Backyard Fun

Now that summer has officially begun and the nights have gotten warmer, we have started having bonfires in our backyard with our friends and family. I look forward to summers and all the bonfires at our house and the bonfires we are invited to at our friend’s house. They are so nice and relaxing.

Last weekend we went to a friend’s house for a fire and mountain pie dinner. The week before, was a housewarming party with a bonfire. And a few weeks before that was a bonfire and camp out in our backyard.

Mountain Pie maker and pie

I want to start having more camp-outs in our backyard. We just need the weather to cooperate. It has been so rainy in our neck of the woods. So we have had to hold off on camping more Our tents are pretty wet now. So we have to let things dry out before we can camp again.

What fun things have you been doing with your family this summer?  Do you have backyard camp-outs?

Friday Fish Recipes - Bluegill

Sorry again. I was busy with one of my best friend's wedding this weekend.

Unfortunately, life has been busy and we have not been able to get out fishing. So we have not got to put any pike or walleye in the freezer. :( 

Since my freezer is full of Bluegill, I thought I would just post recipes to cook them.

These recipes can be found on the Outdoor Channel website. So this first recipe intrigues me. I love Mexican food, but I have not been a fan of seafood in Mexican food. But Bluegill fajitas sound delish.

Bluegill Fajitas

1 tsp lemon pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

6 Tbsp lime juice, divided

1-1/2lb bluegill fillets cut into 1/2" strips

4 tortillas

Combine lemon pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and 4 Tbsp of lime juice in a resealable plastic bag, add fish. Seal and shake; chill 30 minutes.

Grill fish, covered with grill lid, on a grill rack coated with nonstick cooking spray over medium heat for 4 to 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes with fork. You may broil if you wish

Load up each tortilla with fish and the toppings of your choice.

Bluegill Fritters

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg, separated

2/3 cup milk

1 Tbsp butter, melted

2 cups bluegill fillets, flaked

oil for deep frying

Preheat oil to 370 to 375 degrees.  Sift together flout, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and baking powder. Mix egg yolk with milk and add to dry ingredients; beat well. Add melted butter. Fold in stiffly beaten egg white and fish flakes. 

Drop by tablespoon fulls into hot oil. Fry until golden brown. Drain on paper bag. 

Serve at once with horseradish  and ketchup, chili sauce or wasabi sauce.

I think I will have these at our next party. Sound so yummy!

Meet Hunter James

This is the first of two "Meet Hunter".... I want to introduce you to the 2 men in my life that inspire me and help me to continually grow as a huntress.  So today I want you to meet my brother...James. I asked James the same questions that I ask my Huntresses.

1. What was your first hunting experience? 
Sparrows, in the backyard with my Quicksilver BB gun. Actual first chance to wack something nice was in Cuba, New York.  I was with my dad, it was the 3rd drive of the day, I was about 10 years old and all bundled up in a snowsuit. We had walked across a blustery field and then came to a pine block and I saw 3 ruffed grouse on the ground about 10 yards away. I told dad not to move, we stopped and I eased up my 760 with the cross-hairs on the bird. Snap PFFFFFTTTT. Dad was shocked. 

2. Who got you into hunting? My dad.

3. What is your most memorable hunting experience? 
Most memorable hunting experience, wow I need a criteria for that. I would have to say bird hunting for the first time I ever went to Tonowanda swamp duck hunting with dad. We got there late but the birds were like mosquitoes. I shot my first drake wood duck, a drake mallard and 2 green wing teal (AKA...pocket ducks). We didn't hunt the pocket ducks after the first year because there was not much to eat on them.

4. What are your hobbies, besides hunting?
Hockey, fishing, football, watching sports, movies at the drive-inn and shopping at Gander Mountain or Bass Pro shops. I really like bass tournaments. I also like to teach people to hunt and fish. It is challenging and rewarding to see them succeed.  I also like to break clay with a shotgun.

5. What are the obstacles you face when hunting? 
My patience. I have to probably be the best impatient hunter there is. I have some techniques that work for my impatience. As I get older I am more impatient. My eyes also. I will have to switch from open sights to a scope in the future. The bugs and poison ivy when spring turkey hunting.

6. What are your favorite hunting sites/shows? 
Roger Raglin Outdoors because he slug hunts whitetails, Pheasants Forever, NWTF turkey shows and Ducks Unlimited (especially now that it's dirty bird Browning sponsored). I like to research on ballistic calculators, bullet trajectory and wind resistance coefficients. I frequent Browning and other major shotgun sites. Airgun reporter is also a favorite.

7. Who inspires you to stay involved in hunting? 
Mainly my nephew and my sister. I like to help people learn to hunt. I might consider retirement after they figure out hunting and kill a big monster. lol

8. How do you stay informed on hunting issues?  
I read Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, what the news and listen to people's scuttle butt. I think it's a jungle out there and a lot of good gun owners/hunters get a bad rap. But it is like every game, it only takes one or two bad apples to spoil the whole crate.

I  hope that all of the huntresses out there have someone in their life to help and inspire them to be the best huntress they can be.

Friday Fish Recipes - Baked

Sorry forgot to post this yesterday.

I do love fish fries! However, they are high in fat. So in an effort to watch my calories, I am going to give you  a couple of baked fish recipes today. 

Baked Parmesan Fillets

Baked Parmesan Fish Fillets can be found on the McCormick website. This recipe is lower in calories and carbs. The fat content is still a little high, but if you pair it with a nice fresh salad and a light dressing it will balance out. 

These next recipes come form the Eatingwell website. They always have delicious recipes that are lower in calories and fat.

Tilapia & Summer Vegetables

I'm always looking for away to incorporate more vegetables from my garden. And I can make this recipe with tilapia or with other fresh water fish we have frozen in our freezer. I would leave out the capers. I'm not a fan of those.

Alright. I have given you a few healthy recipes.
Good eating.

My "Dream" Fishing Trip

After having my dream about a moose hunt and reading A Reel Lady's blog about her recent fishing trip, I have started thinking about what "dream" fishing trips I'd like to go on. 

What fish species would I like to catch? And where would I like to go? Oh the fishing memories we would have. I have always fished small lakes and rivers. I don't think I have caught anything bigger than 5lbs.

I guess my first trip would be close to home. I want to catch a big walleye out of Lake Erie. I have caught walleye before out of smaller lakes and creeks. But I wanna hook into a 15 pounder. I can't even begin to imagine what that would feel like on the end of my pole. Hubby has gone fishing in Lake Erie and caught a few big walleye. So now it is my turn and I will even let him come along. :)

My big fishing trip would have to be saltwater fishing.  I'm not sure what exactly I would like to catch, just something big! In A Reel Lady's blog, she talks about having Tarpon Fever. She says watching tarpon jump out of the water, really gets her heart pumping. That sounds interesting! Or maybe it would be fun to catch a marlin or shark. I think hooking into something that is going to jump out of the water would be amazing. 

My uncle does a lot of fly fishing around the world. He has seen some beautiful places and has  caught some amazing trout. So maybe someday, I will get to have my uncle take myself and my family fishing with him. However, eating trout is not one of my favorites.  That's ok...I can practice catch and release!

What's your "dream" fishing trip?

Friday Fish Recipes - Featuring my brother

Last week, I decided not to post my Friday Fish Recipes because I was on vacation and it was a holiday weekend. Sorry.

This week I want to share with you my brothers's favorite recipes. He has been cooking fish for about 15 years now.  His true passion is fishing. He is a great wealth of information to me. He sends me articles to read and recommendations on new lures to try.

Left to right: My dad, my son & my brother. My son's first fishing trip with his uncle and grandpa.

 James does love all things outdoors. He fishes all summer and hunts pretty much the rest of the year. I have even sparked his interest in bow hunting again.

Here are a couple of his favorite recipes for cooking fish.

Ameri-Chino-Citrus walleye

Ingredients

4 walleye fillets 1- 3 lb eyes optimal

1 stick of air temp butter

1 onion

4 cloves garlic super fine chop or minced or jarred minced works

1 generous shake of garlic powder

1 generous shake of onion powder

1 slight sprinkle of cumin powder

1 dash of cayenne pepper

1 generous sprinkling of black pepper red pepper mix

Lemon juice concentrate to taste

Lime juice concentrate to taste.

2 cups of cooked white rice.

Take four nice walleye fillets bone and prepared well. Take a large piece of heavy duty tinfoil not the cheap crap heavy duty tinfoil. Lay it out flat and rough butter with a butter knife your four walleye fillet area on the tin foil. Lay four fillets on foil and thin yet generous size buttered tinfoil. Then Lemon and lime concentrate walleye carefully as not to spill all over i like a good amount because this will make a sauce. Place 2 small pats of butter at each end of the fillets. Next chop and or mince garlic, cut onion into thin round ring's. Sprinkle garlic over fish, then place rings on top of fish season with all of the listed seasonings and powder. Cap and or fold over access tinfoil to form a packet. Run outside light your grill place packet on grill for 10 to 15 minutes depending on walleye size keep between 300 and 350 on your grill. Next make 2 cups of white rice. A good side for this is this packet grilling with everything minus the fish, but with asparagus or fresh green beans. When fish rice and asparagus is done place one inch of white rice on a plate put walleye on top, then cut asparagus to small pieces or place on the side. Then take fish juice at bottom of the packet and pour or spoon over fish and rice serve hot, and salt to taste but i rarely add anything. Tends to be perfect right out of the packet.

and

Chili-Dusted Catfish

This is Chili-Dusted Catfish with Cumin Rice. He got this recipe from the In-Fisherman cookbook. I know he substitutes pike and walleye in this recipe.

I hope everyone has a great fishing weekend!

Fishing different lakes...

Fishing different lakes in your area can be challenging. But what about fishing in different states? This is the dilemma I am facing now.

As I continue working to fill my tackle box…I have been struggling with what lures to buy. I struggle with wanting to buy the ones that have always worked for me in the past. The problem with doing that is that I lived in Western New York then. Now I live in Northwest Pennsylvania.

Hubby and I have different ideas about what bait to use when it comes to panfish fishing. I have always used tube jigs and minnows to catch perch, crappie and bluegill. Hubby has always used an ant jig and grubs. And the grubs work. We are catching a bunch this summer. So I can't argue with him.

Favorite tube jig

My favorite go to tube jig for panfish has not worked for me here in PA. I'm not sure if it is just the location on the lake we are fishing. Or is it the time of year? Or is it just this lake? Or maybe it is just the simple fact that we have not tried this jig with a minnow on it. (That's how it worked before. Hubby uses grubs for panfish. :p That is a whole other story.) Hard to tell. So if you can't beat them, join them...I now fish with an ant and grubs.

 We have been stocking our freezer with bluegill. So now I would like to start fishing for some pike or walleye. I want  to get some bigger fillets to try different recipes.  

WARNING ... Shameless plug ... check out my Friday Fish Recipes.  For the next month or so, I will be posting new fish recipes to try.

So what lures do I buy? Do I start with what has worked for me in the past? Or do I just buy something that looks good? What I have decided is that I will pick up a lure or 2 to try and each time I go out fishing I will try a new lure out of my husband’s tackle box. :) Then when I find one that works, I can go pick up one for myself. I will buy one that looks like it could work and I will probably buy something that has worked before for me also.

Worst case, I will have the lures I know that will work when we visit family in NY. 

How do you decide which lures to buy when you are fishing in a different lake or state? I welcome your input so leave me a message.

Now that I have been writing about fishing I want to go fish, but I have to go to work shortly. Maybe I will pick up an fishing magazine to read tonight.

Baiting Hooks

Over the holiday weekend, I overcame a baiting hook fear.

Throughout my life, I always baited my hook with either a worm or a minnow. It never bothered me to bait the hook. And once I was old enough to learn how to take the fish of the hook, I did that too.

When I started fishing with my husband, I developed a baiting hook fear.  Why? Because he uses grubs as bait. I have a fear of them. Just knowing what they really are freaks me out. So I have made hubby bait my hook for the past several years. (Granted I haven't fished much since our son was born.)

Since I had always baited my hook myself, this really bothered me to be dependent on hubby to bait my hook. Several times this year I would get the grub can to bait my hook myself, but then once I opened it ... I just couldn’t do it.

Until yesterday…

We were fishing for bluegill. We were hitting a lot of little fish, throw backs. They kept cleaning our hooks. After several times of needing my hook baited and waiting for my hubby to bait the hook, I was getting frustrated.  So finally, I flicked a few grubs out of the can with my hook and then put them on my hook. (There were a few faces and “yucks” involved.)

 After baiting my hook several more times like this, I finally just picked the grubs up out of the can and baited my hook. YIPPEEE!!!!

When we go out fishing again…I will bait my own hook! But as I sit here typing, I’m still a bit freaked out by the thought of the grubs crawling around in the can. But I have done it now, so I know I can do it again! 

YES, I overcame a fear!

Do you have any fears of baiting hooks? Hubby better not ask me to bait a hook with a leach. That will NEVER happen! Lol

Sarah the Huntress

As I said before, I want to introduce some of my friends that are huntress'. So without further ado, I would like to introduce you to Sarah Thomas (aka...soon to be Mrs. Sarah Brickner!).

What was your first hunting experience?

With my grandpa Masson. I would say I was 8 or 9 and we went squirrel hunting in the woods behind my grandparents house. I also got to use the .22 that was given to my mom on her 12th birthday from my grandpa.

Who got you into hunting?

I would say my grandfather, Masson, at a young age...but now my fiance got me back into it a little over 2 years ago.

What is your most memorable hunting experience?

Hunting with Cristy (the author) on a "girls day hunt". It was a lot of fun and we didn't have the guys there telling us what we were doing wrong or anything. :) We had good quality girl time in the woods and we didn't even see a deer. 

Since you are getting married soon. Do you plan to continue hunting as you start your new family?

We absolutely will continue to hunt and as kids arrive we will be teaching them to

hunt also. Chad and I are disagreeing on the age...but our children will definitely be involved in the hunting world.

Can you elaborate on things you are excited to pass on to your kids?

I am most excited to pass on the 30/30 that I use to hunt with. It was Chad's grandfather's gun that has been passed down through his family. I am also excited to pass on stories of my grandfather's hunting days.

What are your hobbies, besides hunting?

I love to be out in the sun! I love boating. I also want to see all the 7 wonders of the world before I die. I hope that as a family, down the road, we will travel as much or more than I did growing up.

What are the obstacles you face when hunting?

The biggest 2 obstacles that I face are: 1. being color blind. I have a really hard time seeing different colors. 2. I want to shoot to kill. I struggle with the possibility of walking up onto an animal laying there suffering.

What are your favorite hunting sites?

I don't spend a lot of time online looking at hunting stuff....however I am a sucker for Girls with Guns, Just for Does and Her Camo Shop.

Who inspires you to stay involved in hunting?

My fiance Chad does. I would say in our lifestyle I don't have much room to say no or not be interested. Also another big motivator is our friends...almost all of them hunt.

How do you stay informed on hunting issues?

Chad and his father are very up to date on all that stuff, so I always hear it from them!

Dreaming Of A Moose Hunt

Recently, I have been dreaming about hunting all the time. Daydreaming and dreaming at night. My most recent dream was very vivid. It was about a moose hunt.  I wonder if shooting my guns the other day had something to with this dream.

In my slumber, I was sweetly dreaming of hunting a moose…my ultimate dream hunt. It started with the family driving. My son was a teenager. It was a family adventure.

We arrived at the outfitter late afternoon. We were all tired but excited to finally have reached our destination. I was beaming from ear to ear, because I was finally going to go on a moose hunt.

The lodge was beautiful, beyond my expectations. I was in heaven.  We were shown to our sleeping quarters so that we may freshen up before dinner and our talk about hunting strategy for the week. We had a nice room with our own bathroom for the 3 of us. At dinner we were introduce to Todd our guide for the week. After dinner we talked to Todd about what he had planned for the week for us. Then it was off to bed.

The next morning we are out in the bush searching for moose. Todd made cow calls to no avail. It wasn’t until later that afternoon, as Todd called again and again. We saw a bull moose about 100 yards away. G had the best view of the moose. Unfortunately the moose did not come close enough for anyone to get a shot. So we called it a day. The next couple of days were the same. We saw moose but no shots.

Finally, I got my chance.  With only a few days left, Todd was cow calling again. I was hidden in the bush with a clear path for shooting. I could see him coming, walking closer and closer, grunting the whole time. He was finally in my site. I waited for what felt like an eternity for him to present me with a shot. Finally, he was standing in my path and I had my site on the sweet spot. I took a deep breath and shot. My heart started racing…I pounding was so loud that was all I could hear…did I get him? Yes…I finally shot a moose…a dream come true!

The next day, hubby and G went out and were both lucky to each shoot a moose.

Then I woke up….WOW!!! That was the best dream ever.

I can only hope that someday I will get a chance to go on a moose hunt.