Fitty's Angling Ramble 7.0

[lhprop1]

That and I think I'm starting to get sick...

I was completely shut down last week. The Sunday before last, I winterized the boat and put it into storage. On my way home, I stopped at Fleet Farm to browse and dream. While I was there, I started feeling really crappy and within 30 minutes, I was done.

I got home, put on sweat pants, a sweatshirt, and covered up in a heavy blanket because I couldn't stop shivering. It was 70 degrees out. The next 16 hours were a combination of shivering and burning up from my 211 degree fever. In the span of 48 hours, I ate less than 500 calories.

It was bad news. The last time I was sick like that was Feb of 2007. I hope that means I'm good to go for another 5 1/2 years.

[Nainoa]

I was completely shut down last week. The Sunday before last, I winterized the boat and put it into storage. On my way home, I stopped at Fleet Farm to browse and dream. While I was there, I started feeling really crappy and within 30 minutes, I was done.

I got home, put on sweat pants, a sweatshirt, and covered up in a heavy blanket because I couldn't stop shivering. It was 70 degrees out. The next 16 hours were a combination of shivering and burning up from my 211 degree fever. In the span of 48 hours, I ate less than 500 calories.

It was bad news. The last time I was sick like that was Feb of 2007. I hope that means I'm good to go for another 5 1/2 years.

When I first started getting the scratchy back of the throat/sinus feeling I was worried it was going to turn into a flu bug. Especially since I had been on the road, running hard and fast and other than when I was asleep I was in close contact with 27-60 people at all times. Half of which were old.

But so far it's been 24 hours and it's just stayed a in the sinus and scratchy throat... And my glands are swollen...

So more than likely it's either basic climate sickness, going from one climate type to another and will pass in a day or so... Or it's a flu bug, but it's one that I've already had before and it takes a day or two for your body to re-replicate enough of the appropriate T-Cells...

I figure in the next 24 hours I should either get better or I'll go straight into the gutter. Which the last thing I need is to get friggin' sick RIGHT BEFORE deer opener!

Especially when it's supposed to be just friggin' miserable on Saturday... high of 37 with snow and sleet.
(Thank God I followed Hairy Teet's advice and put the roof on my stand!)

[Nainoa]

Well 10 hours of sleep and I'm starting to feel better...

I think this is basically just a head cold after going through the change in climate.

I was worried there for a little bit. I mean I can deal with being miserable up in the stand etc... But I didn't want to be coughing and hacking while trying to stay in stealth mode!

[Hartski]

Trying to quit smoking sucks. That is all.

[HairyScandinavian]

Trying to quit smoking sucks. That is all.

No it doesn't, you just think it does! I smoked close to 2 packs/day for 5 years, dropped it like a rock after 2 days on the patch. Get something to chew on, pack of gum or whatever.

[Nainoa]

No it doesn't, you just think it does! I smoked close to 2 packs/day for 5 years, dropped it like a rock after 2 days on the patch. Get something to chew on, pack of gum or whatever.

Yep!


I smoked for 14+ years... Did my first quit on the patch and it completely stuck... Haven't so much as puffed on a cigarette since.

I did after 2 years allow myself to have a cigar once in a blue moon (Usually while Ice Fishing)

For me the only thing that sucked about quitting was that when I quit some of the douchebags that were my friends at the time decided to try and quit with me, even though I never asked them to... And they turned it into some sort of ego thing with this whole "I'm better at quitting than you are!" garbage.


I just went through the process, accepted the challenges and the changes, without obsessing about the uncomfortable aspect of it and came out clean on the other side. To date, I'm the only person of that group that has hasn't gone back to smoking.



A HUGE part of the process is understanding that your thoughts and emotional energy determine your outcome in this life. If you let your emotions go negative, they will just keep getting more negative... If you just think about how much it sucks to quit smoking, then the suckitude will just keep getting worse and worse... Your mind will find a way to turn "This sucks" into "This is suffering."

If you go positive and keep positive you will find ways to embrace the positive aspect more and more... If you think "Hey this is cool, the days I've gone without smoking are starting to pile up!" You'll start to take more and more pride in what you're doing.

Maybe it's realizing that now when you run up to the third floor for parts you're not as winded... Or when you beat one of your triggers take a moment to pat yourself on the back.

For me a big trigger was driving... I worked on it and I found that when I drove if I put my left hand (Smoking hand) on the wheel and put a Menthol lozenge in my mouth it stopped the smoking trigger... When I started doing that and realized that it helped I didn't take the negative approach of thinking "Well at least I found one less bit of suffering!" Instead I told myself "Awesome! I figured out how to beat one trigger, that means I can beat others!"


The process of quitting anything (Smoking, drinking, drugs, barebacking transexual hookers in a bathtub full of used needles, gambling, sex-addiction etc...) Is about you getting more ownership over yourself and the way you live your life, and it's as much chemical as it is personal and mental.

[HairyScandinavian]

For my the big trigger was drinking, I had to completely quit drinking for aboot 6 months too because those two habits went hand in hand and it was damn near impossible to have a beer without a smoke.

[Nainoa]

For my the big trigger was drinking, I had to completely quit drinking for aboot 6 months too because those two habits went hand in hand and it was damn near impossible to have a beer without a smoke.

Yeah drinking was a big trigger for me... Luckily in the first two weeks, which are the roughest, I was in situations where there just wasn't a lot of drinking going on... And then when I would go to a bon fire party or whatever, I would break the urge to have a smoke in one hand and a drink in the other by just always having 2 drinks in my hand.

Then we have the "Incident" where I blacked out and ended up having a threesome with two fat chicks.

I guess I can't say that it was my most effective method of beating a trigger... But I sure wasn't going to do that again!



But in the case of the douchebags who tried to quit with me... It was drinking that was always their downfall in going back... Whether it was the behavioral trigger of just being used to having a smoke when you drink, (Just like smoking and driving) or more often it was them saying "I can have a smoke tonight and just quit again tomorrow... I'm the man!"
Then there would be a half pack left over the next day when they woke up and it would start all over again.

Literally of the 6 douchebags that quit with me, there is only 1 who's friendship is still the same... The other 5 after going through that experience my friendship with them is diminished because of that toxic behavior.

[HairyScandinavian]

Yeah I had a bunch of those as well. I'm not friends with any of my old "good buddies" anymore. The only friend I kept through all those years died in a motorcycle crash aboot 10 years ago.

[Nainoa]

Yeah I had a bunch of those as well. I'm not friends with any of my old "good buddies" anymore. The only friend I kept through all those years died in a motorcycle crash aboot 10 years ago.

I've got a 4 guys who have been friends with me since Kindergarten/2nd grade etc... And a pair of brothers who have been my friends since the end of high school.

I've been through thick and thin with those guys to the point where we know each other's boundaries and accept each other for our strengths and weaknesses. Even if we don't see each other for a long stretch here or there we can always reconnect again and it's like nothing has changed even though our lives have grown in wildly different directions.

There's a certain maturity in that core of guys that makes us all brothers.

Most of the other people from my old life, I'm pretty much happy to be growing apart from them now that I'm 45 minutes away in the country. When I was younger I had a knack for keeping the right ones out and letting the wrong ones in... And I was beyond overdue to leave some of these people behind in my life.

[Nainoa]

So the wind is blowing perfectly out of the East today... Blowing gently from my woods, across the two fields and into the forests and Hills where most of the deer like to hangout. So I went out on my lunch break... And I set 2 Doe Urine scent tags to let it start blowing over there... I figured hopefully they'll move out and away from the neighbor's stand at the tree line and over towards me by tomorrow morning.

I spent an hour policing up all my gear, just so I'm not playing grab ass at before Dawn Tomorrow. I just happened to look up... And there way across the two fields at the edge of the forest was the Monster Buck I named "Sausages" with his nose up sniffing the wind!

I mean he was so far away a Marine Corp sniper would have a tough shot, but that's got to be a good sign!

[HairyScandinavian]

I told you not to set them too early!

Be sure to freshen them up when you head out there in the morning.

[Nainoa]

I told you not to set them too early!

Be sure to freshen them up when you head out there in the morning.

Yeah I'm gambling that I can draw them away from the neighbor's stand with the favorable winds. And draw them over into the two patches of forest by me.

I only put out two, then tomorrow morning I'm going to creep out to the stand and hang 2 fresh ones.

[Hartski]

Better to hang 2out new car scent air fresheners. They'll jump right out in front of you.

[Nainoa]

Better to hang 2out new car scent air fresheners. They'll jump right out in front of you.

Yeah that's my fall back plan... Just park the truck in the yard honking the horn and flashing the lights... Maybe pump the brakes a little... Hopefully the DNR wouldn't bust me for Baiting.

[VikingFit]

Trying to quit smoking sucks. That is all.

Nicotine is incredibly addicting. Many studies show it is harder to quit than heroine. Statistically more people fail - since smoking tobacco was always more socially accepted than Heroine. About 25 percent of people addicted to nicotine are unable to quit - no matter their socio-economic status - we had 2 Ministers of public health - that just could not quit .... As Psychiatrist I suggest nicotine replacements for those who failed. I have been smoking on and off - since I was 19 - today off - but I have an eletronic Cigarette in my coat pockets ... And EGO-T Tank model - The first years those devices were out - I chose the awful tobacco flavors - now I choose - a sweet taste - Irish Cream - and clean fresh apple taste if I want - a shot of Nicotine ... I am not looking back ...I bought a few sets and have some in my home, my office, my coats, fishing and hunting wests ...!!!

For my the big trigger was drinking, I had to completely quit drinking for aboot 6 months too because those two habits went hand in hand and it was damn near impossible to have a beer without a smoke.

In our Pre-med Biochemistry classes it was explained - nothing changes the blood PH levels like alchohol and Nicotine .... Alchohol in > craving for nicotine!

- Good wine and drink - if you can handle moderation - makes life GRAND. Caveat - for some that does not know moderation - it makes life miserable - and they better abstain.

[VikingFit]

Northern pikes aint biting at the local lake ... Getting nothing on my short trips ... considering to switching to the Coastal bays for seatrout - it can be phenomenal! Fishing for the trouts that wait 1, 2 or even 3 years before they run the rivers ...

[HairyScandinavian]

We gonna need pics of that, brotato!

[Nainoa]

Northern pikes aint biting at the local lake ... Getting nothing on my short trips ... considering to switching to the Coastal bays for seatrout - it can be phenomenal! Fishing for the trouts that wait 1, 2 or even 3 years before they run the rivers ...

If I had access to ocean fish, I'd pretty much always choose that over freshwater... At least from a table stand point.

[HairyScandinavian]

If I had access to ocean fish, I'd pretty much always choose that over freshwater... At least from a table stand point.

Indeed. I've got lakes all around me and zero interest in fishing them. Instead I drive 200 miles one way on the weekend to go fish the salt. It's the only reason I'm still in Texas.

[VikingFit]

We gonna need pics of that, brotato!

It does require I catch some :-) - November and into December in mild winters here are cold and grey. But finding the right spot - where the small schoolls of searun brown trout pass - it can be great!

If I had access to ocean fish, I'd pretty much always choose that over freshwater... At least from a table stand point.

I don´t eat Northen pikes - I do however like Walleye and perch - but they are rare in the lakes I fish. The smaller 18-25 Inch searun brown - totally silver from living in the salt - are the best eat. I may smoke some of the bigger ones - but the bigger ones are really not as good for eating as the small ones.

Speaking of eating - Going to cook Deer Tenderloin for tomorrow !!!

[VikingFit]

The Only fishing I know about in Texas is for this fish Hairy :-) some friends of mine caught monsters!!! I found this pic online:

[HairyScandinavian]

Ah yeah, alligator gar. They sure look mean and they get huge. Lots of peeps here bowfish for them.

[Hartski]

Working on Saturday is no fun at all. But 4 or 5 hours on a weekend fills the truck up with gas for 2 weeks.

[Nainoa]

Well I got up for morning hunt...

I got a whole bunch of doe piss on my hands setting up the last two scent tags in the pre-dawn darkness... Which is a great scent to live with BTW,

Climbed up in the stand and there was a friggin' blue jay perched, dead still on one of the branches in my camo.

He sat there cock stiff for 10 minutes, I thought he was dead or something... Like died in the night and froze to death or something... Then suddenly he woke up, saw me and started making alarm cries... Then every bird in the friggin' woods started making alarm cries!

Things finally settled down.

Then all the gun fire began. It pretty much erupted in a crescent area to the south of me... Not a single shot from the North...

Something (I assume to be a deer) sprinted through my woods going South to North against the grain of the trails... I only caught a flicker of brown in between the trees and it was gone.

I waited 10 minutes after I heard the last gun shot and then headed in.

There are a lot more people hunting this area or at least the area to the south than I thought. The guys with their stands near where I saw the big buck "Sausages" yesterday were skunked and actually were one of the first people to stop hunting.

My hope at this point is that all the activity to the south has basically started pushing the deer more towards me and the farmer who gave up early. I figure I'm going to chill in the house for a while (Couldn't fall asleep again when I tried to take a nap) and then I'm going to go for a long sit in the stand around 3-ish.

[VikingFit]

Gun Fire?? It only takes one shot to kill a deer?? Must be annoying Nainoa!

I had Deer Tenderloin for dinner (Thanks to a hunting buddy). Moist and extremely tender meat :

[storm1507]

I bowhunted this morning and saw plenty of does/fawns, but no bucks. No shots at any of the big does either. I hate hunting out of a blind! The old does didn't put up w/ it at all. I did get pics of the big boy at 4 AM. Shooting time @ 7:30 AM.

[storm1507]

That looks great VF.

[GREENFEATHER]

Gun Fire?? It only takes one shot to kill a deer?? Must be annoying Nainoa!

I had Deer Tenderloin for dinner (Thanks to a hunting buddy). Moist and extremely tender meat :

Marinate those backstraps overnight for the best flavour. Low and slow on the side of the grill, I think you have Alder wood over there, that would be the best thing to cook it over.

[VikingFit]

Maybe next time Storm!

Marinate those backstraps overnight for the best flavour. Low and slow on the side of the grill, I think you have Alder wood over there, that would be the best thing to cook it over.

I did marinate it with Canola oil, fresh rosemary and sage, seasalt and pepper - for about 36 hours. And yes we have plenty of Red Alders here so should be possible to get. I have a Weber Grill - do I use Alder wood chips - with the charcoals? It is a little harder to control the temperature when grilling and I have often overcooked some cuttings ... I use a digital thermometer to ensure the core temp does not get too high - to prevent the meat from getting to dry.