CountryboyinDC

Got out on the South Fork of the Shenandoah over Labor Day. The Front Royal Gauge was down to almost 3' Saturday, after having been blown out Friday and earlier. Still kept the hordes from descending until almost noon. Second time this year catfish crushed my smallmouth baits. Biggest went about 25"; hard to get a good measurement without the bump board, but he definitely wouldn't fit between the gunwales of my kayak which are 22" apart. One destroyed my spinnerbait. Another, maybe 2" or 3" smaller a Keitech. And the biggest (and only) smallmouth would be lucky to be 7". So my story is I was fishing for catfish all along.

I took my son at 6. He rode on the Gravedigger truck with the bench seats. He had a blast, and it's been an enduring memory. The biggest thing for us was the heat. Some kids cried the whole time. Some of us parents wanted to cry with the $20 'multiflavor' snow cones in a collector cup, the lines to everything, and the lack of places to escape the sun. I'm glad that I took my son a little later. There's a very small chance we go back (only slightly greater than me going to see the mouse twice), so I'd want to make sure that he remembered it.

I've seen firsthand cookers taking radically different amounts of time to cook the same thing, especially big cuts of meat. I would really like to try the turkey.(actually I'd like to try the back strap, sausage and chili), sometimes you think you've got something dialed in until you try something new. Is this turkey stuffed? I can remember when it was, and wings were the cheapest part of the chicken. Boy has that changed. I remember when I got the cooker, I went to the McLean Organic Butcher and got a beautiful packer-cut brisket at a price I'm embarrassed I paid. Family was coming for a visit, and I wanted to cook something I knew they didn't eat often. I cooked that sucker into nearly jerky. I had to chop it and make some barbeque sauce up quick so we could have supper (almost everyone had a second helping of green beans, but no one went for more brisket). I had the remote thermometer in the wrong place, but I learned 2 more important things. 1 - don't cook something for the first time for company, and 2 - spending an unholy amount of money on meat you're smoking don't mean it will be any count. My brisket cooking is definitely better, but I only do 1 or 2 a year. Can't agree more - if you have thick rib eyes or NY strips, it is probably worth the time to build a fire in the old kamado.

I gotta ask, how did you smoke a turkey for 20 hours and it wasn't ash? I think I may smoke 12-14 lb bird for 3 hours at 250 (I cook most meats by thermometer temperature, and turkeys to 170 at the thighs). The food looks delicious - I still haven't gotten venison tenderloin or back strap grilled to where we like it better than me searing it in a hot cast iron skillet. Same for roasts - except for a crown roast (which really isn't a roast I guess), none of mine have been terrific.

It looks like the weight between the bullets increased from 250 grains to 285, right? It also looks like they dramatically altered the bullet shape, with the weight centered further to the tail of the bullet. As @desmobob mentions, the best way is to shoot a group and see, but bullet prices mean you don't want to take that too far. If it shoots well, great. If not, there's one aspect other than twist rate that stabilizes bullets. It's definitely not as profound as twist rate, but if you wanted to try to use the new bullet and it seems to be on the verge of stability you could try it. Add velocity, which means adding powder, if that's safe with your muzzle loader (mine is a different make/model that can handle 150 grains). This chart from Berger may give you an indication of what you'd need to add velocity-wise to achieve stability.https://bergerbullets.com/twist-rate-calculator/. Otherwise you may be looking at different bullets, I fear. I personally like sabots from Hornady, but if you have a good thing going, it's always best to keep it going. Good luck.

Most things I leave off the sauce. The only meat that gets sauce is ribs. I add it after ribs have passed the bounce test (if you hold the rack of ribs with tongs at one end of the rack, and 'bounce' it, the meat cracks slightly). I brush on what is a sparing amount compared to many rib joints and others I've tried. Realistically, it is the least I can use, and cover the ribs. When I go get the ribs to bring inside for saucing, I open the vents too and bottom completely on my grill. They might reach 300 or even 350 degrees by the time I take the ribs off my grill, but it's indirect heat (something is between the flame and the meat). I let them cook for 30 minutes at this heat after saucing. Ribs seem to have wide variability on what people want out of them. I don't use a 'crutch' method on these or anything else I smoke. I try to have them so the meat is easily bitten off of the bone, but doesn't fall off (some prefer it to be what I'd call mushy). And some want it drenched in sauce, some prefer just the rub. I usually cook 4 racks and give 3 away and try to do it in a way that sort of splits the difference, except for the consistency. I like just a little chew, and so that's what I shoot for. This past Sunday I overshot that a bit, and was disappointed myself, but a neighbor texted 'Best ever.'

I see a lot of the folks that I meet on the C&O canal with boats I couldn't fit one leg in paddling with one of those.

Exactly what I was going to say, I think. Put something between the fire and what you're cooking and you'll get a bit more even but still indirect heat. I have what amounts to a pizza stone, but it definitely doesn't have to be so heavy, a pie pan can work. Heed the advice of the champion walleye smoker always.

I understand using using edges (even if there are no chines) for direction control; I use them to keep me paddling straight as well, especially in some canoes. I'm not enough of a touring paddler to know whether kayaks of that type have 'spin momentum' to overcome as you do with whitewater boats (many tricks like changing edges with a sweep on the side of the spin direction help), but if they do it feels negligible to me. When I think of blade area and shape, it's more because of more power needed for boofing or something like that - most whitewater paddlers change boats but use the same paddle. I can understand that the goals for covering great distances without the benefit of current mean that it's approached differently. Changing the paddle sounds like a solution, and the ballast of one is important in every discipline I believe. I still don't understand how a rudder could not help, much less be a detriment.

Oh the thigh straps. Can you roll it? I considered adding them to my Coosa HD (pretty sure I'll never roll that) so that I could have enough control to do some peel outs and eddy turns well enough to take it in a few spots I consider cataraft fishing territory. I came to the conclusion that the seat was the greatest impediment to control, and thigh straps wouldn't help that (sure is comfortable though). Thigh straps don't really help you go straight, though. I hear and read exchanges about what they do, and everyone's not in agreement. I've never had them on a boat, K-1 or OC-n, so I can't say personally. I've been a user of bulkhead saddles back to the Perception and my last OC-1 is finding a new home, so I'll probably never have a pedestal which is where you see thigh straps in canoes.

@slonezp, what is a smoke tube and how does that work?

@flyfisher, we'll have to agree to disagree. I think that rudders and skegs have their place on fishing kayaks just as they do on touring or Class III/IV whitewater expeditions kayaks like a friend of mine has. I have seen cases where rudders helped even relatively wind-resistant fishing kayaks like a Wilderness Attack. And if you're paddling straight, rudders can definitely save energy. No matter how textbook your forward (or reverse for that matter) paddlestroke, you'll waste less energy if you're trying to go straight with a rudder. The great thing is when you don't need it, it retracts, and bow and stern draws and sweeps are just as effective at turning the kayak.

Fuel oil tanks seem to be a favorite around me. You and your buddies seem to have a setup wherever you go. @Catt, the offset I had was left here along with a pretty well worn put gas grill when I moved in this house. The gas grill I never even fired up - it looked like it was ready to burn the rest of the way up at any minute. The offset looked relatively new. I probably should have taken the time to tighten it up a bit and put some thermometers where there weren't any. Do you have to keep moving the meat if it's a big piece? When I say 'overbite', I mean that the dome and the lower part of the vessel don't align. I read on some forums that it's pretty common, and over time, they get out of line again, just because the kids weigh so much. This video goes into fixing it, if you ever run into that trouble. I've found exactly the same thing about maintaining the temperature of a kamado as you have through experience, but I use paraffin/cardboard starters rather than paper towels with olive oil. For pork butts, I don't even wait for the cooker to get to 190, I put the butts on when the acrid smoke burns off. I wish I could help you more with the pizza thing, but mine are nothing to write home about.

You and my maternal grandfather. He'd come down from New Jersey and stay with us and I think his favorite thing was burning brush piles.

That's a man that knows how to cook if he can make good barbeque in an offset. I've tried before, and I can't keep the doneness even on both sides of the cooker, so park of the pork shoulder, brisket, or whatever suffers. It could also be the one I used was kind of a piece of junk (probably why it was free). That sounds like a Holland grill that my parents used to have. It was either on or off, no high or low, just basically a 400 degree oven. It make some delicious food - especially chicken thighs. My pizza setup is the rig https://ceramicgrillstore.com/collections/large-big-green-egg-accessories/products/large-adjustable-rig-pair-crossbars-bge with the factory grid on top holding a pretty generic pizza stone. I don't remember who told me to get some space between the fire and the pizza stone, but that seems to be be the trick. So whatever you wanted to use as spacers would probably work. I also kind of sort through the charcoal and put the bigger pieces back in the bag for the low and slow cooks; I think that helps me hit the 600-700 at the dome, even with the pizza stone below the thermometer. I'm not in the market, but I feel a little better about not getting a pellet grill. @Deephaven, you're on a whole other level than I am. I do like what I smoke on the kamado, and I assumed that a Smokey Mountain would be a little harder to keep the temperature consistent, but your words make me feel better about having to 'correct the overbite', etc. on my cooker. I do cook in quantity when I do it - I cooked 4 racks of St. Louis style pork ribs just yesterday and gave 3 of them to friends and neighbors. @TnRiver46, I have probably eaten more delicious food off a water smoker at the hunting cabin than any other cooker, including my own. Somehow that $50 cooker can really turn out some good food. I do have a hard time personally keeping the temperature where I want it. @Tennessee Boy, I've been reading about that Blackstone, and really want to try someone's cooking off one. My brother has an electric smoker, and it definitely has the ease of use going for it. He mainly does pulled pork with his, when he's done he has 1/4 the mess I do to contend with.

I've never seen anything Brooklyn Kayaks made, but I proabably will soon. A guy I've taken out fishing several times went and bought one (against my advice). I would say that if none of the paddle shops are carrying them, there could be a reason, and it's likely not about cutting out the middleman (paddle shops are mostly worthy middlemen imho). The Lure is heavy, and the wheel at the stern may help maneuver some, but it's still heavy. You can look at thermoformed kayaks a la Eddyline and Hurricane, but I don't know that new sit-on-tops are under the $1,500. If you want a reasonable all around boat that's not too heavy and tracks well, the Wilderness Tarpon difficult to beat if standing is not something you're concerned about. The 12 footer paddles well, the 14 a bit better, and the 16 is probably as slick a fishing kayak as you'll find. Keep in mind that as lenght increases, maneuverability suffers and weight increases (although not so quickly as it does with width). Can't agree with this. My paddlestroke is not what I'm sure Dane Jackson's is, but if a rudder was helpful for what I was doing, I would add it. Touring kayaks like a 17' Current Designs model I paddled have one, and to me they track like they're on rails already. If the conditions warrant, a rudder can both keep you from wasting energy on corrective strokes, and keep your kayak from weathervaning.

@VolFan, that's almost exactly what I'd do if I had it to do over

When I wade, I only carry what fits in my PFD. I don't fish from the bank that much. Essentially, I'm carrying some tools (pliers and line cutter) very little terminal tackle and some soft plastics. The difficulty of movement makes you slow down and fish thoroughly and approach stealthily. I rarely find that I chose the wrong bait - the fish are either biting or they aren't.

Definitely don't want (to try) to set the hook. I don't use them personally for this reason with artificial baits, I end up missing fish. For my son, I rig a soft plastic affixed to a circle hook by an Owner CPS hitching post-type thing. In a coue of friends' farm ponds, this ends up working pretty well.

I generally don't carry bananas when I go fishing, more because of others' concern than mine. I do always wear the same thong swimsuit and nothing else when fishing. It doesn't always help me fish, but it does keep the spot stealing to a minimum. In fact, most times, if I come up on a cove where someone's fishing, I don't even get the chance to leave the angler to his/her business. The boat just takes off as if to say, "Buddy, this spot is yours." I definitely recommend trying to find your own good luck garmet.

I know I'm worried about @Catt and the others down that way. Prayers for those I the path of Ida. May she decide to calm down a bit soon.

I finally got around to making myself a grill table for my grill/smoker. It demonstrates my (lack of) fine woodworking skills, but I expect that it will accomplish exactly what I hope to - give me a nice place to work from and store all the stuff that I use that's now in the shop, kitchen, and garage. I know we have some master outdoor chefs on here. Would some of you be willing to share what kind of iron is on your deck? About the grills - why don't you share: 1. What you've got (manufacturer, model, any special attachments). 2. How you primarily use it (smoking, grilling, pizza, tandoori, etc.). 3. The good/the bad. 4. Whether you'd buy again/recommend. For me: 1. I've got a Big Green Egg kamado-style cooker which can grill, smoke (best use imho), or get really hot for pizza, tandoori. I have a rig from Ceramic Grill Store that allows 2 level cooking and a pizza stone to sit between the fire and the food. 2. I mainly smoke - with this thing it takes a while to get your temperature set to start, and it's basically a Weber Kettle, grill-wise. Sometimes I'll get a wild hair and do a pizza, but it's never good enough to make me want to go to the trouble really soon afterward. 3. The good. It makes amazingly good food, and it's hard (not impossible) to mess up big cuts of meat (turkey, pork shoulder, brisket) if you pay attention to what you're doing. Although it is charcoal fired, I can put pork butts on at 2300 and go to bed. The ceramic construction means that there's still fuel and unless the wind starts/stops blowing, I'll have the same 180-200 temperature that I did when I left it. The bad. It's spendy - with the materials for this table included, I probably have $1,800-$2,000 in the setup. It's a pain - you have to get a fire started with lump (not brickets) charcoal, and then hang around to get the temperature dialed. Heaven help you if you overshoot that temperature - it takes hours to cool back down. All of the setup/cleanup keeps me from wanting to cook outdoors several times a week. 4. I wouldn't recommend/buy again. For my purposes I would get a decent gasser, and use that for everyday grilling - chicken thighs, hot dogs, hamburgers, planked salmon, etc. Then I would either make a smoker out of a 55 gallon drum or buy something like a Weber Smokey Mountain. I'd still be money ahead, and the smoker part may not be as good, but I could definitely make do. Alternatively, I could probably also be talked into a Traeger-type pellet grill. Several neighbors have them, and they seem pretty versatile. I don't think they smoke quite as well as the Green Egg, but you control them from your phone, which is so much nicer.

I also have a Predator PDL and it is so heavy with so much load capacity, I doubt the weight of a cooler is going to be an issue. In fact, short of lead shot, you might have trouble finding anything that gives serious issue in terms of overloading the kayak, weight-wise, in the water. Other kayaks could pose an issue, like my latest purchase. A full 3 liter bottle off to one side would make it pretty well unpadleable. If you decide to go the soft cooler route, I got this one for $25 from Walmart (I think the normal price is double that or so). Certainly not the product that Yeti or others make, but it keeps a 6 pack of beer cold enough to want to drink it even after being out all day. If you're adding a rod holder to a cooler, I'd avoid the velcro or Gorilla Tape or non-permanent solution you're shooting for. I would tend to believe that @bulldog1935 knows his business here. After all, who but a perfectionist would use a dial caliper to make sure a fastener going into a plastic cooler is absolutely snug-fitting? I don't have experience with Engel coolers, but another I've seen that has an already installed track rail system is the Orion. Ths way you could truly mount whatever you want rod holder-wise. I've seen that they have a seatback, and folks strap these to fishing SUPs, using this as their seat when they tire of standing. Just another thought. They are spendy.

Beautiful puppy. Those Malinois are really fastidious and resilient. If I reflect on it, working dogs of those 2 breeds probably have saved me and a lot of my buddies from serious injury or worse on more than one occasion. Once he gets a little older, you can probably give up your exercise routine just to keep up with him. I know my brother had to start running and lifting weights after he went from being a patrol officer/dog handler to investigations a couple of years ago.

Oh, so it's a keel guard. OP, I can't imagine finding anything that fits better than that.