Mead 01-02-2015

[wolfs4evr]

Started out at 26 degrees at the house but very surprisingly it was 36 at the ramp. Essentially zero wind all day. Water temps at sunrise was 55. Was nice to have the warmer temps at the ramp. Monday it was cooler and the windshield on the boat always fogs over big time going from road temps to below 32 degree, high humidity on the water temps.

Took what I learned Monday on their location and capitalized. We ended up bringing 12 home (more than I really needed for the smoker based on the average size) and turned loose several others. Out of those 12 I only caught 3... The daughter was killing me. I don't get it sometimes. I set the rigs/rods up, bait 'em, get them out there set to the correct depths, etc and hers catches more... WTH. ( I had 3 rods out so one bonus rod between us... She managed to beat me to it every singe time...)

What was realllly surprising was the size of them. WAAAAAY bigger than a standard Mead Striper (at least to me they were). I mean we catch this size here and there but not every catch is this size. I need 14 "normal" Mead Stripers for a batch in the smoker and now I am going to have to do a double batch tomorrow out of these 12. Works for me. Just caught me off guard not paying attention to the size verse quantity in the livewell. Was having fun so kept going. We could of left before 11 with enough. This was the best catch for us ever on Lake Mead (purely based on the size of every catch). We've had plenty of 80-100 fish days before but not this size. They were a serious workout bringing them in from the depths. Several times on my last one I stopped and switched arms and let him run for a arm break... Suppppper fun sized Stripers!

This is a couple of the first ones. I had just landed hers and was taking the hook out and my rod goes. She drops her rod and is gone... Go figure almost an idential sized one was on mine. So a nice double up/back-to-back catch for her.




The catch of the day.





The fillets filled 2 one gallon zip lock bags with zero room to spare.



Going to try something different when smoking them. I have always done the sprinkle everything on the fillets in pans then the fridge overnight. I decided yesterday if we get enough to smoke I am going to go with a brine/slurry (did a bunch of internet searches/reading up on making a brine last night). Never tried it before. Since I had more fish than any container I felt like having to clean up later/geting in trouble over using with the wife I decided to make up my brine mix in the cooler. Sure hope that doesn't trash the cooler. Anyways made up the mix, got it all disolved and placed the fillets in the brine then covered them with ice. With our temps they will be fine in the garage. We shall see.


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[Shogunofthecity]

That-a-boy Wolf! And an extra special That-A-Girl to your daughter! Please tell her I said so. Id be racing for that third rod myself if I was there. Thank you for sharing an incredible report. Very cool Dad to put her on a catch of a lifetime. Hopefully it will only get better from here to. I am very interested in the results of your special brined smoked striper, I have heard nothing but good things about that process. Please post an update if you get a chance!

Man you sure killed those stripers like a Big Bad Wolf today buddy!
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[toadie_79]

Wow, looks like a fantastic day on the lake. Man, I wish was down there right now.
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[striperdude]

Awesome Day Wolf! So did you net shad and try somewhere else or just stayed in the wash and fish deeper. Was hoping to go out Monday if weather is nice. I have not been out in a month and I see the water level has risen nearly 5 feet.
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[wolfs4evr]

I forgot to mention the two Ooooops moments of the day. One a potentially deadly lesson learned.

The first... I've made it to the mid 40s as an avid outdoorsman and it finally happend to me... I was behind the boat hooking up one of the tie down straps and just getting ready to lower the motor to let the water out of it when I get hit in the shoulder. A mushy hit. I swing around with the words at my what did you just toss at me to Madi who was in the boat finishing up putting everything away (the words never actually left my mouth). I see her being busy and it hit me like a brick. The on my face goes flat and I am thinking uggggg. I reach over to my right shoulder and give it a little tug to see the offended area... Yup... Dive bombed. Darn seagal got me. lol

The lesson learned. I parked right next to the fish cleaning station at Hemenway Harbor and as usual I just peeled the sheaths off the 2 fillet knives I am going to use and leave them sitting in the boat. I grab the fish and take the 30 foot walk to the cleaning station. As I am stepping up the curb right there at the cleaning tables I look up to check the tables to see if they are cleaned up from the previous user. Bad timing. I didn't lift my foot high enough and my toe caught the curb. Down I went with 2 9" fillet knives in one hand and a bag of Stripers in the other. Dam near a face plant. I wanted nothing to do with those knives. That hand shot forward and the knives made it part way under the fish cleaning station the other hand went rearward since I didn't want to land on a pile of fish with splines on their backs. Skinned up a knee and part of one wrist but otherwise unscathed.

Could of been a waaaay bad dealio. I think I am going to carry the fillet knives sheathed over to the cleaning station with me for now on.
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[wolfs4evr]

I stayed in the wash all day. Netted the Shad at sunup at the usual spots. Mostly on the small side but they caught fish so all that matters. Got 50+ of them in 30 minutes or so. Other than the two trips this week the last time I was out was early November. It is 5' deeper now verse then. The Shad were easier to catch/locate back in November verse now and the deeper water.

I just fished deeper than usual for me. There just wasn't much in the 20-40 waters that I could find. Tried for a bit but gave up pretty quickly.

All but one was on live Shad. I caught my first vertical jigging Striper on a jigging spoon. Never caught one that way before. Tried it before but always got worn out before I got lucky.
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[wolfs4evr]

Ok, I'll go into what I did for smoking them since I have time on my hands waiting for the second batch. Two part post since the second batch of Stripers just went in and I changed it up a hair. I am up in the air about the prep. Brining them or the old way of salting them down. The second batch will help with that decision.

(The big down side to a brine is the quantity of raw materials needed to create a brine.)

Seasoning wise I used all the same stuff I always do for Smoking fish. Just that this batch was brined verse salted.

I am not complicated. 3 materials.

Morton Tender Quick curing salt. (You can't buy this in Vegas... I have looked and even emailed them asking about vendors. My last batch came to me by a family member coming down from Montana. You can get it off Amazon (I just looked/ordered some since I need more.))
Garlic salt.
Brown sugar.

That is all. Usually applied with a salt shaker like set-up but had to change it all up for a brine.

For the brine.

2 cups of water and one cup of brown sugar. Into the microwave for a minute then stirred to get the brown sugar to dissolve.

One gallon of water into the cooler followed by 1 2/3 cups of Morton Tender Quick curing salt. A good healthy splash of Garlic salt was tossed in also (unmeasured quantity). Then the dissolved brown sugar mix was added in. Stir it up to help the salts dissolve.

Add the Striper fillets with the skin still on (very important) then a nice thick coat of ice on top of all of that. Let it sit overnight.

In the AM take the fillets out and rinse them off (my hands were fricken frozen doing that this morning outside). Set them up on a table and pat dry. Let them sit for 1 - 2 hours (I turned on an electric heater in the shop to help since it was nice and cool out this morning). You want them to develop almost a skin like feel/appearance. They are ready when one touches them and your finger sticks.

Temp wise on the smoker there is a thousand different ways that I have read. I just went with what I have done before and what my dad has done for the last 50+ years of smoking fish. Straight up 175 degrees. No this temp for x hours then this temp for x hours type of deal. Too much of a pain.

Anyways I figured I would start with 3 hours (the smoker was already up to temp when the fillets went in and the 3 hour timer started) and see what happens. I added hickory when the Stripers went in and opened the vent fully. I have a water tray in the smoker and had it filled too. I added more hickory chips at the 2hr point.

At 3 hours I checked the temp on the fattest one and it was 150. I pulled a small slice from the top shelf and fat slice from the bottom and went inside for a taste test between Madi and myself. They were waaaay too moist for me and really didn't have that "just been smoked appearance or flavor". I like a strong hickory flavor on everything I smoke! Also, very surprisingly, they were not overly salty. I was sweating that due to the amount of Morton I had in the brine. So with that I added another hour and another batch of hickory.

Perfect. 4 hour cook time at 175 plus 3 batches of hickory chips used. Still very moist but looks and tastes like something that was smoked. (3 hours would of been fine if they were the normal Mead dinks but these fillets were super thick compared...)

Batch one of 6 Stripers (12 fillets) was 8 1/2 pounds and took up my entire smoker space wise. They were in the brine for 14 hours. The second batch was in the brine for 18 hours.

For the second batch I am going with 4 hours also with hickory added at the start and at 1.5 and 2.5 to spread it out some now that I know the overall time needed for this thickness of Striper fillets plus the amount of hickory flavor that suits my taste. The only thing I am changing up is that I dusted this batch with a brown sugar powder right after I patted the fillets dry. This is what I would normally do smoking fish traditionally (not a brine). I want to see what a little more direct sweetness would do to the flavor.

*** Powdered brown sugar. Lay brown sugar out on aluminum foil to dry out some (30'ish minutes). Once dry put it in a food processor and grind the snot out of the sugar until it is a fine powder/dust. Let the brown sugar settle before opening the lid on the processor otherwise you will coat your entire kitchen in a fine sticky sugary dust...

First batch about ready to go in. Just waiting on the smoker to get to temp.



First batch done (minus the test pieces at the 3 hour point). 4 hours @ 175. Perfect. Madi and myself noticed a huge difference between the 3 hour test pieces and these at 4 hours. These were waaay better. Taste and appearance wise.



Second batch about ready to go in. Just waiting on them to completely "skin" over in the sun.



Cookin'



Tom...
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[wolfs4evr]

Part two. Too hard to make a call right now. Ate too many out of the first batch... lol Didn't even eat dinner tonight and when the oldest daughter found out I had been "sneaking" one here and there out in the garage I got in trouble.

Anywoo... The second batch was brined in the same mix, etc but sat in it longer. 18 hours verse the first batch and 14 hours. Plus it was dusted with the brown sugar powder I mentioned above. Smoking temp/time was as listed above but once the timer stopped the smoker heat element at 4 hours I unplugged it, closed the vent and left them in it for another hour as it cooled down. So a pinch more time in the heat as it cooled down.

Appearance wise they are darker but expected with the sugar on top. They are not as dark as the picture denotes and to me look more "smoked". But... I am betting the first batch would appeal more to the average peep. If one cares about "appearance". Since these are mine and for me I care less. Just noting it.

Though I was totally stuffed, taking a nibble here and there I like the second batch better. Really hard to tell the difference. One has to get a good bite with the area the brown sugar directly contacted. If one eats just the white you wouldn't know the difference. The brown sugar powdering does make a positive difference. Madi ate a small amount of each and really didn't seem to notice much. In the end she said she liked the second batch a pinch better but dunno if she really did based on her own or based on me and just wanting to say one or the other. She ate dinner and a little desert so no better off tummy stuffed wise than me.

With that said... I "think" I like the more traditional way of preparing Stripers for smoking. Coating them with the ingredients one desires, putting them on cookie sheets and into the fridge overnight verse a brine. To me the brine didn't make them salty enough. I say this as I am typing with fat fingers denoting too much salt intake. lol (Brine is easier, less messy, etc since all is tossed into one container and just sits as is verse dealing with cookie sheets, sprinkling on the ingredients, etc.)

I might change my mind tomorrow with a fresh mind and empty stomach... To be seen.

Kinda kicking my tail for not doing both methods for a trial. I only do this a couple times a year so kinda hard to totally remember exactly how it tasted the last time I smoked Stripers, etc to compare.



Tom
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[wolfs4evr]

Been meaning to try this for years and years... Since I had so many smoked fillets this time around I needed something to do with them besides taking them to work for everyone to enjoy. I just found some random recipe online that looked good ingredient wise and went for it.

Anyways super goooooood!









Tom...
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[striperdude]

Hey Tom was hoping to pick your brain a little. My buddy and I went to the wash yesterday (Monday) and we were not able to get there till noon. got some shad and once again no luck in the wash. we fished several spots and different depths. I have gone out six times this winter "shad" season and only caught fish in the wash once and I got 5 in about 30 feet of water. Since then all my luck has come at or near Pyramid Island. Yesterday we got six from 3:00 to 5:30. Do you find that fishing is better in the morning or anytime during the day? We have gone out early but it does not seem any better. We are catching fish but not in large numbers. Care to give some spots you find are productive in the wash area? And are you Carolina rigging them or just split shots above the bait? Any advise would be appreciated....Thanks
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[wolfs4evr]

Traditionally we have only done well in the AM. Usually we eat lunch once it goes down hill. So call it 11'ish. This past Friday we packed up and headed to the marina shorty after 1330 or so still catching them but not like we did earlier. As the sun comes up higher and higher the bite ratio goes down. At least my experience over the last 3 years during the "shad fishing season". I have never been out there overnight, night fishing, later in the day, etc. If I am making the drive and spending the gas $$ I want to be able to make the most of it. To tell you the truth the 3+ years we have owned a boat and been going out there 99.9% of the time the Ranger booth isn't open yet. I never saw a ranger for all of 2014 and never purchased the 2014 stickers for the boat or the truck. These trips during the winter months just for Stripers I have never been on the water past 1500 or so. So no idea about later in the day fishing. Just what we have been doing.

I just find them on the Sonar and go to town. It is all about the sonar for me... For example the ones we caught later in the day (after lunch) I had marked/dropped a couple waypoints way earlier in the day when doing some experimenting deep slow trolling. Just headed back to that area and on them with live Shad.

If I stop and start fishing a spot that is marking well on the sonar but then goes dead I just move at .1-.3mph while my rigs are still down until I mark them again then anchor lock and fish until the screen screams move again.

Area wise. Dunno. All over per se. I keep on the move. If no bites/sonar action move. I couldn't tell you by name any spot we were at. I don't know a single thing out there by name on the entire lake other than the marinas and Pyramid Island since you mentioned it a while back and I looked it up to know where you were talking about. The spot we did best at/first hit there was vehicles on the shore line many hundreds of yards away from us.

Carolina. Matter of fact the same rigs I set up in November are still on every rod. I imagine I should re-do them before we lose one due to damaged/nicked line... 3 feet or so of Seaguar 12lb InvizX Fluorocarbon with a 1/0 Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap hook snelled on the end. I pre-tie those leaders at home since the snell I like is a PITA on the water. Then a 1 ounce inline trolling sinker that has a swivel on the top and bottom then whatever I am using for the mainline. I drop it until it hits bottom then turn the reel handle 2-3 turns to get it the proper distance off the bottom and into the rod holders. If moving ever so slowly I keep track of how deep it was when I dropped lines and move them up/down as needed to keep the bait close to the bottom but certainly not on it.
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[striperdude]

Thanks Tom for the valuable information. Bottom line is I need a fish finder. Had an old "Eagle" years ago and when I would see what appeared to be fish I never caught anything. And then when the screen showed nothing I was catching fish. That was 20 years ago and certainly the technology must be a lot better. Thanks again
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[wolfs4evr]

Makes a HUGE difference fishing for Stripers. Knowing they are there and not biting or not there at all verse just sitting there all day fishing wondering.

I couldn't even fathom putting my boat in the water and moving around without the one on the dash with a Navionics chip in it. That lake is dam scary. Especially with the waters going down over the last year and some.

One only needs a basic 2D sonar to get the job done. DI and SI have their place but not necessarily needed chasing Stripers IMO. If one was going to step it up a hair 2D and DI would be the next jump. Anchored in a spot fishing 2D. Trolling and moving I always have both 2D and DI split on the screen.
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[wolfs4evr]

The old saying 90% of the fish live in 10% of the water holds sooooo true on Lake Mead and actually I think it is even way worse than that. So much water and so few places fish are found. A fish finder of somesorts is almost more valuable than owning a rod IMO...

I haven't been looking into the current technology too much since I can't afford anything new and what I have works perfectly.

Just a "quick" glance at Bass Pro and this one pops to me as getting as much as one can get without breaking any bank.

2D Sonar only. (Bogus picture of it on BPS and Humminbirds website... Both places show a view with Lat/Long and speed. This unit is not GPS capable...)

[url "http://www.basspro.com/Humminbird-Helix-5-Fishfinder-and-Sonar/product/1408100812178/"]http://www.basspro.com/...oduct/1408100812178/[/url]

No maps, memory cards, etc. Plane jane for sure. Would let one know if something is down there or not. Personally I couldn't imagine spending the $$ for one w/o GPS and mapping but if one was on a tight budget this would do it. A slight upgrade from that one and one could get a unit with GPS/mapping. At least with GPS you can drop waypoints, etc. Every single fish Madi and I have caught since I bought this boat 3+ years ago is marked/saved in my dash unit.

A few bucks more and add in Down Imaging. (Bogus picture of it on BPS and Humminbirds website... Both places show a view with Lat/Long and speed. This unit is not GPS capable...)

[url "http://www.basspro.com/Humminbird-Helix-5-DI-Fishfinder/product/1409251011/"]http://www.basspro.com/.../product/1409251011/[/url]

If one was willing to spend more for mapping then I'd jump to this one with 2D/DI and chartplotting.

[url "http://www.basspro.com/Hummingbird-Helix-5-DI-Fishfinder/Chartplotter/product/1409251013/"]http://www.basspro.com/.../product/1409251013/[/url]

Again I have no hands on with these, didn't look at reviews, etc. Just looking at descriptions.

I have the Humminbird 898 (called a 899 now) on the dash and a Humminbird 798 (called a 698 now) up front. Both have GPS, Down Imagining, Side Imaging, Switchfire 2D sonar, dual SD card slots, etc also both are linked together so I can see the waypoints stored on the dash unit up front, etc. Plus I can use the rear transducer on the front unit or the front transducer on the trolling motor on the dash unit. Very versatile configuration to me being ethernet connected together. The front is a 5" screen and that is dam small at any distance to look at. Works but it sure would be nice to have something bigger.

I don't know much about Lowrance. There isn't anything from them under $399 worth looking at that I can tell. My brother in law in California has the Elite 7 and loves it. About all I know about them.
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[wolfs4evr]

I was just going back looking at some old posts of mine. Here is a picture off my front 798 unit. It wasn't even set-up all that great...

This type of scenerio is always a ball when one runs into it. A HUGE school of Stripers in a frenzy. Every cast was a fish. Ran into them accidently in a cove up in the Overton Arm while chasing the LMB and SMB. I was just casting whatever was on the rods and wasn't even "set-up" for Stripers.

Back in late August 2014.



A shot of the B29 back in April 2014. This wasn't the best picture I have snapped of it before. I just buzzed by for a look and moved on.



I just found this one from January 2014. Gizzard Shad for sure. This is why a unit with 2D and DI are nice. The 2D shows a mess and if one is experienced they might know what they are looking at. The DI clears that mess up a ton more and you know for sure what you are looking at. This is off the Humminbird 898 I have mounted on the console.


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[lvfishingdude]

huminbird all the way.... tried a few different lowrance finders/gps and the huminbird is by far the best.
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