Cooking Walleye

Walleye is by far my favorite freshwater fish that lives around Iowa. If cooked right it has almost no fishy taste. It also will be flaky and delicious. Let's look at some ways to cook this awesome fish. One way is to bake the fillets in an oven. This is a good way for your mom to cook fish. I prefer other ways however. Another way is to smoke it. Smoked fish is a delicacy and I would cook them like that every time if it didn't take so long. That is the only problem with that way of cooking. Pan frying the fillets is also another option. This is a good way also. I like to bread them with some cracker crumbs, lemon juice, butter, and seasonings. This makes them crispy and enjoyable. The real manly way to cook fish is to grill them. I love the taste the grill gives the fish. It is best to put foil down before laying the fish on the grill. You should also make sure to add plenty of butter and seasonings. My all time favorite way to cook fish is right on a camp fire. Here is how I do it. First, get a large piece of tin foil. Then, put the fillets on the foil. Add a large amount of butter. Put whatever kind of seasonings you like and don't forget the lemon juice. Then fold the foil over the fish sealing the fillets in. Make sure you clear a place for the foil pouch in the fire. It works well to spread coals out evenly and flat. Set the pouch on the coals and it usually takes 7 to 10 minutes depending on how thick the fillets are. Thicker fillets may take longer. When they are done you will be able to flake the fish easily with a fork. That is my favorite way to cook fish. You should try it sometime. It is delicious!

Spring Fishing

Fishing in the spring time can be very productive. Here are the ins and outs of spring fishing. First of all, you want to make sure the water temperature is around 45 degrees before you start fishing, especially for bass. As the water temperature gets warmer the fish become more active. Cold water temperatures mean lethargic fish that might not want to bite. If you are fishing for walleye, pike, or musky the water temperatures are not so important. In fact, pike are the first species to start spawning. They have been to known to spawn before all the ice has melted. The next thing you want to think about when fishing in the spring is what kind of bait to use. The best bait to use really early in the season is live bait because the fish like it when they are still lethargic from winter. The general rule for lure selection is go smaller in the spring and larger in the fall. For walleye fishing I like using a jig with twister tail tipped with a minnow. Vertical jigging seems to be the best way to use it. My favorite bait to use for bass is the Rapala X-rap. This has a great action and can be worked slow because of the suspending body. Working baits slow is key for spring time fishing. For crappie fishing I like using live bait. A minnow and bobber is your best choice. I also like using a lure called the road runner. This is a lure that flashes like a minnow would do. This attracts crappie and can be deadly when they are spawning. There are Ryan's spring fishing tips. For more fishing tips check out some of the websites linked to my blog.

DNR articles

I would like to share with you some information I read in some Articles from the DNR's website. The first story is about a man fishing on Clear Lake. The lake was still half covered in ice and this guy wanted to try his luck with the musky. The amazing part of this story is that on his very first cast he felt something pulling on his lure! Little did he know it would be a 47-inch 30 pound musky! Luckily the park ranger witnessed the whole thing so he can't be telling any fishy stories. The next story relates to me in a very direct way. Some pond owners have been calling the DNR about fish kills in their ponds. Let me explain how a fish kill works. During a hard winter, such as the one we had this year, a heavy blanket of snow may cover the ice. If this happens sunlight cannot penetrate the ice depleating algae growth and oxygen in the pond. Without oxygen in the pond many fish can die. This has happened to us with our pond a few years ago. It was a terrible experience. There were numerous dead fish lining the shore of our pond. I had no idea what was going on. My dad didn't like it much, and he searched around to find the answer to why all these fish had died. There is a way to fix this problem, and many people have done this to their ponds. You can put an aerator in the pond allowing it to stay open all year long. That way the fish have plenty of oxygen and you don't have to worry about them dying. This is what we did, and it works like a charm.

Weather

The weather on spring break is supposed to be like spring isn't it? I guess that's not true for Iowa. We have some of the strangest weather patterns in this state. You never know what the next day will bring for sure. The week before spring break had a few days where it got into the seventies, and it was extremely beautiful like spring. We get into our spring break and that disappears quite rapidly. The temperatures plummeted back to freezing, and the rains began. This was pretty disappointing for many people. Especially people like me who want to be outdoors. I did manage to do a number of things outdoors despite the cold temperatures. I did things such as camping, basketball, and tennis. However, I didn't get to do my favorite activity which is fishing. When the temperatures are as cold as they are, the fish seem to not bite as well. Cold fronts can be devastating in the spring time. They turn the fishing off very fast. I have proof of this. My uncle went to the Mississippi River on a day when it was about thirty-five degrees and they caught one fish. You might say that's still one fish, but the Mississippi River is known for producing much higher numbers than that. That river is actually my favorite place to fish. Anyway, that is why I think it's a good idea to wait until it warms up a little more to go fishing. I can't wait to get out and try it for the first time since winter hit. The weather plays a big part in fishing, and I hope I will be able to time it out just right. In conclusion, I hope next spring break is warmer, and I'm excited for the weather to warm up.

Spring Break

Spring break is a time for students to relax one last time before summer starts. It is almost over now, but I can tell you that it has been a great time for me. A few days ago my friend and I got the urge to go camping. We haven't been in a long time, and it sounded like a great idea. We knew it was going to be a cold night so we made sure to bring plenty of warm clothes. We packed up all our things and headed out to the campsite. It was located by the Wapsi River. This river has been good fishing for me over the years. I wanted to go fishing that night, but we didn't have enough time or daylight. The dinner that consisted of fish and beans. The fish was frozen from the fall, and it was about time to make a meal out of it. We put the fillets in a tin foil pouch along with butter and seasonings. The fire cooked the fish perfectly, and it was an awesome meal in a rugged place. The beans were also very good warmed by the fire. It was a very nice meal for us campers. With those tin foil pouches, you can put whatever you want in them and it will most likely taste good. Anyway, the fire was our source of heat. Without it I don't know how long we would have lasted out there. Our tent was filled with blankets and we were huddled in our sleeping bags like burritos. I must say it did get quite cold in the middle of the night, but I would rather have it be cold than hot. Atleast that way you can always put more blankets on. We had a few friends stop by and hang out for a while, and it was a good time. Iowa is filled with great camping opportunities. We did our part in keeping them that way by cleaning up after ourselves. Hopefully you will do the same on you next outing. Have fun and be safe.

Nashville

As you all already know I am a part of the show choir at Kennedy called Happiness Inc. During the first part of spring break we went to a national competition in Nashville, Tennessee. I want to share some of our experiences with you in case you ever want to travel there. We headed to the buses at 2:00 in the morning on the Thursday before spring break. It takes around 12 hours to get to the destination. We arrived in Nashville in the early afternoon. Our hotel blew most of us away when we first saw it. Personally it was most likely the biggest hotel I had ever seen. It's called the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. The hotel was one of the neatest things we got to experience on the trip. It looked like a jungle on the inside with trees, a river, and waterfalls. The hotel also had a bunch of restaurants to chose from. I ate at a place in the middle of the hotel that was quite expensive, but very nice. They served sushi there and it was quite delicious. I ended up eating there again before we left. The show choir competition was held at the Grand Ole Opry House. This is a famous theatre that the most well known country superstars perform at. It was an honor to be able to perform on that stage. The results of the competition were not the most favorable considering how we were doing prior. We got 5th place which is still great, but I think most of the people in our group were to do a little better. Nonetheless we still had an awesome time, and I hope I get to go back to music city again someday!