Into The Outdoors

For openers this week, a reader recently raised an interesting question. It appears that clusters resembling insect eggs are gathering on his boat and dock. At first, I was totally puzzled, but after some thought and research, I came up with a possible theory. I would not be surprised if these are some sort of mussels, probably zebra. Mussel larvae attach themselves to structures and begin their development. In fact, this is how they often get transplanted from one place to another.

You know, I seldom wax philosophical in the column, but, every now and then, the occasion does indeed present itself. That happened to me recently, when old Bub and I embarked on an early morning trout fishing trip to Buffalo Creek.

You know, I really hate to focus on negative topics in this column, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, and this is one of those times. As wonderful as outdoor activity is, it is disheartening to know that some people abuse the environment in which it takes place.

As I’ve been running along the Allegheny, I’ve noticed a few boats out on the water. As the weather warms,and spring fishing heats up, countless anglers will be putting their boats back into service after a winter of some type of storage. For openers this week, let’s look at a few basic things which can help to make this a smoother, happier process.

The other day, my old buddy Bub and I decided to make some room in our freezers. Between us, we came up with a pile of frozen trout and salmon filets. After frying up a few, we decided to smoke the rest. There are so many brine recipes out there that I’ll leave that to the individual reader. In the short form, mine includes water, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and Old Bay. I’ve seen all kinds of recipes that call for several days of brining, but I’ve found that overnight is plenty. When it comes to wood for smoking fish, I prefer hickory above all others.

With spring now in full swing, at least according to the calendar, the current weather trend would seem to indicate otherwise, but I go to sleep each night confident in the belief that spring is truly here. I thought it might be fun to open things with a little look at some readily available wild edibles. A personal favorite of mine is wild onions, and now is one of the best times to go after them.

As I sit here writing this, there is snow on the ground, more in the forecast and my body is trying to decide if it has a cold or the flu. As I mentioned recently, there was some talk of removal of antler restrictions for senior hunters. Well, forget it. It ain’t gonna happen any time soon. And, just in case you were wondering, those of us here in WMU 2D are faced with the extra onerous restrictions again next year.

What a relief! February, the shortest month of the year, which seems like the longest, is finally over. My age, combined with the brutal winter we had this year, prevented me from doing a lot of the outdoor things I love to do. Now, there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Although we can get some truly ugly weather in March, we at least have the consolation of knowing that it won’t last for very long.