Turtle Season 2014 -What do you do with these things!?

I started reading through the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulation book on spearing, netting and bait harvest regulations not because I love reading state regulations, but I remember camping in mid-Northern Wisconsin as a kid and every year there was this huge celebration and everyone ate turtles. Turtle soup was the main dish and fried turtle for snacks. I was little so I thought it was just a tall-tale that those beer-drinking, grown-ups would actually eat those little cuties that I would bring home for a pet.

So here it is, lots of years later and I am seeking the truth. While hunting and fishing are my favorite past times, I often run into massive snapping turtles (20 inches or more front to back) in one of my regural fishing holes. At least in Wisconsin, turtle season starts on July 15th and runs through November 30th. Soup? Really?? And how exactly do you capture and kill a 50 pound mass with jaws of steel!? Hook and line, yes. Hoop trap, yes. Netting, yes. I personally would NOT net one of these buggers and throw them in my boat without a very good plan of action.

What do they taste like? I have read everything from "It tastes like chicken, or fish or turkey" but my favorite remains... it tastes like turtle. If you venture out to the lakes and ponds into the doldrums of the summer heat after the 4th of July celebrations have ceased and want to have a unique snack, you guessed it; fried turtle and turtle soup recipes can be found on Mother Earth News and some step by step cooking and cleaning instruction can be found on Instructables.com . (Caution: preparing the turtle to eat is not for the weak stomach.)

As for this Outdoor Tomboy, I am going to catch one of these and see how it goes. After all, there are 7 different kinds of meat on one turtle; I am bound to like one of them!

The Female Factor of Fishing

I am reading news and updates on Women's Outdoor News and ran across this May 7th article that surprisingly had no comments. I am a research geek by nature so I found it fascinating as I founded my business on the fact that "In a 5-year period, the percentage of female anglers increased by 2 percent, also increasing the amount that women spend on fishing related travel and equipment to more than $11 billion" (Anietra Hamper~Women's Outdoor News). For those who are counting, that's a lot of C-notes! 

So the article has excellent facts on the female factor on the world of angling as well as rock solid sources. The numbers in female anglers and money we spend is just going to keep rising. So my question is how is the market responding to this? I am not sure how the big dogs are reacting but I started selling Simms Fishing line on OutdoorTomboy.com because their corporate response was to officially embrace the women's fly-fishing market. There are others, of course. But wouldn't it be totally cool if more companies took an official stance?

We can all get our gear someway or another, but I for one will keep adding stuff to my website that I like or will use, or just think is cool as heck. I may not have all the dealers I want yet but linking to great companies like Moosejaw and Backcountry is a good start. Hopefully what you need will be all in one place eventually. If you have a great idea or product line you would like to see, I would love to hear from you. In 2011, the number of us (female anglers) was at 8.9 million...I would say collectively we have a pretty loud voice.

Fish On Ladies!

Walleye Fishing 101

I like to spend a bit of time looking for useful insights on websites, blogs, etc...and found http://www.walleye411.com/ . For some, this may be basic information. However, most of my angling expertise is in bass fishing (both large and small mouth) and while I might master those big guys, walleye fishing is a whole other animal...or fish!

This site has everything from behaviors, water temperatures, schooling habits, lure recommendations to how to fillet walleye (go to site) or pike which I have shared here.
http://youtu.be/cEr83XnoXAg
 Fish On!

Outfitters and Guides by State

So Brown Guides started following me on Twitter and I followed them back, of course. What a great decision that was! I went to their web link and they have this very cool interactive map that shows you guides by state. You can click on your state or location and find guides in everything from beginning fly fishing to climbing the quartzite bluffs of Devils Lake. Here is the interactive map page to find your next guide by location http://goo.gl/YK6zfO  How cool is that??

5 tips: spook fewer fish by Don Wirth

I canoe fish some pretty shallow waters in WI. These are some great tips from Don Wirth at fishing.scout.com on fishing shallow in your bass boat or the like. I especially like the tip about using the wind to slice-cast. North American Fisherman

60 second tip from Wired2Fish

Here's a short video on techniques using jerkbait for spring bass fishing  Spring Bass With jerkbait

I really like these little clips as they have great tips and show the fish behavior while demonstrating the lure. Thanks for posting this Wired2Fish!

Black Spots on Panfish

The first time I filleted a bunch of panfish I caught on Big Arbor Vitae and saw the black spots on the outside of the fish and embedded in the meat, I was not about to consume them without further investigation. When I got home I called the head biologist at the DNR and he explained the crazy little parasite.

Since then, I get asked a lot about eating panfish or other types of fish with the creepy little spots so I thought I would post this short video to put some minds at rest of what those little buggers are and if they will hurt us.