'nother camping trip

[jdupre']

I went out for a one-nighter to my go-to place.....Elm Hall WMA area along Lake Verret. I took the necessaries for catching and cooking catfish for a couple of meals.......Dutch Oven, a little cooking oil and bearridge's tasty seasoning mix.

I fished for a couple of hours and caught one keeper. I talked to a couple of fisherman that hadn't caught anything and to one fisherman that had 40 in the ice chest....... and that was before lunch. He had caught them out in the middle of the lake in 7 feet of water. I sure was not going out there in the kayak in 15-20 mph winds.

I ran into this pair of bald eagles on the edge of the lake. The pic in not too good because I had to zoom in on them from a ways off.

I came back, cleaned the fish and cooked it on the overturned lid of the DO layed right on the fire. A good sprinkle of bearridge's seasoning was all it needed.

Someone :roll: forgot to put the spork back in the cook kit from last trip so I had to improvise. This is the aftermath of a great shore lunch.

More later

 

[Kayak Jack]

Re: 'nothe camping trip

Looks like a good trip, Joey. Wise fellow who knows how to eat with chop sticks. Silverware grows wherever he goes (in the eastern 1/3 of the CONUS).
I've been looking for a castiron tree that grows dutch ovens. That will mean I don't have to carry one of the heavy buggars along. Probably, there's one growing in between the lollipop tree and the post hole bush, near the lemonade spring. :wink:

 

[jdupre']

Re: 'nothe camping trip

Jack, piper swears by his chopsticks. He's pretty adept at using them around camp. Me.. I can get the food to my mouth......mostly.

Before I caught the catfish for supper, I had a can of some kind of fancy soup in reserve in case I didn't have any luck. I found a dried stalk of palmetto and carved out a spoon.

Palmetto is some useful stuff for camping in the swamp. Carved a spoon, used the dried leaves for tinder, the dried stalks for kindling and the cut-to-shape fronds for fanning the fire. Good stuff.

Hears a little video of the supper catfish cooking. Listen for the sizzle. Too bad the aroma doesn't come across. I'm finding out the Dutch Oven is a wonderfully useful piece of kit. 8)

Click on Pic.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Re: 'nothe camping trip

SNIIIIIIIFFFFFFffffff Actually, I can smell it!

 

[catfish]

looks like you had a good time. makes me want to take one real soon. don,t looked like they were any scraps for the birds or critters? :lol:

 

[oldsparkey]

If you are having the weather that we are over here in Florida it is custom made for paddling and camping. Clear skies and warm during the day with just the right amount of coolness at night to keep the bugs away.
Ideal for fishing , paddling and camping. It's a shame it was for just one night but one night is better then no nights.

Chuck.

 

[jdupre']

Chuck, the temps were just about perfect for camping. But, there are ALWAYS mosquitoes at Elm Hall. I can't recall a time when there was not at least a few that buzzed me at and after dark, even when it got down to the low 40's at night.

This weekend it was cloudy both days with a good chance for rain. I always say "If you wait until there's no rain, mosquitoes or heat in south La. , you won't be doing much outside.". Normally, I just carry a rain suit, bug spray and something cool to drink and head out.

Most puzzling was the trips piper and I made to Gray's Creek in warm weather. Gray's Creek is about 30 miles from Lake Verret and is similar in that it has cypress swamps surrounding it. We went in the heat of summer and had one or two mosquitoes bother us right at dark and that was pretty much it. Summer camping in Elm Hall is frankly a nightmare with the mosquitoes. The only way to keep them away is to literally spray yourself with bug spray until it drips off of you. Even that will only protect you for little while. Basically, when it starts to get dark, you have to get into your bugproof hammock or tent and wait until morning.

Joey

 

[oldsparkey]

Joey.....

We have discussed this in the past on the forum so I am only going to use this as a reminder....
The Thermacell foks make a mosquito repellent device that works as it is advertised. It really works. I have used mine in several areas and it always produces and gets rid of the mosquitoes.
I used it on the Fisheating creek trip where we had mosquitoes in the thousands. I lit it off and in no time we were sitting around the campfire eating steaks without a single bug bothering us. Step outside the zone of protection and you would get bit.

It is something that I believe every camper in the bug season should have with them.
Take a look..... http://www.thermacell.com/mosquito-repellent

Chuck.

 

[jdupre']

I guess I need to get one, Chuck. I'm not much of a gadget guy.......simpler is better. This is probably something that qualifies as a necessity in the swamp.

 

[oldsparkey]

This is probably something that qualifies as a necessity in the swamp.

If you want to enjoy bug free camping it is , if you like feeding the mosquitoes then it is something you do not want. :roll:

Mine is not as fancy as these new ones but it sure does the trick. I located it at Home Depot along with some extra packs of the fuel cells for it. They come in a separate pack along with the bug repellent patches included for the unit.
I got the basic , plain , Mosquito Repellent Appliance and have been thinking of getting the little lantern as the 2nd one for camping. Set the lantern down on the ground and have an axillary light for around the campsite along with the bug repellent.
The reason for the lantern is so there would be a light showing where it is , the Mosquito Repellent Appliance on the ground is hard to find at night unless you place it on something. I like to put it on a small piece of tinfoil to show where it is.

 

[Kayak Jack]

I went all hoity-toity and got the lantern model. A bit of ambient light whilst I drink my high class Chateau-de-Cardboard wine.

 

[catfish]

joey that gadjet sparky is talking about does work. its the same one i use on hunting trips or any outtings. the little butain cartridges last a long time

 

[jdupre']

Ok, that settlles it. Going get one tomorrow.

I talked to the resident bass fisherman at work today. He was out on the lake yesterday and dang near swamped his boat. I'm glad I got out of there early in the morning. From where I camped to the take out point , I didn't have much choice but to travel with the waves quartering from the rear on the port side. Not a great position to be in with a craft with about 5 inches of freeboard and no spray skirt. For a moment I thought about zig zagging back and forth to get a more favorable angle to waves but that would have put me even further out in the lake.

The waves in Lake Verret tend to be very close together and tacking back and forth would expose the boat to waves coming directly off the beam when switching directions. Not good either.

Two more points to address. Jack, you are right in saying a hard chined boat tends to follow the face of the wave, causing the boat to tip fairly rapidly from wave to wave. I found I could not rest against the back of the seat. I had to sit up and allow the boat to move under me. Still, I had a few axious moments.

Piper and few others gave precautions on anchoring in current and waves. Normally, there's no current to speak of around here. But, this weekend, fishing in 1 foot swells, I could definitely feel some unexpected reactions from the boat as it was anchored. My anchor is about 3 lbs so it doesn't have a death grip on the bottom. Still, it caused some strange and unexpected movements.

Points well taken, guys.

Joey

 

[Kayak Jack]

I'm much more comfortable in a semi-rounded bottom boat in those conditions. I'm even more comfortable if I'm sitting in a warm, dry restaurant, sipping coffee, and watching the lake as it whitecaps.

 

[jdupre']

Good thing I got off the lake early. Later on Sunday, I went across Bayou Lafourche near Donaldsonville and there were whitecaps in the bayou. Now, the bayou is only about 30 yards wide there and protected down between two 8 foot levees.