ness

The scientist in me wants to say prove that hypothesis! But what the heck, if you enjoyed it, we'd end up in the same place. Cheers!

I had a dog and his name was BINGO! Most of the stuff I do for fun doesn't make sense in one way or another.

Hey gramps, is that my future brother there?

Thanks for the tip. I'm guessing the trick with that is to not thin your epoxy so much that it's gonna slide?

Good post, 5bites. I've been using the Devcon epoxy on the poppers I've done. The stuff is tough and puts a great, glassy finish on. I recommend the 30 minute kind -- the 5 minute stuff doesn't give you enough time to work, especially if you're trying to coat several at a time.

Hi Kee, There are a lot of talented folks on here (my self not included) that do some great work. Hopefully BilletHead or Flysmallie will chime in. BilletHead is the Picasso of poppers, Flysmallie is the ...... Foose of flies. I read a lot and got some good advice on the purchase from Flysmallie, and bought this compressor and this airbrush last year. I wanted a system that would last forever, and be adaptable to do more things. I'm very happy with the system. Google 'Copic' for a more economical setup. There are a number of threads here in the fly tying section. You can also Google 'stippling' for some interesting non-airbrush techniques. BilletHead is the OA master of that technique, IMO. Good luck.

Nice, healthy looking bass right there.

NFoW is the biggest water I fish regularly (if you can call what I've been doing lately 'regularly'), and it's a different animal. I feel like I need two rods -- one rigged with a finer, shorter tippet for hitting riffles and tail outs, and one with a big-honking heavy black nymph on a long piece of mono under a bobber 'for all those hard to get to' places.

Like wrench said, the fly should determine what you use at the very end--the tippet end -- of the leader. Bigger flies (2, 4, 6, 8) you'd need to go with a heavier tippet, say 1 or 2x; Medium flies (10, 12, 14) down to 3 or 4x, and small ones (16, 18, 20) 5 or 6x. You're trying to get the weight of the fly and the stiffness of the tippet to work together, so you're a) not slapping a small fly on the water or ruining it's drift or b )having a heavy fly fail to turn over correctly. So, if you're casting a bigger streame, like a 6 wooly bugger, maybe do a 2x; bigger dry or nymph (like a 10 hopper or stonefly), maybe 3 or 4x; little nymphs or dries, 5 or 6x.

Every time I check this thread that dang first picture gets me. I guess I'm a slow learner.

That's a ton of fun, and a great way to just get out and enjoy fishing without a lot of fuss. Also, great fun for kids and grandkids.

I'm sure you don't have to fish in the tournament to help out. Pony up you cheapskates!!!

Got an e-mail. He didn't ask for my phone number. Sniffle

I'll tell you what -- that all looks outstanding! The bark on the pork but is about making me drool! What's up with the bologna? I've been thinking about that as a pink subprime lunchmeat due to my upbringing -- but I know there's more to it.

So, does smoked corned beef become pastrami? I like corned beef, but a little goes a long way with me. Add to that nobody else here likes it, and I'm not doing it any more. May have to hit one of the local diners and get my fix. Or drive down your way.....

I got a late start on things, plus my indoor germination has been pretty spotty. Oh well, I know you can start lettuce and stuff in the garden. I may have to buy pepper plants if I don't get anything sprouting in the next week or so. No Anaheim or Poblanos have popped yet. Maters are late, like everything else, but farther along than peppers -- they should be okay. Onion seeds just haven't done much. I may have to go get some sets. Planted spinach and radish outside today after working in compost from last year's grass clippings yesterday. Plugged some store-bought garlic into the ground -- didn't get it done in the fall. We'll see what happens. Got peas and beet seeds soaking in water tonight. I'll try to get them in the ground tomorrow night.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease, as they say.

Hmm. Hadn't thought of that for ribs. Makes sense. I had about 6 ribs left, and gave them another hour in the oven at 350, wrapped in foil. Much better, but still some meat that's not tender enough. They're back in right now. Gonna give them 30 minutes more. The bark is outstanding...

Alright, here's a shot of the ribs. I was disappointed because they weren't cooked enough -- almost like eating a pork chop. Part of it is the ribs that are available at the store -- a little too meaty. The other part is that I didn't recognize that and cook them more. They had a solid 4 hours at 250-300, which is a little hotter than I usually do because I was in a hurry. I brought them inside and put them in the oven for the last hour or so, because I could tell they needed more time at higher heat. I really liked the smoke, the rub and the sauce I used. They just need more time or a higher heat. This is the second time I got these results -- thought I adjusted by cooking hotter and longer than before, but I need to adjust more. Another variable -- I pull them at about 2 hours and wrap them in foil. I noticed this time there was a lot of moisture in the packets. Wet, not fat. If the boys leave any, Im gonna put them back in the oven for about an hour. Want to dry them out, cook them well and get to where it's tender and tasty. Anyhoo, they were excellent at the ends and on the less meaty parts. The meaty parts were tasty, but a little chewy. They were pretty though:

I saw whole pork tenderloins at 1.99 yesterday, which I thought sounded pretty good. I don't need that much meat though. Hard to pick up beef when pork is 1/2 to 1/3 the price.

nice! Got some ribs going on in an hour or so.

Who doesn't love St. Patrick's Day? I always fix an Irish thing or two -- one of our favorites is Beef and Guinness Stew. And, away we go: Chuck roast, potato, onion, parsnip, carrot, garlic, crushed rosemary, thyme, bay leaf beef base, tomato paste and Guinness. You know the drill -- cut the beef into bite-sized pieces, add a little vegetable oil to a Dutch oven and brown in batches over medium-high heat. Set aside. That right there is what the French call fond. It tastes good. Add the onion and stir. I usually add a little water to help loosen the fond. Then in goes the tomato paste. (I buy a can, partially freeze it, remove both ends, push it out, cut into ½-inch slices and freeze. One slice is about right for this). Add the garlic right before the end of this step: Add the spices, beef base, bay leaves, Guinness and water. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce to a simmer. Find something to do for the next hour. After an hour, cut the veggies into chunks and add to the stew. Cover and simmer another 30-45 minutes -- until the veggies are cooked to your liking. Hit it with some parsley and eat it. A couple things I also do, but they aren't mandatory: Dissolve one packet of gelatin in a ¼ cup of water. Add it to the stew, and simmer another minute or two. Taste for seasoning -- sometimes I'll add a little brown sugar. Now go watch The Quiet Man!choose files... Click to choose files

Recent weekend breakfasts. Ham and cheese omelette with sourdough french toast Eggs Benedict -- I had a packet of Knorr's hollandaise mix on hand. Ham and Swiss omelette with homemade black raspberry jam on English muffins.

I've been eyeballing kayaks recently. The Ascend fishing kayaks look pretty good, but they're relatively heavy compared to a solo canoe. I don't want to trailer a boat, so light weight is better for me.

Yeah, Alton Brown has some ingenious ideas. His show was the best thing on Food Network IMO. Now it's all contests and crap. I keep thinking how primitive the old smoke houses were. Something enclosed to keep the smoke in contact with the meat and keep the dirt and bugs off of it.