playing with…

This past weekend, I had a fabulous Girls Night Out with some of my BFFs as I got an early start in celebrating one of those milestone birthdays (actual birthday is 12/20. Mark it). I will not discuss which one it is just in case you err in my favor with your kind estimation. Whatever you guess, subtract a decade because as we all know — [fill in the blank] is the new [fill in the blank]. It’s almost cliché at this point. OK-not almost. Let’s just say I am old enough to feel as if time is moving faster than a [fill in the blank again]. See it’s moving so fast, I don’t have time to come up with the perfect analogy. At any rate, at this point in my life, I am most interested in that gem called “experience”. And by experience, I mean the philosophical definition – “the totality of the cognitions given by perception; all that is perceived, understood, and remembered.”

I have made a conscious decision to take a more active role in orchestrating memorable experiences. Sometimes great moments just show up and catch you totally off guard but sometimes you just got to make them happen. The surefire way to create such moments is to take your deepest passions and make it a total sensory experience. In other words, make sure that every single one of your senses is involved and enlivened. That way, when your memory begins to fade and someone asks you if you remember that time so long ago, perhaps a flash of something will come to you which might then open the floodgates to all of your wonderful memories.  Only time will tell what part of the memory remains but why not help memories along by building them. You can do this by being more in tune with how you experience life and more importantly how you experience your passions in their totality.

And this brings me back to my milestone celebration. So many elements came together to make it such a memorable experience. The soiree was held at Eatonville restaurant in the U Street corridor in Washington, D.C. which is my favorite part of town. The restaurant pays tribute to Zora Neale Hurston, my favorite author who wrote my favorite book “Their Eyes Were Watching God”, which is written in my favorite down south vernacular of African-Americans in lyrical prose and during my favorite period of history-the Harlem Renaissance. So quite naturally, with all that favorite-ness going on, it made perfect sense to have my party there with some of my favorite girlfriends. In the invite, I requested that the ladies dress up in the style of the Harlem Renaissance/Roaring Twenties. I was so ecstatic that they all obliged. These frail eels, (that’s 20s Harlem slang talk meaning pretty girls), made my night one I will never forget.

If I am blessed with the length of  many years, maybe one of the flappers from the party will come visit me on my 80^th birthday and we will sit on the porch and have some iced tea. Well maybe not. My birthday is in December. Scratch that. Perhaps over eggnog, we will sit by the Christmas tree and reminisce about all the fun we had and maybe one of us will bring up this night and we will argue about whether or not we dressed up in the 20s era or the 60s era and I will insist it was the 20s era because I should know- it was  my idea and party and she will say oh yeah that’s it and I will say, don’t you remember how we were draped down and looking fabulous— feathers in our hair,  long strings of pearls, long cigarette holders, fringe dresses, gloves, and fur and how every cat in the spot wished they had put on their finest zoot suit and had a fedora to tip as we swayed our hips on by and she will laugh and get up to try and demonstrate the flapper strut, then grab her back before sitting right back down and then she will say- wasn’t the party in Eatonville, Florida and I will say nah girl it was at a restaurant called Eatonville-don’t you remember my Zora, Zora, everywhere in those huge colorful murals, laughing in some and looking mean and impressive in others and she will say no I don’t remember that but I do remember those beautiful, glamorous chandeliers on the really high ceiling because I noticed them when I reached the top of the staircase and just stood there for awhile mesmerized by their sparkle and taking in all the beautiful, happy people below enjoying a spectacular night out and I will say-no chile, I don’t remember that but Oh how I remember that delicious southern cuisine-fried green tomatoes and catfish and jalapeno cheese grits and collard greens and corn bread and oatmeal pecan pie and she will say damn–you got a good memory because I don’t remember none of that but I do remember drinking a few Tracy-tinis and I will laugh and say you mean martinis, fool and she will say oh yes—Ha! Freudian slip! and then she will say how the live jazz added to the ambience as we told stories and joked and laughed and then I will remember something and tell her that I will be right back and I will slowly climb the stairs holding tight to the rail and minutes later I will return with the black feather boa I wore that night draped around my shoulders and I will do a little dance and she will laugh out loud and say girl, I can’t believe you still have that ratted old thing and I will run my fingers through the feathers and say I remember how soft these feathers felt on my neck all night long and I will tell her how when I was getting dressed, at the last minute,  I sprayed my favorite cologne on the boa and she will say I remember asking you what perfume you were wearing that night and I will ask her if she remembers what I told her and she will say you told me that a lady never reveals her fragrance, it’s the fragrance that reveals the lady and I will say that is absolutely right and that my mama always told me that and we will both smile at our collective memory, get tipsy off the eggnog, and start making  things up (like Michelle Obama was at the party) as two generations below beg us to tell them more stories about the good old days.

Build your memories with your senses and neither your memories nor your senses will fail you later.

Thanks to Bola, Connie, Courtney, Cree, Jane, Lisa, Michelle, Samantha, Sasha, and Wanda for making my ?th birthday celebration  a night to remember!

www.eatonvillerestaurant.com

Click below for a great article on Zora & Eatonville:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/15/AR2009111502671.html

And that’s a wrap!

3144607    การจัดการฟาร์มปลาดุก    Catfish Farm Management

สายพันธุ์ปลาดุกที่เลี้ยงในประเทศไทย การเพาะพันธุ์ วิธีการเลี้ยง อาหารและการให้อาหาร การจัดการคุณภาพน้ำ การควบคุมโรค การจัดการฟาร์ม การแก้ไขปัญหาที่เกิดจากการจัดการฟาร์ม ยาและสารเคมีที่ใช้ในฟาร์ม ผลกระทบด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม มาตรฐานฟาร์ม การควบคุมคุณภาพการผลิต และการตลาด

(Catfish breed in Thailand, breeding and culture techniques, feed and feeding, water quality management, disease prevention and control, farm management and problem solving, drugs and chemicals for aquatic animals, environmental impact, farm standard, and quality control of production and marketing.)

(3144607 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

Baked pocket  catfish with old bay and lemon; stir-fried collards and kale with tamari and garlic; sweet potato and squash soup.  Chef Toni

via pictureisunrelated

2010 Jaguar XKR vs A Catfish

Super Cars

www.autorivals.net

I had defrosted some tilapia but ended up at my parents house so I brought it along.  This is a nice alternative to frying but you still get a crunch.  I coat the fish in any type of mustard instead of egg which also reduced the calories and fat.  Then I use panko bread crumbs instead of plain bread crumbs.  Panko is Japanese bread crumbs.  They are much larger than regular bread crumbs and give you that crunch.  This is very simple and would be good with catfish also.  I use paper plates for the dredging usually for extra easy clean up.

• 2 lb of tilapia fillets (This was 8 pieces this time)
• 1/2 cup of yellow mustard
• 1 cup of panko bread crumbs
• salt and pepper

Place mustard in one plate and panko in another.  Place fish fillets in mustard to coat lightly.  Just enough to make the panko stick.  Then place the fish in the panko and press the bread crumbs into the fish then place on a baking sheet that has been prepared with cooking spray.  Butter flavored is even better.  Once all the coated fish are on baking sheets season them with salt and pepper and then spray them with the cooking spray for extra browning.  Bake at 450º for 20 minutes.  Everyone will want seconds.  Good dippers are extra mustard or even a ranch sauce.

Baked Crispy Tilapia

No pic but I also roasted about 12 oz. of salmon fillet with skin on with this at 450º for 10 minutes.  Just coated with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Hot date? Quick! Now before the end of November take advantage of Dine Around Seattle. 25-some fancy restaurants have a deliciously tempting deal that goes on for a couple more weeks. 3 courses for $30. Considering these restaurants generally charge almost $30 for a single entree, this is a pretty amazing deal.

monsoon

615 19th Ave E.

Seattle, WA 98112

My date and I went to monsoon, a modern-northwesty take on traditional Vietnamese cuisine. The space is simple, hip, but small– seating only 42 people, so reservations are recommended. On a Wednesday night every seat was full. We were lucky and got the server’s “favorite table in the restaurant” maybe five minutes after we got there, while the couple behind us had to wait at least thirty minutes.

We got two 3 for $30 meals, an ample amount of food here. We exchanged one dessert for an appetizer, which was a nice option to have.

First, we chose the crispy imperial rolls with kurobuta pork, shrimp, glass noodles and nuoc chamasian. The rolls were hot and crispy, the sauce fresh and tangy. Next was the bo la lot– la lot leaves wrapped around Carlton farm flank steak and grilled. Very interesting. On the outside was the pungent la lot, wrapped around the tender flank steak, which was in turn wrapped around a stick of jicama, providing a crunchy textural contrast. They were accompanied by a smoky, spicy dipping sauce and more jicama and carrot. Third appetizer was not our favorite. We got the Asian pear salad with butter lettuce, pistachios and soy dressing. It sounded right down my alley, but the butter lettuce was more a plate garnish than part of the salad, which was entirely made of hay-stacked Asian pear. It was texturally flat, and the dressing was a bit bitter. Skip it, try the grilled Monterrey squid stuffed with duck, basil and jicama instead, and tell me how that goes. They sounded/looked so intriguing.

On to the entrees!

The first wasn’t my favorite. We chose the Braised Painted Hills Short Ribs with Lemongrass and Cannellini Beans. The flavors were interesting. I often find lemongrass to be overwhelming, but it was subtle and blended well with the meaty flavors. The texture of the short ribs was a little tough, but it did fall apart nicely. The beans were the major down fall of this dish. Alone, they were just ok. With the dish, they were totally disparate and didn’t add anything.

There were two real stars of the night. The first was the caramelized Idaho catfish claypot with fresh coconut juice and green onion. The catfish was flaky, buttery, amazing. It swam in a sweet sauce of caramelized onions, hot chilies, and fresh crunchy green onion. I lost myself in the flavors and textures and found myself spooning at the sauce long after the fish was gone.

Now the second gold star. A dessert. I know, surprised? Imagine the most delicious piece banana bread you have ever had. Now imagine it moister, cakier, and the bottom layer made completely of caramelized banana. Served hot with a warm cream of coconut milk a sea salt. I know you’re thinking “banana and sea salt??” but this savory-sweet combo was to die for. This was the banana cake with savory coconut sauce, and it was probably one of the best desserts I’ve ever had in a restaurant. End of Story.

So check out monsoon. I dug it.

(delicious pictures from monsoon website)

Good food is good food, whether it’s the “she-she pooh-pooh” quarter-sized portions or the “heavin’ up the eats with a shovel” variety. Nevertheless, it can get iffy when you go to chain restaurants, where the fish is bland and the pasta has no personality. Thankfully, this is not the case with Copeland’s of New Orleans.

Copeland’s is located in Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, Maryland, Oklahoma, Florida and of course Louisiana. MCCN’s visit was to their Columbia, Maryland location. Centrally located near The Mall in Columbia, upon driving up to the restaurant you might think you’re about to enter a 1980’s pop club with the florescent lights beaming at optimal brightness, but hold on…entering the restaurant is a completely different story. The classic dark wood and dim surroundings are serene and cozy for an very comfortable dining experience.

Time to order…what to do? What to do? Let’s stall ‘em by placing our appetizer order. “We’ll have an order of your Creole Calamari please! ” That’ll give us a few minutes to figure something out. Meanwhile, the hot buttered biscuits on the table seem to know each one of our names. And with each bite we remember more and more who they are…”Grandma how did you get in there?”

The calamari arrives and the tasting begins. “Uummh!” says one…”Uummh” goes another. All are pleased ! The calamari is seasoned, lightly dusted, crispy fried and served with Creole Remoulade Vinaigrette or marinara sauce. Both are good, but the Creole Remoulade has a spicy kick that should not be missed.

Three women – three orders, and two of them involve catfish. Plate #1 was the Crab -Stuffed Catfish Bordelaise, which was an 8 oz. fillet of catfish stuffed with crabmeat stuffing, seasoned and broiled then topped with garlic butter then served with Corn Macque Choux and steamed vegetables. Not your run of the mill combination of fish topped with crabmeat, these two complimented each other so well that eating them separately is an injustice. The portion was generous and the reception was pure satisfaction.

Plate #2 involved some nerves of steel…some adventurous eating on the partakers part. A discussion

Copeland's of New Orleans in Columbia, Maryland

had just taken place about eggplant. Sentiments of never really being satisfied with ordering eggplant or eating it in general. Somehow, some way, the partaker trudged past her own trepidation, probably letting herself be inspired by the picture on the menu, and ordered the Eggplant Pirogue.  Her faith would be rewarded with a very enthusiastic thumbs up for this flavorful dish. Also a healthy serving, this eggplant dish served over angel hair pasta is smothered in au gratin sauce with shrimp and crab claws.

Plate #3 is an order of Catfish Acadiana and boy did  those Cajuns really get it right! Golden fried catfish with creamy shrimp butter sauce.  It’s usually served with steamed vegetables and Copeland’s Red Hot Potatoes, but this partaker indulged herself with a double dose of starch – red beans and rice and the mashed sweet potatoes. The red beans and rice were standardly good, but the mashed sweet potatoes are buttery sweetness at its best. Yes, you will need a sweet tooth for this dish; It is something to write home about. Dear Mom: Next time you visit, we’re going to go to Copeland’s of New Orleans!

Article by Monica Johnson

My buddy Anthony and his friend Duston headed out on Cedar Creek on November 15th.  They were loaded up with some serious jigs that Anthony had ordered a couple of weeks prior to their trip.  They were slamming the crappie with our chartreuse/black/charteuse mix crappie jigs and the chartreuse/white/chartreuse crappie jigs…. all were 1/8 oz jigs.

Here are a couple of shots of some really nice fish these boys were slamming!!

LSCL - Anthony with a nice 12-inch Cedar Creek Crappie!

Here’s a sweet 22-inch hybrid that Duston slammed into! He caught this hawg using a 5-foot crappie rod spooled with 4-pound hi-vis monofilament, and a 1/8 ounce Lone Star Custom Lures crappie jig (chartreuse / white / chartreuse). Sweet catch indeed!!

Duston with a 22-inch Cedar Creek hybrid!

Here are some close up shots showing the Lone Star Custom Lures crappie jigs that were drawing in these big bites!!

Lone Star Custom Lures - chart/white/chart Crappie Jig

Lone Star Custom Lures - chart/black/chart(mixed) Crappie Jig

Visit my website today and order up a set of these stellar performers!

http://lonestarcustomlures.com

___

… Er… a town near it at least.

The Catfish Plantation, Texas’ very own “haunted” restaurant, or at least the one restaurant that actually uses that as a marketing theme, is serving up a local dose of ghost explo[it]ration in the form of Paranormal Investigative team the Klinge Brothers from the hit Discovery Channel series Ghost Lab.

What does this mean?

There’s no telling what it means actually, I leave it open to interpretation. Personally I don’t get off on shows that makes you think there’s something out there like a bunch of kids who are afraid of the dark walking around with flashlights in the woods. I have only been to one haunted house-turned restaurant in my lifetime and people are still skeptical of its actual haunting, but the corners of my eyes have never deceived me in the way of ghastly ghosts that leave one aghast and gasping. But I just have a blog, no TV show.

Back to the article though…

Seems the dynamic Klinge brothers will be visiting Waxahachie on the 17th of November as well as the 4th of December and according to the Plantation’s very own GM the Brothers will be hitting up the Catfish Plantation one more time on the 11th of December (see comment below for reference), so make sure to save those dates on your calender. You never know what to expect and it never hurts to get in a nice big meal before the crap is potentially scared out of you. Fun stuff!

anybody need a riiiiide?

My first meal at Chateau de Saigon was excellent. I craved the Lemon Grass Tofu dish everyday, so I was pulled back for a visit a few days later.

Of course, I had to get the tofu:

must snap a

photo before

diving in

It was just as delightful as I remembered: crunchy outer layer with a silky smooth innard, topped with a nice bit a heat.

My friend, Lindsey combined her Jewish roots with traditional soup and ordered the Pho with brisket:

meat - check, broth - check, noodles - check

It came with the expected herbs, sprouts, and flavor enhancers:

add-ons

I caught her picking some of the white fat off the meat, but I believe she enjoyed the broth.
Meredith (of the home-made blintzes fame) had a salad and noodle entree:

Goi Xoai Tao Tom Thit – Shrimp (no pork) Apple Mange Salad with mint leaves, fried onions, crushed peanuts. The salad was only ok – it does not live up to C’om’s version but it is passable.

noodles, where are you?

hiding

I ordered the Seafood Clay Pot or Hai San Tay Cam:

covered with herbs

bff

I had a love affair with my favorite bite:

meant to be together forever

just me and you

ahhh, life is good

The main event of the meal was Lauren’s order of La Vong Sizzling Fish. There’s a lot of ground to cover so it’s coming up next………

My boys went to a Catholic Pre-School. So I’m familiar with Muffins with Moms and Donuts with Dads. During Lent the same church has Fish and Chips Fridays. Living in the Bible Belt I’ve seen churches that have Spaghetti Suppers and Pancake Breakfasts. But this was a first……

(P.S. Don’t forget about our get together Friday, November 13th. Collect the craziest search terms for your blog and we’ll all share them on Friday. You can write them in the comment section or blog about it – but don’t forget to link/comment here so we can all see them! See you Friday!)

The Boston Airport on the way back to Chicago seems like the place to write a seafood entry. A weekend of Clam Chowder, Mussels, Lobster Bisque, Fried Clams, and Lobster Mac n’ Cheese has lead me straight to a Seafood State of Mind. I think Billy Joel should have written it that way instead. I must confess that this was my first experience with Catfish and one of the many firsts I am bound to encounter during this journey. I also must confess that I believe the “meow” fish and I are going to be quite good friends during dinners to come.

2-burner-functioning-stove and pots...

The recipe from the “Mission: Poachable” episode calls for condensed milk, salt & peppa, one onion, catfish filets, and a mysterious seasoning I had never heard of before it. I learned, after scanning the shelves for Crab Boil Seasoning for 30 minutes and muttering to myself in the fancy North Shore grocery, that it is also known as Old Bay Seasoning. I left without it since it was nowhere to be found… and also because people were starting to stare at me.  I then learned, upon returning home to research, that I could make it out of things I had in my spice cabinet already. That frustration aside, I really enjoyed preparing this recipe. It turned out tender and saucay and was all around                                                                                                                                                    delicious.

As this was to be our first “The Early Years” dinner, Ben, my faithful cooking partner- interview to come- helped me by

Benjaminé

preparing a side dish of wild rice. He also helped me by informing me of how to say “Au Lait” which I was grossly mispronouncing.  No French language background behind me, but you would think this is one I could remember from the show. Apparently not.

Regular skillet fish...

Anyway, I know that AB calls for an electric skillet here. However, one of those puppies is still on my hardware-hiccup list, and therefore we were forced to substitute it with a regular one. Now, I would like to try this again eventually with an electric skillet, but I must say our version was mighty successful. AB states that he uses an electric skillet because it is an excellent source of very even heat. I’d like to know how the versions compare, but again… that list is long.

Final Fish

Now, as far as organization and order… It would appear that I am skipping around the book in no particular order, gallivanting from cookies to fish… season 1 to season 4… deserts to dinners… And that is partially true at the moment. I am working on drafting a list/ schedule for myself mostly based upon materials. I plan on slowly acquiring more and chipping away at that pesky list of things I don’t got in my cabinets. I will begin with recipes that I have most/ all the hardware for or ones that allow easy substitutes (such as electric skillet to regular) and progress to others as the list shrinks. In time, I will have the kitchen of the Gods… with crappy linoleum counter tops, a stove on which I can only trust two burners, and half a dishwasher that doesn’t really dry my dishes at all. Hmm.

by Gareth Watkins

November 6th saw me stock a new batch of young three year old carp into my stock pond at Croix Blanche Lakes. As part of my continued stocking policy since I have owned the venue it has been the practice to introduce young fish at this time of the year and leave them to over winter in quarantine before transferring them in the late spring / early summer once they have got spawning out of the way. This is precaution will thus avoid any problems that stocking the directly has caused in the past.
The carp were ordered from and delivered by Simon Horton and I must say they were superb looking fish, mostly deep high back mirrors of a chestnut brown colour and in the prime of health.

47 fish in total all from 15 to 24lb which added to the remaining fish in the pond  that go to over 50lb, gives me a reserve of around 60 carp.

Judging by the growth rate that they have already shown, ie. 5lb to 8lb per year, I am confident with the regular feeding over the winter and until they are moved over to the main lakes they will all be 20lb to 25 lb plus.
Below is a selection of photos and a link to a video clip showing the stocking.

The White Spot

The White Spot is one of those places you’ve likely seen, wondered about, and made a mental note to maybe try one of these days. Yet maybe something’s kept you from doing it.

Who eats there, you wonder. Possibly no one you know. But it’s a place you can tell has been there likely longer than you’ve been alive or at least as long as you can remember.

No, it's not a racist thing. We asked. They said they get that question a lot. The White Spot was a reference to the place's cleanliness, to distinguish it from the other "greasy spoons."

You see people going in and out of it, a couple here and there as you drive down Rogers Ave., an elderly man in jeans and a ballcap getting into his pickup, maybe a whole gaggle of them going in with newpapers under their arms. You can tell without too much stretch of the imagination that this is somewhere the reg’lars go to sit together over coffee every morning and talk about whatever the good Lord and the Times Record have provided for them to discuss.

A lot of things at The White Spot haven't changed over the years. Including the way the waitresses are always in motion.

That’s cool. Not a problem, glad they have somewhere they like to go. But what’s in it for me, you ask. The Big Question: How’s the food? What’s the White Spot vibe like for the under-70 demographic?

Is it just us, or does the sign always make you crave doughnuts?

Fort Smith Eats has been going to The White Spot for a while. And yes–big reveal–we’re under 70. Here’s what we can tell you about The White Spot. We’ve found food there in every general category we have: “Blech,” “Meh,” “Yum,” and “Sweet Molly Malone That’s Effing Amazing.”

Before the food, the atmosphere. The joint is what it is and it’s great that way. There’s pictures on the walls, but they’re mainly pictures of past owners or of some newspaper story, or maybe a fishing tournament someone was in once. It’s not what you’d call “decorated.” More like “functionalated.” It works.

Another thing that works? The burgers. These have been the mainstay of The White Spot some eleventy dozen years or however long it’s been around. Like the sign says, you can get 12 of the basic small ‘uns (mustard, pickles, onions) for $7.50. We’ve never done this. We have however been tempted to pick some up the next time our coworker hands us a $10 at lunch and says, “I don’t know, just surprise me. Burger or something,” and stack them all on his desk like  a pyramid with the change from the $10 on top. Haven’t yet, but it’s tempting.

We may have our quibbles about The White Spot's plate lunches being something we'd crave, but the price-- $5.49 for entree, 3 sides, Texas toast or roll and a drink-- is worth celebrating.

 

Deep-fried squash. A little too perfect.

All-American meal: meatloaf, mashed potaters, green beans and (hiding off-camera because it's shy) fried okra. There's a roll lurking around in the wings somewhere too.

If you have the chance, order the pinto beans as a side. They’re great because they are also part of Skinny’s fixins for Friday Nite Catfish. If you missed our crazed ravings about Friday Nite Catfish, you can still read them here. Let it be said once more, that this is THE time to go visit The White Spot. If you like catfish at all, we’re betting you won’t be disappointed in Skinny’s.

 

Once you've had it, this picture will make your mouth water. We can't even read our own blog without salivating over it.

Our favorite lunch side. Pinto beans, with smoky meat and extra yum added.

Breakfast is usually pretty solid at The White Stop, and always cheap. Take a look at the biscuits portion of the menu.

 

How much do we love how battered this menu is? They're all like that. There are fancier restaurants that pay decorators and marketing teams big money to get their menus looking so "vintage distressed." When it comes to authentic old diner menus, The White Spot brings it.

 

Western Omelette. We're betting they were invented in the East, don't ya think?

 

But wait–what’s that other stuff over in the corner of the picture? Control Room, can you zoom in on that?

Oh. My. Gawd. Are those grits supposed to be eaten?

Dunno what's worse: The pooling rivulets of greasy butter and/or margarine, the completely undercooked grits, or the fact that the whole thing looks like a sick, volcanic inverted nipple.

Luckily, the tender pork chops, perfectly over-medium eggs and biscuit came to the rescue.

These breakfast chops had us licking our own chops. But question: Why doesn't anyone serve pork chops with chopsticks? We want to invent that.

One weirdly fatty bowl of grits isn’t enough to keep us from returning. We like The White Spot. Best food ever in the history of food? Nah. But it’s like the old White Spot motto one of our Twitter peeps reminded us of the other day: “Order what you like, eat what you get.”

The White Spot may get the occasional complaint, but we bet they pay them no heed. They just keep doing what they’re doing and we keep going back. But you’re most likely to run into us there on Friday nights.

RideUk shooter, Walter Pieringer was in Iraq with BK, Catfish and mike escamilla entertaining the American troops and having fun times along the way. While there Walter took a whole load of photos and a video to show what went down.

The Key River Area of Georgian Bay has some of the best big smallmouth & largemouth bass fishing to be had in all of Canada.

You can expect to take many largemouth around six pounds & smallmouth around the same size if you are there at the right time & at the right place.

Both the Canadian record Largemouth Bass & Smallmouth Bass lurk in this area.

The largemouth are hard to find & locate as they will always be where warm water back bays can be found with deep holes nearby.

Coves sheltered from North winds facing South always seem to be the best place to find them.

All sheltered coves with deep warm water in them or close by hold largemouth in this area.

The bass are not legal in Canada until the end of June after they spawn.

Check the law on this before you go after them.

In early spring they all gather in warm shallow water areas way back in & up the rivers to the back bays where they spawn.

After spawning most scatter all over the area with the exception of a few that stay in these areas all year.

The best method is called ”Walking The Dog” With The  Zara Spook.

Big surface lures with spinners often produce a lot of big bass & big hits.

Toss them back in the pockets & ledges along the cliff or rock faces where the water is warm & 5 to 6 feet deep or more & that is where you will find most of them laying.

Each big bass has its own little hole in Georgian Bay.

Please release them to fight another day.

A couple of lessons here with this story…#1: Don’t bite off more than you can chew…#2: Sometimes stories change over time….

The Fish Story

Kind of like a trout trying to inhale that big Corkie strike indicator…

by Gareth Watkins

Hi there
I got talking to a guy on the bank this week about rig safety and how things have changed over the years. If you look back on books written in the 80’s by the likes of Rod H and Kevin Maddocks you’ll see several rigs that while very effective even today, are not up to the current safety standards the sport has come to expect.
Fixed lead systems were first introduced in the late 70’s and coincided with the invention of the boilie and the hair rig. The three fished together suddenly had all takes turning into real flyers. While the bolt rigs, as they were known, were undoubtedly brilliant carp catchers, they caused problems for the fish in the event of a crack off or a breakage.

Now all rigs are safe until the above mentioned event happens. The modern systems give the fish as good a chance as is possible to shed the hook and lead. This however, supposes that the anglers read the instructions and fish the rigs as they are intended by the manufacturer.

Over the last season or so I’ve seen a number of anglers using the ‘Safety’ systems incorrectly which in some cases negates totally the effectiveness they afford and takes us right back to the ‘Death’ rig scenario we used to have before carping awareness of the dangers became common knowledge.
So what are the options and how should they be set up to be safe?

Safety clips: I believe Kevin Nash was the first to bring these Safety clips out, but I also remember Rod Hutchinson offering a similar idea back in 1993. There are a number of companies now producing these items of end tackle.
I myself use them for the majority of my fishing as they are to my mind, when set up right the safest system that still offers the benefits of the fixed, bolt rig type presentation. My preference goes for a dumpy pear lead in most case.
I will make a couple of points here though, from observations I’ve made over the years. It is quite easy for many of these clips to pull free of the swivel. This to my mind negates the bolt effect of the clip system, as the clip and tubing is then free to slide up the line during the fight. I will concede that in event of a breakage if gives a chance for the whole lot to slide up the line and free the fish. I’ll add here though that this is not a certainty and I can quite easily see the tubing getting stuck or tangled with no possibility for the lead to come off, perhaps some way up the line if you crack off.
I have been using the Korda clips for a long while and my preferred way of setting up the rig is to drill a hole in the clip and tie it on to the swivel, thus preventing it from pulling free. Set up this way in event of a lead getting stuck, plugged or weeded the lead pops off easily. I also think that if I do have the misfortune of leaving a rig in the water the lead will also free the fish without too much problem. The last point I would make here is that it is important to push the tail rubber on just enough to hold the lead in place. If you ram it as far as it will go then in many cases the force needed to pull off the lead is excessive, and more than likely will render the clip system ineffective. There are other makes on the market like the lock jaw clips that snap around the swivel giving the same effect as my tie-on method.

Fished this way I am happy that I have done as much as I can to allow the fish a chance in the event of a breakage. I proved this to myself in France at Old Oaks last year when I had a number of fish landed through the weed. In each case the rig shed the lead, allowing me to easily play the fish in.

Helicopter rigs : I generally use these for distance fishing when the use of a leader is essential to get the range. Set up properly these rigs are again about as safe as you can get. Set up incorrectly and again we are back to a death rig. The best Helicopter systems I’ve seen recently come from Korda. Their Safe Zone system is excellent. The combination of a leader, buffer bead and sliding bead that you tie in place with PVA string, give a rig that should free the fish fairly easily if you crack off on the cast. The main advantage of a helicopter rig is that properly set up the fish is only left trailing a rig in the case of a mishap.
I must underline here though that properly set up helicopter rigs are essential, and home made jobs or using items that are not meant to go together can quickly see this turned into a fix lead death trap rig.

Running leads : Now many waters insist on these as the only safe rig for carp fishing. While I can not dispute the safety aspect, I’m not convinced that they offer the best hooking set up that one can use. There is however a whole debate on the subject, as with the barbed/barbless arguments. The only one of this type of set up I’d consider is one that blocks the lead until you get a run.  Fox had a set up that involved a ridged tulip bead that fitted over the swivel and where the run ring slipped over it and remained fixed until the fish bolted. Once in action only light pressure was needed to turn it back to a full running rig.

In-line leads : The last type of set up and one I never use is the in-line lead. There are two reasons I personally dislike this set up, despite the argument that it offers the best immediate resistance to a taking carp, is that I find it hard to see one of these rigs that I feel is safe. Most I’ve seen wedge the lead firmly on to a central plastic clip. Fox do them that are split but I’ve seen these so firmly in place they are hard to pull off. The chances of this type of rig ejecting the lead to my mind are virtually zero. Cast into weed they are a nightmare and to my mind would almost certainly lead to more fish lost.
Lastly they twist the line horribly as the spin during the retrieve. Used in conjunction with a small baitrunner reel the results are horrendous in no time.
I think anglers need to think about their rigs, and tie them as safely as they can. Unless you have 100% confidence that any adaptations you make are totally safe, stick to the set up instructions. Read these carefully and fish safely.

Best Regards
Gareth

by Gareth Watkins

I remember sitting watching the lake with another carp fisher and a large mirror swam by us only feet from the bank….we could see clearly that it was a linear carp

‘Look at that!’ exclaimed my companion.
‘How big do you reckon it is?’ I asked
‘Got to be 25lb+” he replied.
I knew from that moment I wanted to catch that fish to see just how big it was.

I had acquired the Croix Blanche Lakes way back in 1999, and during that first year I set out to catch as many of the resident fish as possible prior to a stocking of some 300 plus carp.

I started out then in the April fishing the Croix Blanche lake and documented all the fish I caught on the internet, an unsual but successful  marketing tactic at the time.
But once I started catching the same fish twice or three times I felt it was time to move on to the second lake the ‘Tortue’.  Now I had observed fish to over 40lb from the very first time I set foot on the venue… so I was sure I’d catch a big fish if I was able to connect with one…
My first night on the lake saw me row out a bucket of maize, hemp and boilies to the central plateau, that anyone who has fished the lake will know well. I’d cast my rig to the same area and was able to see my hook link on the bottom amongst the freebies. The first night saw me catch two fish, the first a 27lb mirror and the second the carp in question a 35lb 15oz linear, the very same fish I had seen swimming in the limpid waters that summer… So we had under estimated the fish in the water by some 10lb…
How big then were some of the other fish I’d seen?

This question was answered to some extent when an angler banked the 44lb 12oz mirror on the first ever week of fishing in April 2000.
But I never really got the chance after this to fish for the original carp, as we had to begin stocking which in many ways changed the water for ever.

It was then with great pleasure that I saw my good friend Eric Dalenoord land my ‘linear’ as a new top weight of 40lb 8oz., some ten years after my first capture of the fish.  I had been convinced that she had succombed to the huge angling pressure the lakes have suffered over the last 10 years, and was no more… my joy then was huge to see this magnificent lady of my lakes alive and well, despite all the named fish that have come and gone… long may she live!!

Regards

Gareth