Two New Blogs - Well New To Me

Hiya

The feedback from my OBS interview has exposed me to a couple of blogs that are well worth a mention.

First Rabid Outdoorsman's The Maine Outdoorsman
"Greetings fellow outdoor fanatics and welcome to the Maine Outdoorsman Blog. I started this blog as a way to share some of my favorite hunting, fishing and outdoor experiences with the general public. My goal for this endeavor, is to work to improve my writing skills so positive comments and suggestions are much appreciated. With that said please sit back, make yourselves comfortable and join me in conversing about a few of my favorite outdoor memories."

And Fish Hunter's Hunting Knive
"When you are in a position to indulge in it, hunting is one of the activities that can provide both a great deal of physical activity and bragging rights, not to mention an impressive amount meat and a truly epic trophy at the end."

Both struck a chord with me, hope you'll enjoy them too

Thanks for reading - leave a comment or two
SBW

BASS Petition

Way back in the early days of my blog I posted about Dr Mike Ladle and his site, I added a link to a petition to increase the minimum size of landed sea bass. Well time has passed and in its wisdom the government has decided to do ........wait for it...nothing. I used to know a very dry and funny Russian chap who introduced me to the expression
"We wanted it to be different, but it happened just the same"
Ho Hum
Your pal
The Bushwacker

Photo credit

The Fish Pie Guy

Inspired by The Wild WoodsWoman’s recent post I thought I’d tell you my recipe for a really great fish pie.

While The Northern Monkey may mock our southern eating habits even he was forced to admit, " now that's some pie"

It’s an old cockney pie recipe, but with a bit of Italian twist, it can be something from the ‘bachelor scissors’ range (nothing gets ‘em out of their clothes faster).

First the spuds – as many spuds as you serve to the number of people you making the pie for – if I’m making it for Mrs SBW’s dad (major spud fan) lots of spuds.
If I’m making it for Mrs SBW’s friends (all on the Atkins-ish) less spuds.

However many spuds you’re using, the important thing is; you cant slice them thinly enough. I use a Madeline but you can use a food processor or very sharp knife.
Then soak them in cold water for five minuets, to get rid of the excess starch.

The Fish
I like to use smoked fish but really anything you’ve got is fine, you can even use other seafood’s as well or instead. I use about a Kilo (two pounds) per pie but you can use less or more.

Hard boil some eggs and then slice them – minimum of one per person

Some cheese is nice – I use a mix of Parmesan for bite and Cheddar for texture.

The White Sauce or in cockney cookery ‘The Liquor’
Melt a tablespoon or big blob of butter in a pan with a splash of oil and stir in some flour.
If you use .00 flour from the deli you’ll get a much smoother sauce than if you use regular baking flour from the corner shop.
When the flour is well mixed into the melted butter let it cook for a bit –but not so long that it changes colour.
Pour in half a cup of milk and stir it like a crazy person until it’s well mixed with few or no lumps.

Keep adding milk until it looks like you’ve got enough sauce for the size of pan you’re using. At this point the sauce should be a bit thinner than you want it to be when you serve it as there will bit a bit of evaporation while it’s in the oven.

Pass the sauce through a sieve – making a lumpy sauce isn’t a crime – serving a lumpy sauce is!

For the simple version:
Add Peas and or Parsley

For the ‘bachelor scissors’ version:
Rinse and squeeze Capers then add them
Finely chop and add at least five anchovies - if you thought you didn’t like anchovies you’ll be surprised – the pie doesn’t taste of anchovy but will have a ‘deeper’ flavour.

Now put the whole thing together

Pour a little sauce into the bottom of your ovenproof dish.
Lay the pieces of fish over the bottom of the dish
Put the cheese (or mix of cheeses) on top
Lay the slices of hardboiled egg on top
Pour on more of the sauce.
Working from the outside of the dish lay the slices of spud in a neat spiral of overlapping slices, working in towards the centre of the dish. Sprinkle a very small amount of oil over the top.

Bake in a hot oven 200ºC (or 392F) until the spuds on to are brown and crispy and the pie is hot all the way through.

For the second time you serve this pie to the same people, you can put a further twist on it by adding some Smoked Bacon or Pancetta. If you’re doing a dinner party (or making them to reheat for lunches at work) you can make the pies in small individual dishes.

Serve with white wine.

On the subject of whine
Bushwacker Jnr tried to turn his nose up at the pie
SBW "food is love"
SBW Jnr "no dad toys are love"
He did eat it and begrudgingly admitted it was 'quite nice'.
Bushwacker.

Free Lure with Every Beer! Well Sort Of.

I'm off to south west France in a couple of weeks so I’ve been getting my fishing kit together.
I’m been hoping to spin for trout while I’m there. So I bought some new 5-10g (quarter ounce) lures and was about to buy some spinning blades too when I remembered bottle cap lures. I'd seen these things in action as a kid, and like so much stuff you can make at home for nix, they match the stuff you can buy bite for bite and you get the added satisfaction that only home made kit brings.
Best of all they are very easy to make. OK. Correction they really are very very easy to make.
First the hard bit - drinking the beers. Mission accomplished.
Then retrieve the caps from the recycling bin - you and I would call it interference (or sabotage) Mrs SBW calls it tidying up.
Use a nail to make two holes in the cap, near-ish to the edge, exactly where depends on the size of split rings you have to hand.
Fit split rings
There are two (or more) schools of thought as to what shape to make the lure
A. a tunnel or shell shape that creates turbulence and bubbles as you pull the lure through the water.
B. a Z shape, which will act as a propeller as it moves through the water.
Now for the technical bit: ring one gets a swivel, ring two gets a hook.
Jobs a good 'un.

Beer-Fishing-Recycling. It's All Good

I though I’d have quick look online, in case anyone had really innovated with a 17 bend design, and boy did I get a shock.
People actually buy them!! They pay $30 for Six -THAT'S $5 EACH!!
Only in real life - you couldn't make this stuff up!!!
A guy has set himself up in business selling them. Shrewdly exploiting the brand loyalty many of us feel towards our favourite brewski he sells them by beer brand.
I can't see the fish thinking 'oh no I’m a brand X fish, I’d never bite for brand Y'. But people just ain’t that smart.
He's also tried to play the recycling card, but missed the point by packaging each lure in it's own plastic and card display pack. Hmmm.

Give a man a fish he eats for a day.
Teach him to fish and he sits in a boat drinking beer all day.
Bushwacker.

Dr. Lure Fishing

Dr Mike Ladle is probably the leading British authority on lure fishing in the salt for Sea Bass (like Stripers in the USA / AKA Suzuki in Japan) and in freshwater for Pike and Carp. He is often credited with kick starting the popularity of salt-water fly fishing in the UK.
Lure fishing with 20-30 pound braid, he takes a stand against the super light tackle idiocy that claims to ‘give the fish a chance’ pointing out that this is actually giving the fish a chance to swim off with a lure in its mouth.
Unlike the fishing journalists in fishing magazines he has no agenda to keep advertisers sweet and sell you new gear. His approach is based on having a small amount of inexpensive gear and large amount of understanding of fish behaviour. His book Operation Sea Angler is free to read online, and his blog is informative as he puts a lot of time into keeping up to date with the latest findings from marine biologists across the world.
Doc Ladle uses his blog to promote his range of DVDs detailing the tactics he uses to fish in the Caribbean. What he doesn’t mention is that he’s also the designer of the SureSpin range of rods – including the highly rated 4SureSpin travel rod. I use Shimano STC myself, but next time it’s a 4SureSpin for sure (!).
One of the good guys check him out
Bushwacker

http://www.mikeladle.com/osa.html

Doc Ladle is asking the UK's fisherfolk to sign this petition to Increase the MLS for Bass to 45cm for commercial and recreational anglers. A very good idea. Please help.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BassMLS/