Venison Chili

Chili.....this one is made with venison but you can also use turkey, chicken, beef, or pork. Pictured are the ingredients, and the amounts of each that I use. These can be adjusted to your taste.

Two pounds of venison....1 medium onion chopped.... 2 cloves of garlic chopped fine...1 small can of tomato paste....1 small can of beef broth....1 can pinto beans. Use 1/2 teaspoon of each of these spices, black pepper, cayenne, and crushed red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of oregano, and cumin. 1 tablespoon of paprika, and 2 tablespoons of chili powder.

Trim as much fat from venison, cut into strips and grind.

The venison should be ground coarse.

In a deep pot heat some olive oil and place meat, spreading it evenly. Leave meat cooking long enough to create a good brown crust before stirring to fully cook meat. Add onion, and tomato paste. Allow to cook and keep stirring, approx. 2 to 4 minutes. Now add beef broth, and paprika, stir well and add the rest of ingredients except beans.

Allow chili to cook on low heat for about an hour, stirring from time to time. If the chili looks dry add some water a little at a time to slightly thin. Your chili should look like this. Now is where I add some roasted red and green peppers, and the beans. Allow to cook another 15 minutes.

Grill some corn bread and enjoy.

Venison chili.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Mussels, Brown Trout

In the course of ones time angling we are bound to cross paths with some strange happenings. These encounters will usually go unrecorded and remain memories in our mind coming forward at times when they are brought up in conversation while angling or over coffee and such. Here are two that I've encountered and was fortunate to have a camera handy to photograph them.

I was nymphing a small stream one day. In a section of slow moving water as the drift came to a stop. The fly set there for a few seconds and as I lifted the rod I could feel weight. Proceeding to retrieve I could tell it was not a fish, but perhaps a piece of sunken wood. As I placed the object on the bank I noticed a fresh water mussel had tried to eat my pheasant tail nymph. Being a strict catch and release guy I tried to remove the fly, only the mussel would not give it up. After wrangling for some time I finally got it out. I put the mussel back in the water and put the bent and tattered nymph in my box. I still have that fly somewhere.

Another time while fishing streamers one early morning I hooked a small brown. As the fish moved to the surface as I retrieved a second brown, somewhat larger than the one hooked on the streamer, hit the smaller one. The brown held the smaller one for some time. As I brought the two to shore, I attempted to shake the larger one free from the little one. He would have no part in letting go, and hung onto that fish. After picking him up, he let go. I looked at the smaller brown, he did not look to be harmed. I set him back into the water where he laid for a few moments and swam off.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Days Not So Far Away

We fished yesterday, and to say the day was bleak was an understatement for sure. The air temp was in the thirties with a good breeze, the skies were cloudy and snow was blowing around. I probably should have stayed home and watched "The Waltons". But the one thing I got from yesterdays outing was the realization that better days are on the horizon.

Those wonderful days of Spring. When the color  green is paramount. Those days when wild brook trout are looking up for their meals. Those days when a "Bomber" drifted brings repeated strikes. Those days when eating a sandwich streamside becomes so enjoyable. These days are not so far away friends.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

March Brown

I was finally able to get a few hours angling time in yesterday. This week has been pretty filled with all sorts of personal trials, and it felt good to just be outdoors. Since most of the streams are closed in Connecticut, for the next month and a half, I selected a Class 1 wild trout stream. These streams are open all year. It's been some time since I've fished here and the winter has been rough on the stream. Blow downs and debris were everywhere, and some pools and runs were completely changed. The water was a bit high and somewhat off color from the snow melt. I did not take a stream temp, but it felt "not bad". I began fishing a caddis dry trying to take my first fish of March on the dry. I'm always an optimist and fished that fly for some time.

While moving along the stream I noticed mixed in between the snow and where melting had taken place this sure sign that we have turned the corner on winter.

As I approached this run I drifted the caddis along the bank. As the fly ended its drift it held tight along the bank. In a second the water erupted and the fly went under. As I lifted the rod I had the feeling of "nothing there". And that was the case. I continued to fish that bank for awhile. I changed flies, trying a streamer with no success. I tied on a Picket Pin and proceeded to work the run and the bank. On what was perhaps the forth drift the fish struck. This time he was on. The little 2wt had all it could do to keep the fish out of the tangles that lie under the bank, eventually winning out. I soon placed my hand into the water and under a handsome wild brown.

As I closed out my time on this day I had several things to thankful for. A sign of Spring, a rise to a dry fly, a wild brown to hand, and the fact that I never got wet. The snow along the banks was like walking on Crisco.

The little tributary, will be fished the next time.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE