Well, it was time for a Total Knee Replacement so I went in on Dec. 3rd and got busy


The food of choice was a plate of Fries and a Diet Coke but they only had Shasta   (NASTY)



Had to stay overnight cause Vitals crashed a bit so I came home on Thursday.





Can only lay around so long so yesterday was time to conquer the stairs



The walker is getting old and cant wait to 86 that thing, in the meantime I Pimped it out with a cup/rod holder 



PT 3 times a week and living on Oxy, oh boy ! I see the Surgeon on the 16th and then hopefully get the green light to drive (no Oxy )   

I keep mix and matching my brine recipes for the trout and salmon and found a good one.  Unfortunately, I never write it down so always forget the amounts I added.

One thing is for certain, the trout and salmon are better when brined for 24 hours over just short brines or just marinading.



Another thing I'm working on is getting it off the smoker at the perfect time.  I realized the color and char was the key to identifying when it's done and not by time or temp.



A little Honey Mustard dressing on a fresh salad and some smoked goodness make for a healthy dinner!

With Homa and I no longer working together, I definitely don't get my fill of Persian foods.  Homa would make some incredible BBQ dishes and something I've never really tried cooking before.

My family is not down with much middle eastern food, but she does like Gyros.  I figured I would buy some ground lamb and make some Kofta Kebabs.

I didn't have all of the appropriate spices, but many of them and tried to mimic what I learned from Homa.

I didn't use a charcoal grill... but it works in a pinch.



While it didn't meet up with Homa's standards, the family loved it.  I think if I had some Naan bread, it might have made it better, but the pita worked.  I also needed some ground sumac which would have really made it better, but ceste' la vie.

I have been eyeballing float tubes or a small kayak for The Sierras. Did The Bad Pig Build Out last month so that would also go well with a Pontoon

I'd like time and opportunities to fish.
Maybe a "fishing day pass" from my wife.

- Keith

Looking forward to some new stories.  It gets lonely on here.... lol

Sounds like a fun day! Wish we would get more runs of big bonito around here. That deep water mako is a trip. You're giving the forum its quota of grinners this year though!

I have a couple shore pounding ideas for this week, so I'll throw you a bone and spin a few yarns here soon.

Our neighbors are getting their roof repaired this week and that is going to seriously impact me getting the boat in or out of the driveway.  Good thing is they don't start until Tuesday, so that left Monday open to hit the water and see what's going on.

Morning was quite brisk, but Beautiful!



There was a little bit of wind and it made it feel 10 degrees colder when I was underway.



I saw nothing out there.  Some birds flying around, but no bait and no signs of feeding fish.  I saw a guy trolling and then stop which made me think the bonito were around.  I made some casts with the sniper, but I was just blind casting.  The side finder, bottom scan and sonar all were blank.

I started trolling a Rapala on some smaller gear and just like that BOOM! These were the bonito I was hoping for!



I hooked into 2 more with one being pretty big but lost them both.  That big one I hooked might have been a mako in hindsight since it was NOTICABLY much-much bigger than the big bone I just caught.

The moon looked cool against the blue sky.



I decided to hook and reel in a bonito halfway into casting distance with my sniper and leave the trolled one out there while I fished.  I was hoping it brough the wolf pack with it and it did!  Sniper fish!



Then of course I get to reel in the trolled fish.  LOL



I lost a few here and there but picked up some legit bonito!



No little guys, but no giant brutes either.  All of the bonito were like 6-10 pounders only based on a guess.  It was weird that I had zero marks on my sonar including side finder.



With my bonito limit had, I ran out to investigate some spots I located on the charts.  One mission was to find these table-top hump numbers that I had on my old unit which I lost when that sonar unit took a dump.  Well, damn, I found them!  The only issue was I couldn't find any big fish on them, only smaller guys.

Starry (Half of the size of the ones from last week)



Barber Pole



Blue Rockfish (I haven't caught one of these in a LONG LONG time)



I decided to move deep and drop around 1000-1200 feet looking for something different....

NADA

Moved to 4 or 5 new spots that looked promising and only caught Bank Perch and San Dabs...

I passed a floating tree in the water....  No way I'm pulling that out of the water.



I decided to run to my deep water rock piles that haven't produced any good reds in a while and see if the tides might have changed things.  I get to my waypoint marked "Big Reds" and deploy the little spinning rod.  What the hell, right?  The day was already a success so let's see what happens...

Well, the reds were back!



It was straight reds and after descending 2, put the little rod out one last time before calling it quits. 



I get a thump on the jig and I can feel it's pretty heavy, but it's not really fighting well.  I thought it was a Lingcod... then maybe thought it was a halibut due to the lack of fight but heavy weight.

I get it to the surface and I see this 4' black fish that then turns alive and rips out 100 yards of line!  I had to turn off spotlock and chase it, but my head was spinning on what I just saw.  I was not thinking Escolar or Black cod, but I have no basis on that except the fish was 4' and black.

Then I get it near the boat and for back to back weeks, end on a deepwater grinner!  WTF?!?!



I decided that I wasn't going to keep this one so I went down with the longnose pliers to retrieve my jig...



He wasn't having it and friggin busted my line as I grabbed the jig.  Oh well, that hook is a carbon steel one and will rust out in no time but it was a sacrifice to the fish gods.

Well, I headed home with some limits and had another beautiful day on the water.  My shoulder is an absolute mess right now, but I can live with it.

Thanks for reading and get some reports up on the forum, damnit!  LOL

I think the only fishing thing on my list is LCFMs. I'm a tough gift getter but an LCFM is always satisfying. Really don't need much else, except perhaps a catamaran from Australia.

I always liked those Lexas! Stainless steel gears on them, compared to brass on the Tranx, so stronger but just a touch more vibration. I never worked on a 500 but I'm sure they're just like the 400s scaled up.