Muskies, Macs, and Mantua

[TyeDyeTwins]

Newton - Arrived at 3pm and decided the wind was too much for a pontoon. My twin and I fished the dam for a couple of hours and I got 1 small LMB in the 1st 3 casts. False excitement for sure. We moved around on the west side making our way from point to point and I encountered another dink LMB at 5 inches and so did my twin. Then it happend, a muskie was landed by me! All fish were caught using a Blue Fox Gold Spinner size #2 tipped with a tye dye crawler (nightcrawler). My twin's bass came on a Roostertail black spinner tipped with a worm. We took advantage of the free camping and spent the night.

Bear Lake - Woke up at 4:30am to meet CvFisher in Logan at 5:30am. We got on the water and begun trolling for macs. CvFisher got 2 cutts (one at 24 inches and another at 21.5 inches) and 1 pup mac. My twin and I got the SKUNK! CvFisher caught all his fish on a reefrunner pink lure. We tried all kinds of lures including his and my twin got a few bites that was all. By 2pm the wind kicked up and we headed out from Cisco beach and hit the state marina on the other side from shore looking for "jacks" (male macs) along the dikes. None were found in the 30 mins we spent there. Once again my twin broke his rod at Bear Lake due to a poor evacuation by me on the boat. He also got a nice bee-sting at the marina on the back of his neck.

Mantua - Well my twin wanted to come home with something so he talked me into Mantua along the west dike at 5:30pm. Good choice. He caught 3 rainbows and 1 LMB at 15 inches long. I caught 1 Rainbow at 19 inches long. We had bites every 20 casts or so and plenty that spat the hook on the way in. We left around 7pm. All were caught using a Blue Fox Gold spinner in size #2 and my fish was caught using a Kastmaster in Gold color.

My very 1st Tiger Muskie!


The campfire at Newton


The 24 inch Cutt. that CvFisher caught this morning. A bloody battle to the death indeed!


The 1st and only Mac of the day. A pup for sure but a mac nonetheless!


The 21.5 inch cutt from Bear Lake.


My twins 15 inch LMB from Mantua


Mantua Sunset before we left.


The spoils of war for the new smoker! The smallest trout is 11 inches and the largest trout is 19 inches long. The LMB is 15 inches long.

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[wormandbobber]

Although the fish were cool, I was much more impressed with the hair. What kind of gel do you use?
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Nice pix - fun 'ventures sounds like. Those BL fish are impressive.

So what kind of smoker did you get? Was gonna suggest you check out Smith-n-Eddies, or Cal-Ranch as a couple options. Or hit up Camp-Chef direct. Smithfield Implement is another spot that carries various BBQ-bits

Next up - get some wood, and start your brine!

[TyeDyeTwins]

[quote wormandbobber]Although the fish were cool, I was much more impressed with the hair. What kind of gel do you use?[/quote]

I get that question a lot. I use Beyond the Zone pro formula brand in "Spike It Defy Gravity". You can find it in Beauty shops and worse yet you have to use a blow dryer for 30 mins to get it close to that. You can see the bed heads in these pics. The 1st day is the best looking in my opinion. I get as many stares and comments as I did with the dread locks I had up until July.
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[TyeDyeTwins]

[quote CoyoteSpinner]
So what kind of smoker did you get? Was gonna suggest you check out Smith-n-Eddies, or Cal-Ranch as a couple options. Or hit up Camp-Chef direct. Smithfield Implement is another spot that carries various BBQ-bits

Next up - get some wood, and start your brine![/quote]

Buying the Little Chief from Sportsmans today. It comes with wood as well. Any suggestions for brines, I feel clueless in that area. It is all Tube Dudes fault!
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[CoyoteSpinner]

You can get some "packaged" brines if you wanna play is "safe". But I like to control my salt more.

Salt, Sweet, and Spice - that's all it takes. Check some of TDs posts - think I linked you to his Catfish PDF before, or maybe that was your bro!
Personally - I don't "measure" so much as "allocate" - part is parts. One part black pepper, 2 parts sugar (I like brown, more complex - and sticky!), 1/2 part salt (I like ocean-Sea Salt). Garlic and or Onion (I like flakes). A pinch of Oregano, and dash of Cayenne. From there - the experimentation begins.
BUT - don't oversoak in a brine - overnight is plenty. I usually mix beer/water for the solution. But - one of TDs recipes doesn't add liquid - the salt draws moisture out of the fish naturally.

One of the keys is the motto "low and slow". Low heat, long time. When smoking - most of the smoke flavor will be absorbed in the early stages, but once the meat is seared - it won't really take on much more smokey flavor. So preheat, and prime your smoker so it's rolling before you add your fish, or other dish. I'll keep it down to 200, and let the good times roll!

I'll bet some of those big cutts and small macks make a purdy tasty treat!

[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

Told you that stopping at Mantua would be a good idea. It was great to hook into some trout/bass rather than watching CvFisher catch fish all day on the big blue. Why is it that the gods of Bear Lake must find a way to break my rod everytime we go up there? Hey at least you FINALLY scratched the Tiger Muskie off your bucket list! Next up.....Albino Trout...then I will have nothing on you.
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[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

Thanks Coyotespinner.....thankfully the almighty TubeDude sent us his PDF files on how to use the smoker. His smoked fish was so good that we bought a little chief today and at the present moment...there are fish in the smoker. Can't wait to taste the 1st batch. CvFisher asked me how I never get tired of fish and I said, "with 15 different ways to cook fish, they are just too good". Now we have 17 different recipes. We may have to write a book one day down the road called "Tyed and True"[].
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[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

[quote CoyoteSpinner]From there - the experimentation begins.
BUT - don't oversoak in a brine - overnight is plenty. I usually mix beer/water for the solution. But - one of TDs recipes doesn't add liquid - the salt draws moisture out of the fish naturally.

One of the keys is the motto "low and slow". Low heat, long time. When smoking - most of the smoke flavor will be absorbed in the early stages, but once the meat is seared - it won't really take on much more smokey flavor. So preheat, and prime your smoker so it's rolling before you add your fish, or other dish. I'll keep it down to 200, and let the good times roll!

I'll bet some of those big cutts and small macks make a purdy tasty treat![/quote]

What kind of beer do you use in your brine? We smoked up the fish yesterday and it came out well....but not perfect. We likely did not use enough seasoning cause we did not want the fish to come out like salt sticks. Do you have any tips for keeping the temps down? Anyways it was great to finally fish your hang out spot....aka Newton Reservoir...I can see how if one ski boat is one the water the place is ruined. Kinda a small reservoir....very beautiful though. If only we coulda caught more fish I bet we woulda been sold on the place. Oh well, there is always next year.
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