The vertical cloud is not a tornado (wrong color sky), not a water spout (no water), and not a sand spout (no sand). What is it?

Nachos your way.

Short rib braise and salad.

Post spawn walleye (March and April) will be shallow. A surprising number will take warts and neds. Some on spinner baits as well. Check rocky, steeper banks especially those that end in a point.