Netting Mullet from a Canoe

Jonathan shows one of the mullet we captured a few days ago.  This fish actually jumped out of the water to dodge my net and landed on the shore.  Note the jacket, it was very cold.

      I went out to catch a few mullet (Mugil cephalus) with my friend Jonathan Bollhoefer.  Although many of the fish have left to spawn, you can always find a few in some of the brackish tidal creeks of the area.  This is especially true when really cold temperatures concentrate the fish in these creeks.  The creeks may only be a couple of degrees warmer than the bay or sound, but the creeks also tend to have less temperature fluctuations.  Anyway, with the mullet in these creeks, they are pretty easy to catch.  Jonathan paddled the canoe upstream, while I casted my net off the bow of my canoe (No...it didn't flip.  Canoes are perfectly stable watercraft that are capable of quite a lot, if you understand them.)  It was night, but we had the boat rigged with lights, so we could see the fish running up ahead of us.  After a short time we had "herded" a bunch of fish into a shallow pool.  They started jumping everywhere, and I tossed the net.  I quickly captured 3, while two other mullet that tried to leap to safety jumped right into the black needlerush.  We just picked them up and put them in our boat.  We ended the night with 6 mullet.  We also saw a lonely flounder (probably about 16 inches) who apparently forgot to swim out to the gulf to spawn.  We tried to gig it, but I couldn't get the fish in the boat.  Anyway, the flounder escaped but at least we have some mullet to smoke.

Muscadine Mead

Muscadine Pymet bottled in January 2010.  The label was drawn by Thomas Matechik.

      I recently opened a bottle of my 2010 muscadine pymet.  For those of you who don't know, a muscadine is a southern species of wild grape (Vitis rotundifolia) that is sweeter than normal table grapes with a slight "musty" (though not unpleassent) flavor.  There are many different wild varieties and domestic cultivars, including large and small bronze, green, or purple grapes.  I used to find the most prized variety, the wild scuppernong, all over in and around Tallahassee.  It seemed that almost every rural roadside or city fence had muscadines growing on them.  Also for those of you who don't already know, a pymet is a mead with added grapes (or grape juice).  It is sort of a mead and wine hybrid.

Hand-gathered Herbal Tea

Sharing some fresh herbal tea with fellow adventurers, Jon and John.

      Sorry for not posting much the past few days.  I have been busy writing grad school application material and I have also been pretty sick.  Anyway, my fellow adventurer, Jonathan Bollhoefer, arrived in town and wanted to make some tea.  Since I have been sick, I figured it might soothe my sore throat.  He and John went down the street and collected some yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) leaves while I picked out some dried leaves and flowers from my wild herb collection.  The brew tasted pretty good, and it did soothe my throat, but I don't get too caught up in all the healing herb frenzy.  I'm sure the herbs do have medicinal properties, but they were probably overshadowed by all the cough medication I had earlier in the day.  To see how to make the tea for yourself, check out Jonathan's instructions.

Fantastic Mr. Fox...Cider, Banjos and, Biology

     The other night I watched one of my favorite movies, Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, and I was reminded how the movie almost seems to be made specifically for me.   From the ridiculous, fictionalized cider still that Farmer Bean uses to produce his hard cider that tastes like "melted gold," to the improvisational banjo skills of Petey at his fireside jam, this movie has something for everybody interested in Hard Cider (not quite beer but, close enough), Banjos, or Biology.  There is even a scene that pokes fun at Carl Linneaus' system of binomial nomenclature!  Lastly, Mr. Fox's encounter with the wolf, Canis lupus, is a perfect (though somewhat comedic) example of how mysterious and majestic nature can be.  It is a great family movie, that can be enjoyed by all ages.  I highly recommend it to anybody who likes wild animals and banjos (the banjo plays a prominent role in the musical score along with many other rustic instruments).

Mr. Fox: Alright, let's start planning. Who knows shorthand?
[Linda the otter raises her hand]

Mr. Fox: Great! Linda! Lutra lutra - you got some dry paper?
[Linda provides paper] 

Mr. Fox:  Here we go. Mole! Talpa europea! What do you got?
Mole: I can see in the dark. 

Mr. Fox: That's incredible! We can use that!... Rabbit! Oryctolagus cuniculus! 

Rabbit: I'm fast. 

Mr. Fox: You bet you are... Beaver! Castor fiber!
Beaver: I can chew through wood.

Mr Fox: Amazing!...Badger! Meles meles! 

Badger: Demolitions expert. 

Mr. Fox: What? Since when?

      The classic wolf encounter.  I can only hope that when I encounter my first wolf there will be celestial music in the background.

  

Smoking Fish...the Old Way

It all starts with a good hardwood fire!  Once this burns down to coals, the smoking process can begin! (photo by Matt Matechik, used with permission.)

      With all the flounder I gigged this fall, I have had plenty of fish to experiment with.  Today, I smoked some flounder.  In this post, I'll explain how to smoke fish, not in a commercially constructed monstrosity, but in a built up earthen pit.  This is an old way of preparing fish that I find really enjoyable.  When done, the fish are flavored with the perfect balance of salty, sweet, spicy and smoky flavors and, the texture is amazing.  It is pretty simple, even if you don't have any experience smoking or grilling foods.  Typically I smoke mullet, which taste great but, this time I smoked some flounder.  Why?  Because I had flounder and I didn't have mullet.  It still turned out great however, I did find that the extra oily flesh of the mullet reacts better with the smoke and salt than the flounder does. 

Merry Christmas!

      I hope everyone has a great Christmas!   I won't be posting for the next few days because I want to spend some time with my family and I hope everyone else has a chance to do the same.  For the holiday, I recorded this tranquil Christmas song.  This arrangement is also from Mike Iverson's book, A Clawhammer Christmas.  I made a few mistakes but, I think my playing is improving.  I hope everyone enjoys it!

Photos from Middle Earth

 "Not all those who wander are lost" -J.R.R. Tolkein

Looking out at this bend in the Green River, it is very easy to imagine Frodo and the Fellowship paddling down the Anduin.

       For those of you who don't already know, the trailer for The Hobbit, was released.  It looks pretty cool.  So what does this mean in relation to all the outdoor topics I typically post about?  Well, first, The Hobbit, is epic and anything epic deserves some attention on this blog.  More importantly, this blog is partially about outdoor adventures, and I'm sure many outdoorsman, like me, have come across some amazing scenery in nature and thought, "I feel like I'm in Middle Earth."  So, in honor of the The Hobbit, and all great adventures, I have posted some pictures of places, and things, that made me feel like I was in Middle Earth.  Enjoy!

 

Dinosaurs in Terra Nova

      I don't watch much TV but, every so often I'll relax with a little mindless television.  This fall, instead of gravitating towards a comedy show like I normally do, I started watching the cheesy sci-fi, Terra Nova.  I'm not going to lie, I enjoy these shows more than I should but, I'm always amused with the lack of science in "science fiction."  Steven Spielberg actually does a good job animating how the dinosaurs probably moved, but they way they behave is probably not very accurate.  I know it is just a TV show, so I shouldn't care but, the dinosaurs in the show just don't seem to behave like very good predators.  I'm no paleontologist but, I just don't think that risking ones life while chasing a convoy of armored, gun-laden trucks, just to attain a meager amount of calories from a bony Homo sapiens sapiens makes any sense from an energetics perspective.  Of course, then I remember that the whole show is based on the idea of traveling through a wormhole to a prehistoric planet earth (in a separate timeline!), to start  a new future.  Not to mention, the people don't even act logically, they make stupid decisions to move the plot along.  So, why do I watch the show?  Well, all these discrepancies make for some inaccurate but, entertaining scenarios.  I just have to suspend my cynicism for a short time.  Plus, dinosaurs are always exciting!

1,000!

      Thanks to all my readers!  Sometime earlier this week, I reached my one thousandth pageview (by the way, 1,000 is the smallest positive integer with an "A" in its spelling).  I'm glad to see my writing is useful to other people.  I plan on writing a lot more.  To make it easier for you to find what you are looking for I have added some new pages to my blog.  The "Hiking and Paddling Trips" tab will take you to a page that will have links to all my trip reports.   "Other Pages of Interest" will take you to links that you may find useful if you are interested in Beer, Banjos, Boats or, Biology.  In the future, I plan on adding a recipe (beer and food) page too.  If you have any questions, comments, or ideas, I'd love to hear from you.  You can comment below or email me at imakemybeer@gmail.com.  Also, thanks to all of you who shared this with a friend or posted a link somewhere.

Skin-on-Frame Kayaks

Here is the skin-on-frame kayak I built from scratch.  Once you build one, you will be hooked.  I'm planning on making a few more this spring.

      My friend has recently moved into a warehouse (it's cozier than you would think), so he has plenty of workspace.  Better yet, he wants me to teach him how to build kayaks!  We are thinking of making some traditional skin-on-frame kayak.  In this ancient style of construction, a waterproof skin is stretched across a wooden frame and sewn together to create a kayak (or other type of boat).  Whale or other hides were traditionally used for the skin and, the frame was typically made with bone, or driftwood.  More modern interpretations of skin-on-fame kayaks use a range of materials for the "skin" including latex painted canvas, polyurethane coated nylon, or PVC sheets.  It may not be true to tradition but, today, most people don't have access to narwhal skin.  The frames are still usually made of wood, but there are two common styles of frames.  Traditionally, wooden gunwales (the part of the boat where the hull and deck meet) were carved and spread apart with wooden crosspieces.  Wood strips were then steam bent into curved shapes, called ribs, and inserted into the bottom of the gunwales (via mortise and tenon joints) to create the hull shape.  Longitudinal stringers were then lashed to the ribs to complete the hull.  This picture should make it a little more clear.  A less traditional way of constructing the frame is the fuselage style.  In this style, gunwales and longitudinal stringers are attached to plywood cross sections to provide the shape of the hull.  As its name suggests, it is similar to the fuselage construction of airplanes.

Here is my fuselage style kayak frame.  Note the plywood cross sections as opposed to steam-bent ribs.