Oh The Snow

On the last post, John and Howard wanted to talk smoking. We've gone over the Tri-Tip, chicken, and trout. The next thing to be smoked was pork chops. We got a deal at the supermarket on "almost" boneless pork chops so I bought a, what are they called, bonus pack. You know the ones I'm talking about that have 50 pork chops in the package instead of two. This particular package only had 8 in the package, but they were the size of a dessert plate. About 8 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch thick.

The cook put them in a brine (don't ask me what was in it besides salt) and then in the smoker for 1 hour. We used Cherrywood for this smoke. They were wonderful, sorry you missed them. That's it so far for smoking.

I headed out of the house at 0730 this morning with the intent of hitting Bear River Reservoir for a quick fishing trip. Stopped for coffee at Cooks Station and headed up the hill. The snow started showing at 5500 feet, so I expected snow at Bear (5800 ft) and wasn't disappointed although there wasn't that much. The higher up peaks had a lot more and the ski resorts are now making snow for those downhill folks.

Arrived at 0815 and with one rod with Power Bait out, used my Okuma with 2# test and a gold 1/16th oz Panther Martin. With no interest, I switched to a silver 1/16th oz Kastmaster and then gold. Still no interest. As I was fiddling around with lures, I caught one on the Power bait that was 13 inches and put it on the stringer. I switched to a Rainbow Trout 1/8th oz Kastmaster and the third cast produced one small (10") Rainbow put back for another day.

Then I caught another one on the Power Bait, but was lip hooked so it went back for another day, also. Then one on the Kastmaster which did that "flip off the hook, back into the lake" trick.

The rest of the two hours I was up there (0815-1015) was two rods with Power Bait and me sitting on my butt. In those two hours I caught six more and was able to release two more putting a total of five on stringer. Two of those six were hooked at the same time. That's fun. You're reeling in one and your other rod is bouncing around in the rod holder.

Not a bad morning. Two hours of fishing and home in time to do chores. Chores? Who wants to do chores. What the hell is wrong with me? I should have stayed up at the lake and did some more catch & release. Next time.

The five I brought home, I kept cold with Natures ice (snow). Saves a few bucks by not having to buy ice from the store. Dropped them off at Bobs to build his stash.

Next week we are expecting mid 80's in Sacramento so the weather up here should be very nice. Just might have to go fishing again.

Till next time.

Mark