(j) Gwens Birthday
Happy Birthday Gwen
Off the subject of outdoor living, today is Gwens birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GWEN. She is now 22 today and still growing lol. The picture above is a cake I made for her. Its made out of everything she likes, coconut, cheesecake, strawberries, chocolate, and a couple other things she likes. So today is her day and I just wanted to give her a shout out.
(j) Fishing Allegheny River, Catfish Fishing
Well we decided to make a drive out to the Allegheny river to try out some catfish fishing. We had minnows, bread, liver, corn, and worms. The Allegheny has so many species of fish in it, everything from pike, muskie, walleye, bass, catfish, carp, drum, and the list just goes on. We had high hopes last night with all the possible out comes, but the outcome was not so good. I went with my buddy matt and his wife Adele, I manage to catch 5 channel cat on liver and bread. Matt and Adele didn’t catch a thing, they hardly had any bites, it made it a long night. Walleye were jumping right in front of us, but couldn’t get them to hit anything. We have always done well during the day there and this was the first time at night and i will think twice before I go there at night. This just could have been a bad night though, I should really try it one more time at night to be sure. Day time I will go anytime though, it’s a huge river with some pretty nice fish in it. So I guess we will see and go from there, sometimes you just get those bad nights. So for catfish fishing I do recommend this river if you only target them at night.
Channel cat, Allegheny river
(j) Earlier that Day
Gwen catching some bluegill.
While I was down my parents visiting for the day, Gwen and her daughter Aurora went out fishing for the day. They went with Aurora’s pap, Tom. He took them to a couple of places to fish, wish I knew where lol. They had fun, its been awhile since Gwen was able to get out all day. Aurora beat them all in catching fish, that’s my girl. Then with the frog fishing afterwards she got pretty played out yesterday. It’s always better to get out and take time out of your day to enjoy some outdoors, nothing I think refreshes the soul than the peaceful sounds to the woods, the wildlife, the outdoor world.
Aurora kicking butt.
The peaceful outdoors.
(j)Frog Fishing, Mmm Frog Legs
Where we were at.
Well we did it, we made our spears and went frog fishing. I will add video in the next post when I get it ready. We got out there early, around 7pm, and there was a few people fishing but not to many frogs out. Once evening started to roll around and the sun started to go down it was frog fishing time. I think the cold nights are affecting them cause you could not hear on frog last night at all. Now walking around we did find some sitting in wait so we speared them. It was fun and relaxing being out there yesterday, needed some time out of the house. I ended up spearing two, Gwen 1, Ronnie 1, and his wife Sammi 1. We did miss a couple Gwen and I, but I think we are just to late in the season for them now. Ronnie wants to go out again tonight for more, not sure if I will really go. We went out, got a few, cooked them up, and ate them.
Skinned out and ready.
We did what we went out to do. Now for the frogs they do not taste like chicken at least not ours. They reminded me of eating fish, go figure. The meat was kind of similar to chicken maybe, but the taste was certainly not. We cooked them on the grill with butter and garlic. They were’nt to bad then but needed something extra, so we added just salt and pepper and they were delicious. If you havent had them I say try them, they easy to catch and easy to clean. I would eat them again with a little seasoning.
Good old grilled frog.
(j) Building The Spear/Gig
Its what i started with
It was a project, trying to throw anything and everything together to create something that could stick a frog and hold him on. My buddy Ronnie already made on with stuff around the house, he used a broom handle, black tape, and a coat hanger. Mine I really didn’t have much lying around to make something so I had to go find, buy, and put it together. So I bought a pole, black tape, campfire forks, and some crochet needles and threw all that together.
Almost there just need barbs.
I had most of it done just need some type of barb system to keep the frog one. I was originally going to use the barbs off a hook but that just wasnt working out for me. That’s where the crochet needles came into plan, I used them for the barbs on my spear or gig and the end result is what you see. Now hopefully everything goes right tomorrow night and we will be out hunting for them. I will have pics and I will try to get some video to put on here, till then.
yay done, frog killing spear/gig
(j) Frog Night Tomorrow Night!!!!
I talked about going frog hunting so we can try them out. Just wanted to keep you posted that the spears/gigs are coming together. Oh yes we are making them ourselves, I will have pictures of each of them very soon. Well we are going saturday night and see what we can come up with. We have been getting into colder nights this week, so I hope that doesn’t affect too much. I am hoping to have some video on here to after that night hopefully we catch one on video, cause im sure there will be a lot of missed lol. Fun, fun, fun, I can already see it.
http://k12east.mrdonn.org/Australia.html
On another note I just wanted to say hello to Lisa my brothers friend, and mine, from Australia for visiting our blog here. She emailed me last night to let me know. I know it’s the world-wide net, but I think its pretty cool still that someone like her that’s in Australia is checking up on my blog, its great. So HELLO LISA glad to have you aboard, and fell free about commenting or emailing us anything about over there, I can add it to my blog 
Thanks again.
(j) Herbalife, Gwens New Site!!!
Herbalife is a type of weight loss, but also uses proteins to build muscle. They have all kinds of different tablets you can take for vitamins, protein, reduce fat intake. Herbalife uses their formula 1 shakes, yeah that’s right milk shakes. You take two of them a day and one meal and you start losing weight. Its easy, that easy, I tried it out for a week just to see if it really works, I took two shakes and a meal around 300 calories and I lose 8lbs in a week and that’s with a little cheating . So herbalife really does work just give it a try, at least a look, and you can call gwen at anytime for some help. It’s just not a weight loss program, there is all kinds of products to better yourself, or just to help yourself.
Just click and see
(j) Locust 2010!!!
cicada shell after hatching.
Well it must be that time of the year again, you can hear them everywhere and see parts of them hanging around. Now just to clear it up, yeah they got the name locust but they are really called cicada. I have a pic at the end of the post so you can really see what im talking about. I been hearing them everywhere in the outdoor world. You have now worries this year yet, I still think we got like 3 years before they are all over the place like swarms. Now in pa its been said they come ever 7 years and then other states they come every 17 years, i guess we will wait and see. They are pretty harmless to people themselves, but not to the plants. I have just been hearing them everywhere and just figured id leave a post about them little guys. They are fun to play with guys they love to stick on shirts lol.
http://www.livinginplainfield.com/?p=97
(j) Whats Left of The Turtle
Not much left on the good ol turtle. He was a good guy and tasted even better. Just some tips about turtle fishing for snappers. I used raw chicken tenderloins to catch this one, we have also caught them on chicken liver. Either one would work but i prefer raw chicken, any raw chicken. Just cast out and let it sit there until they hit it. I prefer night as you may have been reading, I caught that one at night and every other one we caught was at night. We don’t really fish with any chicken parts in the day though so that could be why. Now when you bring one in, the only way to handle one of these guys is by the tail, yep that’s right, grab the tail and hold on. Just cut the line with your hook on cause I really don’t recommend getting to close to its mouth. Now I really don’t recommend you actually do this sort of thing, cause it is dangerous and the can reach pretty good, you don’t want to really lose i piece of your body on a turtle. Just be careful what ever you do. Frog legs are still coming, looks like this friday or saturday.
(j) Kayaks
Hey everyone, I just wanted to add in here about fishing boats, mostly kayaks. I got mine a few months ago and set up everything my self and took it out for a spin. I tell you I love it, there is nothing like being out in the outdoor world in one. I know there is so many boats out there to buy, but its all up to you on what you like. I wanted a kayak cause I can avoid a lot of the licenses that you need for powered boats. Plus I can carry it wherever I go. I got a tandem kayak so I can take out a buddy or my girlfriend out with me, and its a sit on top kayak cause I was a little skeptical about the sit inside ones. I got a fishing package on this one and I just love it, I paid a little over a grand for it but so worth it. they do go in very shallow water i had it floating on 3 to 4 inches of water only. My buddy matt went on a run with his brother who had a canoe and the kayaks made it down just fine, but he said for them they had to lift it out of the water and carry it for certain spots cause it hit the bottom. I’m not saying you should or have to go get one, im just saying they are nice cause you can carry them to the river, they go in all sorts of waters, and less money to run them. Mine is set up for creeks, ponds, lakes, and oceans. I got mine at Austin kayaks cause nobody here carried the one I wanted. The link is at the top of the page and in this post you can have a look and check out some kayaks if you want.
Here's my kayak.
(j) Another Night Fishing Attempt
Well we wondered out to conemaugh dam right below the spillway for some night fishing. It rained pretty good the night before but we went for it anyways, oh that was a mistake. My buddy matt pulled in three flathead catfish, and that’s it. No bites, no fish, no nothing. We then decided its time to move so we packed up and hit the road. We went to loyalhanna dam and try it out there. Right away I started baiting for a carp. We had some hits but nothing we could get a hold of, Adele had a nice hit and then nothing. she pulled in her line to find nothing left, so we thinking a muskie hit her line and bit thru it. I did manage to squeeze out a perch and a bluegill before we left, but it just wasnt there for fishing that night, not at all. Not sure when we are going out again, I need some rest been going out way to much need time to recoup. But this weekend hopefully friday night we are going out for the frogs. I will keep you updated on this with pictures and hopefully some video, as long as Ronnie waits for me this time lol.
www.faqs.org/photo-dict/phrase/2378/fishing-hook.html
(j) Frog Legs?
Now we have decided we are going to go get some bullfrogs and try to cook them. I tell you Ronnie will try to eat anything, but we both never had frog legs yet so we are going to make a trip and catch some frogs. Up here in good ol pa we are loaded with bullfrogs, so we are going to make a trip to yellow creek for them, there’s seems to be a lot there when we’re fishing. So we heard the stories to on that they are good to eat and they taste like chicken. So we are going to put it to the test and try them out. The turtle worked out very well so im hoping the frogs do to. ill keep ya posted.
www.oregongoldadventures.com/amphibians.php
(j) Turtle Stew!!!
Well I was hoping to bring more pictures and video of the turtle progress from start to finish. My buddy Ronnie who had the turtle got impatient on me and cut it up and cooked it was I was away. So all I got is the end picture of the turtle and a taste for more turtle. The turtle was great, I was a little skeptic about it but everyone kept saying how good it is so I had to try. It was great, it looks and taste like roast, like almost exactly like roast. Now would I eat it again, oh hell yeah. It’s a little pain in the butt to cut it all up but well worth it at the end. So if you ever wondered about it, try it, its great.
Mmm Turtle Stew
(j) Another Night, Catfish Fishing
This is where we been fishing. (www.lrp.usace.army.mil/rec/lakes/loyalhan.htm)
Went out doing some catfish fishing at a new spot last night. Went to loyalhanna again, but this time went to the spillway which I heard was the place to fish, uh no, at least not catfish fishing. At least not at night, maybe during the day with some live minnows. We tried at night for a few hours and I finally landed one nice cat. So we decided to move to the other side of the dam to the lake itself. After setting up everything wasnt to long before I started getting hits. My friends Matt and Adele just was not having any luck there. Not long after I hooked into a carp with a bread ball, and shortly after started catching some cats thru the night. Again you got to be carefull handling catfish specially the young little ones and bigger older ones aren’t so bad but those fricken fins got me again sliced my hand a little. It was a nice night though always enjoyable. I was using chicken liver the whole night my friends were using beef liver and night crawlers. My buddy matt finally landed a nice cat at the end of the night, he was so glad he didn’t get skunked. Tonight im going back out and taking Gwen along with me, she as some time off this weekend. So ill take her out and see what happens, maybe I can get her to do the next post lol.
Another carp landed.
(j) Mission Accomplished
Well we set out last night to catch a snapping turtle to try to cook it up and try it out. Got there early last night and set up the poles. I do believe I missed one right off the bat, I think I pulled it right out of its mouth. It was a long night, we were using chicken liver, raw chicken, and night crawlers. Ronnie was sticking to night crawlers all night, which the water was pretty low so he was just catching bluegill and shad. They wouldn’t leave him a lone last night, it was pretty funny watching him scramble for his poles all thru the night. Now I was using chicken liver and raw chicken, I was getting hits on the chicken liver but not as much not sure whats going on with the catfish recently. I then, after a few hours, I switched one pole to bread from my hoagie I had eaten, I saved two pieces of bread for carp. Well after I hooked that on and set up the pole with my bite alarm I sat watching my bobbers sway in the breeze.
My bite alarm set up
Then all the sudden my alarm starts going off, big time, I jumped up and grab the pull. I set the hook and knew right away it was a carp. After a little bit of a fight I pulled it in and we set it in a tub we have set up to take some fish to his pond. My alarm I bought at big carp tackle I have the link up on the right.
Not to big, but a nice fight
So we were pretty happy that we caught one carp for the pond, he would like to get around 10 for the pond. So after the excitement I hooked another bread ball on and set it up. My other pole I was using I set up raw chicken on it and cast it out. Not long after I got a hit on the raw chicken one, and the one my bobber was going I had a good idea what it was. I pulled the rod and set the hook, and once I felt what was on there I knew what we came for was on the line. Well I pulled it in and there and behold it was a snapping turtle. Ronnie then netted it out of the water and grab it by the tail, the only really safe place to hold one at. I cut the line and we loaded it up in his explorer, and home we went. Currently the turtle now is sitting in a bath tub at his moms place. We are adding fresh water every so often to clean out the turtle, after the water remains to be clear its time to clean him up. I will post more on the develop of this as it happens, and I will also post more pictures on here as we finish up the turtle. now if anybody as any recipes on cooking it let me know we are going to try a little soup, deep fry, and grilling with it and see which one taste better, till then.
Snapping turtle, loyalhanna dam
(j) The Conemuagh River, Bluegill Fishing
I just wanted to talk a little about the river we were bluegill fishing in. I will add a video later so you can see want it looks like. We did really well on the bluegill there, and while we were fishing there was also a few northern pike jumping and a few bass. They were tempting to fish for but we were bluegill fishing not pike fishing or muskie fishing. This was the first time I fished the certain part of the river and I liked it. Im now curious about what else we can catch there, i wonder how the catfish are hitting there. I wonder also if there are any carp around there also. I will check it out some night, you know curiousity killed the cat, but doesnt stop him from looking. The river has species of northern pike, muskie, bluegill, bass, carp, catfish, turtles, perch, and occassional turtles, rock bass, and crappie. Its a nice area to fish but its hard, cause you need to find a good spot where the fish are, if not your looking at a very long day.
(j) Fishing Pole + Bluegill = Fun
Fun, Fun, Fun
Well we went out to do some bluegill fishing yesterday before the turtle fishing. The problem is my buddy Ronnie has a pond at their farm loaded with bass but no other fish. The bass are staying on the smaller side and he wondered why. He did have bluegill in there a while ago but ended up fishing them all out and the bass took care of the rest. So I told him they need more food, cause they can’t be eating much in there. So we went on a mission to catch as many as we could. We ended up catching 50 bluegill in a couple of hours all around 6″ or so which is good so the bass that are in there wont eat them up right away. Now we are going back again today to catch another 50 or so and hopefully by next year there will be a lot more. I’m hoping this is the cause of the bass staying so small, there is a lot of bass in there but there is plenty of room for them. We threw in one carp so far and wants a few more, and a few catfish to help clean it up. After all said and done and come middle of next year I think the pond will be alive again, well I hope so.
(j) People Who Leave Trash
Ok, what the hell is wrong with you people, grow the hell up. Nothing like going to one of your fishing or hunting spots and get kicked out cause they don’t want people there cause too much trash gets left behind. Now come on people how hard is it to clean up your crap. I fish night so its hard to see and we take time to look and make sure we have everything. it’s not hard, just pick it up. I got another place around that’s a reservoir, and they want to open it up to public fishing but the owners say no cause they don’t want people leaving all their trash lying around. It’s just the reputation that we end up getting cause of those certain people who do it. I have lost a few places cause of other people trashing the place, I even picked up some trash that others left and still got denied fishing access. look guys and girls if your out pick everything up, grow the hell up, don’t ruin it for everyone else. it’s not even my property and it ticks me off seeing that some dumb ass people are so damn lazy that they couldn’t pick up their trash and the worst part is that there sometimes a garbage can right there. Some peoples kids I tell you, *spit*.
Just not right
(j) Everyone Loves Posting Property
I said in earlier post I live in Pennsylvania, in Indiana county. I travel around to other counties in pa to hunt and fish. Now since I have began to hunt and fish till now the property being posted over the years has just climbed. More since the past few years, whats up with that. Back in the day I could hunt anywhere and not worry so much any more where I look is those lovely yellow signs POSTED!!! Now there are state game lands, but with everyone posting there lands they are pushing everyone else into them. I ask why, for the love of god why, I understand some of it but others I don’t. Maybe cause im on the end of not having my own land but I used to hunt a lot of acres a few years ago and now they are being posted and some of it you must pay to hunt on. whatever happened to hunting everywhere there was woods was there so much of a problem. I know a lot just want to keep there land to hunt themself, but others never hunt or fish it and they do nothing with the land so why not let us on it. I know what most must think, if you ask them they’ll most likely say yes, uh no. We have played that game over and over and that’s still the answer, you need to know somebody anymore, even that don’t always help. We have a family member who owns property and will let us hunt on it no problem, but there’s another landowner who owns a little land you have to go thru to get there. well after countless calls he finally said no, he would not let us drive thru his property to get to the other one even after talking to our family member who owns the land. Then of course with more people posting and pushing people out now these people buy their own land and then post it out of anger. Come on people, seriously don’t you see anything at all wrong with this. grrrrrr.
(j) Turtle Fishing
Well for the next few nights im heading out to the lakes for some turtle fishing with my buddy ronnie. He has been wanting to get one to try to eat it and see what its like. We have caught them before, before their actually season, on chicken liver. So I figured I would pick up some more and also some raw chicken to use as bait. I never really been turtle fishing yet, I have caught them but never spent time trying to catch them so this will be unique experience. The plan is to head out starting tonight and for the next few nights, catch one, bring it home, clean it up, skin it, and cook it. I heard thru other people you should keep them alive and set them in clean water and change it when it gets dirty and do this untill the water tends to stay clean, that way the turtle gets cleaned out from the inside. I looked up how to skin them and cut them up so we should be good on that part. I will leave updates on here on how the hunt is going. Till then if anyone might read this and have any ideas on what to use for bait, or cleaning them, or even tips for cooking them. Please leave a comment or send an email with any ideas, thanks I might need it. Well that is the plan for now, and soon after that he wants to catch another carp and clean it and try to eat it. What good friends I have that im really to help them out and try new things.
(j) My Brothers Tech Blog
Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know if you wanted to know anything going on in the world of technology here’s a link, tech blog. I also included the link on the top right in my links. On this blog he has everything from gaming to tvs to new technology coming out and reviews on it. So don’t fall behind check it out. Click the link or the pic below.
Technology News
(j) Tip About Adding New Line
From time to time we got to reline our reels. Either you just bought a new reel or its time to replace the old line. The braided line you don’t have to do this with for every other line this will help you. For one, don’t buy line to big for your reel the capacity is written right on your reel. I have done it, my friends have done it, put a 12lb test on my reel which is listed as up to 8 lb test and when tried fishing with it I had a problem every 3rd 4th cast. It would either get knots in it or the line would just fall off the reel. Oh the headaches of doing it so please please dont try it. Now after you get your new line and its the right size, the problem is the wheel its on is usually bigger than your reel so the line has memory of the size so when you put it on it tends to fall off. To correct this problem put your new line in the fridge for 24 hours, if you cant wait that long set it in there for as long as you can. Once your ready put it immediately onto your reel and that’s it, the memory resets to the size of your reel and you will have a lot less problem with your line now. I’ve used this method every time with new line and it works well for me. So try it out you might be surprised.
This is the worst thing while fishing.
(j) Tip For Carp Hair Rigs
To start off im going to introduce a tying method for carp fishing. I’ve been doing a lot of it recently with catfish fishing. The carp is usually forgotten but if you would like a good fight then the carp is a great adversary. Now the best rig, as they say, is a hair rig. I have been using this one as the other team has been using regular hooks. Now my impression is they work the same, looking at it I would give the edge to the hair rig, cause you can obviously see that it should work a lot better. Now im not going to put it all on here word for word, I will give you a link to it as someone else has made one. I followed it and worked with no problem. Now the hair rig gives you bait with a bare hook so its easier to hook the carp well the regular way covers the hook and makes it harder to set the hook. Now towards the end of the video they use something else to hold the boillies on, all I do is take the loop that attaches to the swivel thru the loop where you put the bait on. You may use any type of fishing line you may want to, I use stren braided line for mine. Now you don’t have to use boillies for this, I use corn, dough balls, and oatmeal balls with it. Use your imagination. Then you need to pick up some minnow threading needles, you’ll find them in the fishing supplies, that way you can attach your bait to the string. Once on just take your loop off the hair rig and loop it on the line from your hook eye or on your hook to hold the bait on.
(j) Bass Fishing, Favorite Fish
I think my favorite fish to catch is bass. I love fishing for everything specially bigger fish, but bass fishing is what I love. Nothing like running a buzz bait over the top of the water and suddenly its gone in a splash. While your bringing them in they jump clean out of the water swaying trying to get that hook out, they like to fight. As for the fight, even a small bass is willing to give you a good fight. Now i have got some big bass, some mounters, but i could fish all day long and catch smaller ones all day.
Now for baits, there are so many you can use. Everything from spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, rubber worms, jigs, live bait, and etc and etc. The list just goes on and on and on. Now everyone has there favorite lures and baits on what they like to use. For me I like using buzz baits, rubber worms, and live bait. For my buzzbait I don’t go out and get the biggest one I can find, thinking well if I get a big one ill get a big fish, I spit on that idea. I’m not saying you wont but the odds that you will aren’t exactly the best, its all on the fish. I do the opposite and buy the smallest one I can. I’d rather catch smaller bass all day rather than sit there and catch nothing or one bigger one all day. Plus I did at one point buy a bigger buzz bait and noticed it actually scared most of the bass that was close to it. Once I switch to smaller ones they just couldn’t get enough of it. So remember bigger is not exactly better.
Largemouth Bass
Now if they ‘re not hitting on buzz bait to well I switch it up to a rubber worm. I like to use a minnow threading needle and run the line of the hook up from the bottom to the top and tuck the hook inside of the worm. then ill add some weight to the head of the worm, usually just a split shot, so I can work it up and down on the bottom. As for colors, cause there are so many out there, I like using the color black and purple with glitter in it on anything I buy for bass. I have used other colors but not as much hits like I do on these dark ones. Once im set up ill toss it in where bass may be located and just slowly retrieve it with up and down motions. I love it when your bringing it in and all the sudden it stops and you set the hook.
Now if those two aren’t working out so well or i just want to sit down and relax ill switch to live bait. Usually this includes just minnows, night crawlers, and I will grab grass hoppers or dragon flies if they are around. Now this will be the time where I will say bigger is better. With the minnows I will grab the biggest ones I can cause its a naturally food for the bass and they will hit bigger ones specially if it looks injured. Then for those monster bass, they are very smart and not easily caught. But natural bait they love to hit it, its instinct. They will hit a bluegill without a thought any size even ones to big, I love watching them do this. Dragon flies are another good bait to use, I usually always catch at least on bass on one fly. I just smack them with the pole into the water and put them on the hook, toss them in without weight if I can and watch them engulf them. Night crawlers work well, sometimes you might have to work with them a little but they tend to hit them. Plus with live bait you not just bass fishing, a variety of fish will hit those so you won’t usually sit there like a sitting duck.
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