Hot Dogs Day 1 - Bacon Wrapped Hot Dogs

     What do you do when you buy a large amount of hot dogs for a camping trip and that camping trip ends up being canceled? You put those hot dogs in the freezer for an upcoming Memorial Day BBQ & thaw them out a few days before the BBQ. What happens when you prepare too much food for that BBQ and nobody wants the hot dogs? You search the Internet for creative hot dog ideas and then you post those ideas on your blog! Prepare for 3 or 4 days of hot dog posts!!

     I'm sure those of you that spend a lot of time on Pinterest have seen the bacon wrapped hot dog pin. I decided this would be the first hot dog post. You need hot dog buns, bacon, hot dogs, cheese (optional) and tooth picks.

 

Ingredients

      If you don't want the cheese, skip this part. I think Swiss Cheese would have been awesome and probably wouldn't have melted so fast. Cut a slit in the hot dog, pull the hot dog apart a little bit and put the cheese inside.

Stuffing Hot Dogs With Cheese

     Next, Wrap the hot dogs with bacon. I wrapped the hot dogs with 2 pieces of bacon, but I think 1 pieces would have been better and it would have gotten crispier. Use tooth picks to secure the bacon to the hot dog.

 

Bacon Wrapped Around The Hot Dogs

     All of the posts I founds on Pinterest said to grill these, but the wind was so bad the grill wouldn't light so the frying pan worked okay. A grill would definitely work better though.

Starting To Cook

  Because it too took so long to get the bacon crispy, all of the cheese leaked out and burned. One piece of bacon and a grill would help prevent this.

Getting Crispy

     Top with your favorite hot dog condiment.......or eat plain.


Very Yummy!

     I wonder if this would work on a hot dog fork over a fire?

How To Make Night Fishing More Fun

     I have to admit night fishing is not one of my favorite things to do. Part of it is I'm afraid of the dark, well I'm afraid of the mice and other small animals that move around in the dark. Another part of it is because I'm very clumsy. I roll my ankles on flat surfaces with nothing to trip over in the daytime so rocky surfaces in the dark are not fun for me. I prefer night fishing close to the vehicle or from a campsite but I have found with enough lanterns and flashlights, I can night fish almost anywhere. Here are some tips I've come up with to make night fishing easier and more fun:

     The first tip is to get organized before the sun goes down. Make sure you know where all of your lures, hooks, bait and "squishies" are while the sun is up so you aren't looking for them later. It is also good to make sure your flashlights, bug repellent and night time snacks and drinks are easy to find, also.



 

Cori organizing her "squishies"

 

    My next tip is to make sure your rod holders are in the spots you want them to be when the sun goes down and if you are going to throw lures you have an idea where you are going to stand. It is a very good idea to know your surroundings before it gets too dark for you to see them well. Right after the sun goes behind the mountains is my favorite time of the evening and is a great time to get to know your surroundings. I will sit in my chair and enjoy the views and also make sure I know where the big rocks are I will probably trip over at some point in the evening and also watch for the nice calm water for fish activity so I know where to try to cast once the sun is down. The fish may not still be there when the sun goes down, but it's still really fun to watch fish surfacing on nice calm water.

 

 

 

     My next piece of advice is totally optional, but I TOTALLY recommend it. Get a glow-in-the-dark fishing rod!! My husband gave me this rod as a gift a few years ago and it is the rod that I have to keep an eye on at all times while we're night fishing because people are always coming over to look at it once it is dark outside. If I have the rod out in the sun all day, it will glow for most of the night. If the glow goes away then there is a switch to turn on a couple of blue lights that will charge the glow and also look really cool in the dark.

 

     My grandpa was a State Patrolman for a very long time and then became a sheriff so I grew up respecting law enforcement officers very much....until they threaten to "confiscate" my glow rod! We were camping at one of our favorite lakes 2 years ago a sheriff deputy drove up to our campsite and started talking to my husband and brother about the glowing rod. I was in the RV so I came out when I heard them talking about it. When the cop said "I'm pretty sure that is illegal, I'm going to have to confiscate it." I said "NO WAY! You can't take my rod!" And then I realized I just yelled at a police officer. Thankfully the officer was joking and also took my yelling as a joke (after he gave me a stern look) and agreed not to confiscate my rod or arrest me for yelling at a cop. Phew!

 

 

     I am a lot better about night fishing now even though I still get a little nervous. I hate when bats fly around above our heads and mice and lizards scamper around in the rocks behind me, but with my arsenal of flashlights and my glow-in-the-dark fishing rod, I'm more comfortable.

A Frustrating Day, But Also An Inspiring Day

     Sorry for not posting in a long time. Not being able to be outdoors has given me a writers block. Today we were finally able to do some fishing again. I was excited to finally do some fly casting on the water! I was very confident that I was going to do great since I caught on so fast in my back yard. I may have been a little too confident.

 

 

     First, I couldn't get the tippet tied on. I had practiced that knot many times and was really good at it until it was time to use it for real. My first cast was horrible. I had forgotten everything I had learned about casting. I kept cracking the whip, getting stuck in the weeds behind me, I was slapping the water behind me on my back cast, I have no idea how I lost one fly, one fly was destroyed during my horrible casting and I couldn't get my rhythm down.

 

 

     When I was practicing at home I was making sure there wasn't any wind during practice. That was a huge mistake because today, there was wind and I was fighting it. I finally figured out how to deal with the wind, but I was still having issues.

 

     So I sat down in my chair and started enjoying the scenery and rested for a few minutes. At this point my husband informs me he's caught 8 baby bass. I'm sure the look I gave him was not nice at all.

    I baited up my favorite rod and reel with a worm and bobber and after 2 casts, I caught a baby bass, too. Catching this fish on my favorite rod and reel reminded me why I fish. It's relaxing and fun and when I was trying the fly rod, I was working too hard, getting frustrated and not having any fun.  I let my baby bass go back in the water and decided to try the fly rod again.

 

      I was back in my original spot where the wind was messing with me but also where I caught my first baby bass.

 

      I caught another baby bass! My poor fly wasn't looking much like a bug at this point so I'm sure he bit it out of curiosity instead of because it looked yummy.

 

      From my experience today I realized I love my spinning reel and rod and prefer it over my fly rod. The fly rod is fun and once I get better at it, I'm sure it will be fun, too. It may take me a little longer to get to the "I'm Good At It" point but I'm not going to give up on it. I need to remember to go back to my basics like I was doing in my backyard.

     On the drive home I realized another reason why I'm fighting the fly rod! THERE'S NO RED ON IT!!! The rod is green, the line is green and clear and the reel is black! I may have to get some red stickers and change that for the next fishing trip. I also need to work on tying flies because at the rate I'm losing them and destroying them, I'm going to be need a lot of flies. Watch for some fly tying posts coming soon.

Anniversary Trivia Contest!

     I still have a bunch of stickers left and a few paper bead necklaces left! Since tomorrow is our official one year anniversary (the paper anniversary), I want to give a bunch of paper away tomorrow! We're having a trivia contest to give away some paper bead necklaces. Email your address and your entry to girlsintheoutdoors@yahoo.com. Answer as many questions as you can because every entry will receive some stickers. I'll be giving away necklaces to those who can answer the most questions correctly.

 

Here are the trivia questions:

 

1. What is the slang term for a large bass, usually 4 pounds or bigger?

 

2. What is a female Antelope called?

 

3. What species of fish am I holding in this picture?

 

 

4. What does MOA stand for in shooting?

 

5. What is the name of the fishing hook company with a bird in it's name?

 

6. What is the name of the Dam that is behind us? (There is a few posts on this blog that mention that dam.)

 



 

 

7. In offroading, what does OHV stand for?

 

8. Whose bolt action design are most modern bolt action rifles patterned after?

 

9. What does PFD stand for?

 

10. What small breed of digging dog was originally bred for hunting rabbits and other burrowing animals? (But mine prefers ATV rides!)

 

11. What species of fish am I holding in this picture?

 

 

12. What are the grooves cut into a rifle or pistol barrel which cause the bullet to spin called?

 

13. What is a female duck called?

 

14. What is the process of weighing fish and releasing the lighter weight fish and keeping the heaviest fish for tournaments called?

 

15. What were motor homes originally called?

 

16. Deer antlers grow an average of 1 to 2 inches per______________.

 

17. What is the back of the boat called?

 

18. What are the ingredients for the most popular camping dessert?

 

 

19. When two OHVs meet on a hill, on a trail, who has the right-of-way?

 

20. If you saw this on a fly line box, what would it mean?

                                WF - 6 - F

 

EXTRA CREDIT: What town is this restaurant located in?



 

First Time Fly Casting

     I decided to try fly casting today. First thing I noticed right away was stringing the line through the eyes of the rod. It took me several tries to get the line through they eyes because I wasn't used to the slick weighted line falling back down the eyes. I only had to restring the line 3 times before I caught on to what was going on.

 

 

     The reel was the next big difference, mostly the placement. I kept trying to put my hand behind the reel. I also had to get used to guiding the line onto the reel instead of letting the spinning action guide it on for me.

 

      I caught on pretty quick and as you can see "Coach Kaos" was there to help me.  It was a little weird at first getting used to all of the line being out and using my left hand for more than rod balance.

 

      You can kind of see in this picture that the line memory was messing with me quit a bit. My husband helped me stretch out the line to help get rid of the memory which helped a lot.

     I watched my loops and only cracked the whip a couple times. Practice went really well and I learned a lot about how fly line works and how to control it. I don't think I ever hit the target I was aiming for, but I got pretty close.

     I can't wait to go to the pond soon to see how well I do on the water. First, I have to tie a few flies so watch for that post coming soon.

Tuesday Is Our Anniversary!

Our 1 year anniversary is Tuesday! I want to give a way a LARGE amount of stickers!

 

Email (girlsintheoutdoors@yahoo.com) your address and I will send you a sticker......or 2!

My New Adventure

     I have decided to start a new project. I am going to learn how to fly fish. I am both excited and a little nervous. A few weeks ago I asked our Facebook, Twitter and Google+ followers for some advice on getting started. Most of you said not to learn on my own, to hire a guide. I want to do this on my own for several reasons. I get very frustrated when someone is teaching me how to do something and starts pointing out what I'm doing wrong and not explaining in a way I understand. My husband is going to be able to help me a little bit and my boss is a fly fishermen, so I do have some people to go to when I need some help. I also like figuring things out on my own and that feeling I have when I "get it". I taught myself how to sew a couple years ago after many failed attempts of my mom trying to teach me. The feeling I got when my tote bag looked like a tote bag and my curtains did their job, was AWESOME! I have a little more practicing to do and I will never be a professional seamstress, but I feel good about learning it on my own, and successfully doing it.

   Other people suggested YouTube videos and this book:

 

 

      I love this book. It is so easy to understand and to follow. Thank you to everybody that suggested this book!! I've also spent a lot of time on YouTube. I think I'm going to be able to do this and will enjoy it. I decided to include my adventure in learning to fly fish on the blog.
   
      I love watching fly fishermen. I am amazed at how graceful they are while they are casting and how they don't get tangled up in every tree along the river. When we went to the International Sportsmen Expo in Denver, I seem to end up standing and watching the fly fishing demos for a long time, just watching the casting. I've always been too nervous to try fly fishing though. With the help of YouTube, Mr. Dave Whitlock from L.L. Bean and some of our supporters, I think I can do it now.
     I get really frustrated fishing the river. I live along a very popular section of the Arkansas River for trout fishing and dread going to the river. When you drive up the canyon along the river, you see lots of great areas to pull off the highway and start fishing. I hate it! I always get tangled up in trees & rocks, I lose lures and I never catch a fish.....ever. I usually end up putting a fly on my line with a bobber, casting it up river and watching it float down river, reeling it in and repeating the process and watching my husband catching beautiful trout on the exact same setup. I decided this year, I'm going to give the river another try and try fly fishing for the first time. Before I head out to the river, I will be practicing my casting a lot to so I won't get frustrated and hate the river again.
    
    Here we go! Before I purchased any fly fishing equipment I read through the first 2 chapters of the book so I knew what I was looking for and what I needed. Chapter 1 is "Understanding Fly Tackle." I learned about fly line, leaders, tippets, backing, rods, reels and some flies. I was feeling very confident and decided I wanted to get a 6 or 7 weight, 8 1/2 foot two-piece rod with 6 or 7 weight floating weight-forward fly line with a knotless tapered leader. I was confident and ready to go shopping but decided I needed to read one more chapter to make sure I was ready in case a salesman started asking me questions about what I was looking for. I didn't want to sound stupid when I was talking about what gear I wanted.
     Chapter 2 is "Assembling Fly Tackle"........ummmm......WOW!
    

 

       So, Chapter 2 was a little overwhelming. I'm glad I read it first before heading out to buy a rod, reel and all the lines. I went to the sporting goods stores with my original specifications and came home with this instead, a 9 foot 5/6 weight four piece rod. The reason I went with this rod is because.....

 it came with all of this:

 

      The main part was the reel preloaded with 6 weight floating weight forward line, the backing and the leader. The flies (a few of those I bought separately), fly box and DVD were a few extra bonuses. I also bought some tippet that was on clearance to practice tying it on and to practice tying flies on.

     I'm ready to start practicing my casting! Problem is, my practicing area was covered in snow this morning and is now all mud this evening. Luckily I also bought some more fly tying material so I can work on fly tying some more until the snow melts and the mud dries up. There's more snow coming soon so I will probably be posting tippet tying practice and some fly tying next. Be sure to check back soon for the next step in my new adventure.