A Fly Fisherman’s Award Winning Pork Chop Chili

Our neighborhood has held a chili cook off the past few years. This year’s was last Friday in one of the neighborhood cul-de-sacs. This is the first year I have entered the contest, although I have attended the past 3 or 4 events.

From these chili cook offs, I have taken note what I like in a chili and what others seem to like. The main thing people like is lots of meat; in fact, the more meat the better.  Some like their chili real spicy but a lot of people don’t.

To appeal to the most people therefore, mild is usually best. Cheese is also something everyone seems to love. A little sour cream also helps. Usually cheese and sour cream are provided as toppings, but not always. My family used to live in Cincinnati and we found out that there is a secret ingredient in the famous Cincinnati chili. There are several different brands of Cincinnati flavoring as well; for example, Skyline chili.

This year I set out to create the best chili that would appeal to the most people. Several times during the year I would experiment with a batch, invite family over and seek everyone’s input. Here is what I have come up with so far and what I used last week for the neighborhood cook off.

By the way, this chili took second place out of 12 entries. It missed first place by one point. The winner was a white chicken chili which was quite unique. It had large chunks of chicken and did not have tomatoes or the usual chili sort of spicy flavor. It was good, I have to admit. In fact, I even voted for it.

In a large crock pot, cook 2 or 3 pork chops. You can season these with Chili spice, Johnny’s or whatever you like best. On low temperature setting this takes about 4 hours to cook. After it’s cooked, trim any fat off the pork and cut the pork into small pieces or Shred. Remove the juices from the crock pot and clean the crock pot if necessary. Add the meat back to the crock pot.

Dump the contents of one large can (64 oz) of Cattle Drive Gold Chili, or similar, to the crock pot.

Add one small can (15 oz) of chili without beans, Skyline or similar. Add ½ package of cooked bacon, cut into small pieces. Cook this mixture 2 to 3 hours on low or until boiling, stirring occasionally.

Next add about 4 ounces of cream cheese, 4 ounces of sour cream , a couple of slices each of Swiss and Cheddar cheese. Stir well, especially making sure to stir in the cheeses as they melt. Allow to cook another hour or so, again stirring occasionally.

By now the flavors will be well blended together leaving everyone to wonder about the wonderful flavors. And, what is that secret ingredient?

A Day with Karen at Strawberry Reservoir

Before leaving for Strawberry, I replaced the tip top of Karen’s pink fishing pole. It had broken on her previous trip to Strawberry. Since only two or three inches had broken off, I just glued on a new tip top with Ferrule Cement. This is the same glue used to glue the tips on arrows. You melt a bit onto the tip of the rod and twist the tip top on over the glue, making sure it is aligned properly with the other guides before allowing it to harden.

The next step was to get Karen a fishing license. The internet makes this especially easy. You don’t even need to go to the fly shop. You can go to the site: http://wildlife.utah.gov/dwr/licenses/ and buy a license on line. You then print out a temporary license and the real, waterproof one is mailed to you.

The next step is to pull the ice packs out of the freezer and put them in the cooler along with drinks, lunch and snacks. After loading the truck and hooking up the boat the first stop is …to the candy store. I usually stop by the 7-11 when I take my kids fishing. This time we went to Smith’s. We were bummed out there weren’t any Chick O’ Stix. After getting our other favorite travel goodies we were on the road.

Strawberry Reservoir is 80 miles from Salt Lake. There is a ramp at Renegade Point which is 13 miles past the visitor’s center. This ramp is not nearly as crowed as the Strawberry Bay and is near a couple of good fishing bays and points like Haw’s point where Karen and I fished.

After launching, we crossed the bay and started fishing around the point on the opposite shore making our way toward Haw’s point. Immediately Karen caught a nice Cutthroat, the first fish of the day. Way to go Karen! It was about 16 inches long.

We then continued around the point and I caught a rainbow about the same size as Karen's cutthroat.

We released these and continued fishing, keeping just further than casting distance from the shore.

We saw a few large, black, crawdads and a few fish follow our lures but weren’t able to hook anything else. It was a gorgeous sunny day and a very enjoyable time spent with my daughter.

Safety Items for the Drift Boat

There are a few items you must carry in the boat.

1) The first item of course, is a life jacket. There must be a life jacket for everyone in the boat. They must be easily accessible, meaning not locked up in the bench under the seat. If in a river, life jackets must be worn unless on a designated flat water section like downstream from Red Creek Rapids on the Green River. Children 12 and under must always wear a life Jacket while in a drift boat.

2) A whistle or horn is mandatory if the boat is 16 feet or longer and recommended if under 16 feet. I keep a whistle with a compass on my floating keychain that carries all my boating keys.

3) Fire Extinguishers are not needed on Drift Boats

4) A bailing device. This can be a simple bucket that can also serve as a garbage can.

5) A spare paddle, oar or motor. I carry two spare oars so I can row with them.

Other items I like to bring are

1) Extra rope. This can be useful for a variety of reasons: Tying up the boat at shore or dock, throwing to someone who is drowning or for towing.

2) Sealable Bucket. Utah is a no-dumping state so it is against the law put human waste in water ways or the land nearby. The South Fork of the Snake River requires all floaters to carry a sealable bucket.

3) First Aid Kit

4) Sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, rain jacket, change of clothes.

The Salt Lake County Summer Corporate Games

The Salt Lake County Summer Corporate Games is going on right now. Saturday was the fishing event where we would compete against 20 other teams at Jordanelle Reservoir. The competition is based on the weight of the largest 8 fish caught per team of four fishermen.

The day started out at 3:45 AM. By the time I got dressed, everything loaded into the truck and got the boat hooked up it was 4:40 and time to go pick up Geremy. He was ready to go when I got there and we were on the road by 5:00. At the Jordanelle guard shack we put in our 10 dollar fee and then met up with Milton and Jordan at the check in table by 6:00. After filling out the tournament registration forms, showing our badges and team shirts we got notice we could begin fishing.

We had discussed previously our options. Last year we had the best luck by the dam. We also heard reports that the water across from the marina was good for big browns and that bass fishing was good near the bushes by the Marina. Jordan had heard that the inlet was key for trout. Checking with Fish Tech, they said they had the best luck for both trout and bass at the inlet. I had fished the inlet a couple of times this year previously and had good luck with trout there. Talking with Hal, he had caught 5 bass that week around the weeds near the Marina. All in all it looked like the inlet would be our best bet.

It was time to commence our strategy. We would drive around to the Provo River Arm of Jordanelle by the Rock Cliff area and launch our boats at that ramp, rather than at the Marina. This was a 20 minute drive but was quicker than launching at the marina and having to motor all the way across the reservoir and up the long Provo River Arm.

Jordan and Milton caught the first few fish using shrimp. Geremy and I used lures, hoping to catch some trout. We also tried curly tails and tube jigs on various types of rigs and ended up catching quite a few bass on these. We would find the current from the river and drift along it. When we drifted too far or it got too shallow we would move to were we wanted to fish and drift again. There were a couple of deeper channels that we also would drift along.

This strategy seemed to pay off. Between the four of us, we caught 3 trout and 8 bass. The smallest trout and the two smallest bass we didn’t include in the tally. We combined the 8 fish into a bag and drove back to the marina. By this time there was a line of cars at the guard shack so Milton took off running toward the marina with the bag of fish in case it took us too long to get through the line. Weigh in time was 11:00 AM sharp.

The total weight for the catch of our team was 7 lbs 6 oz. This was 5lbs heavier than the closest competitor. This won the Gold Medal for ARUP Laboratories again.

A Motor For The Drift Boat

I decided on a Minn Kota 55 lbs thrust trolling motor. It has 5 forward speeds and 3 reverse speeds. This was the strongest transom mounted motor that Cabelas had in stock. More powerful ones are made but they require 2 batteries. The battery for this already weighs 62.5 pounds.

The motor came with a battery charger. I notice it takes a full day to recharge after used. The first time I used the motor it ran for three hours at varying speeds including some time not in use and quite a bit of time on the highest speed. The second time it worked for four hours with almost constant use and mostly high speed. I then tried going longer than four hours and ended up having to row back to the dock. This gives me an idea of how long the battery will really last. I need to look for a gauge to indicate the amount of battery power left. The motor has plenty of power for trolling and moving from place to place for fishing but not for going a long distance fast.

This motor has a 36 inch shaft. They are available with a 45 inch shaft so I wondered if a 36 inch would be adequate. I called the Hyde Drift Boat shop and they stated that a 36 inch would be plenty. In fact, the motors they sell come with a 20 inch shaft.

I invited my wife Jennifer to be the first one to try out the new motor. We went to Jordanelle and motored around for a few hours. The motor worked great and Jennifer proved to be a great guide. She would keep the boat casting distance away from the shore while I fished for bass. It was a nice, sunny comfortable day and Jennifer managed to get her knees sunburned. I was using a variety of curly tailed jigs which had worked so well before for the smallmouth.

The water in the reservoir was so high that the beaches were completely covered with water. The top of Trees were sticking out of the water hundreds of yards from shore.

The fishing wasn’t easy. I could see bass follow the jig from time to time but they were reluctant to hit. Going around the last outcropping of rocks before heading back to the dock I managed to hook one, a mid-sized smallmouth - a great way to end a fun day of boating with my wife.

Drift Boat Registration

The rivers are still very high, if not completely flooded like the Weber is right now. So…I decided to put a motor on my drift boat and expand my fishing horizons by doing more Stillwater fishing.

Adding a motor to a boat in Utah requires registration with the DMV. This is not a straight forward proposition so I thought I’d let you know what I’ve learned through this process.

All motorized boats require registration. This is similar to registering a car and uses the same Uniform Age-based fee table. The categories for boats are according to the type of boat, its age and its length. For a drift boat there wasn’t a clear-cut category. There was a category for motor boats less than 15 feet in length, the fee is $10.00. The fee for Boats 15 – 19 feet in length is determined by age: <3 yrs is $150, 3-6 yrs is $110, 6-9 yrs is $80, 9-12 yrs $65 and >12 yrs is $25. There was another category for Canoe, Jon or Utility Boat  with a fee of $10.00 and another category for Collapsible Inflatable Vessel, Pontoon or Sailboat 15 – 19 feet in length also with $10.00 fee. There were other categories for longer boats but these I listed were the ones closest to what a drift boat would be considered. A drift boat doesn’t exactly fit any of these categories. It isn’t a motor boat but is more like a row boat. There isn’t a category for a row boat. The DMV decided that the closest thing was a canoe. I accepted that, being that it belonged to the least expensive fee category. I actually brought in pictures of the boat to help them classify it properly and to make sure I didn’t have to bring the boat in for inspection.

The next question is; does it need to be titled? Boats with motors less than 25 horse power are not titled so it is considered a Non-Titled Watercraft. Boats with less than 75 horse power do not require insurance.

Boats are identified by Hull Identification Numbers. These are 12 letters and numbers located on the rear of the transom and will be included on your registration.

The trailer only needs registration if it weighs more than 750 pounds.

OK, with the age based fee of only $10 I thought it was going to be inexpensive to register the boat. Well, then they added all the different taxes, even though I had purchased the boat four years before: Local Sales Tax, Mass Transit Tax, State Sales Tax, Watercraft Search & Rescue Fee, County Options Sales Tax, Zoo Cultural Tax and Watercraft Registration. I had never heard of so many taxes in my life. By the time I was done it cost around $350 to register the boat.

The first time you register a boat you have to personally go to the DMV. In subsequent years you are sent the registration renewal in the mail. Also, the taxes are a one time event.

Upon registering your boat, you are given your registration decals and are assigned bow numbers. The registration decals consist of your Month of Registration decals and your Yearly registration decals. You are given two of each for each side of the boat. You must purchase two each of the assigned bow numbers or they can be painted on. The numbers must be at least 3 inches high, be a solid contrasting color to your boat and be block letters and numbers. This registration number goes on each side of the front half of the boat. The yearly decals go 3 inches aft of the registration number (toward the rear of the boat) and then the month decals go immediately aft of this.

Bass Fishing at Jordanelle

Kevin and I took his duck boat to Jordanelle last week to do some bass fishing. The rivers are all running so high we thought lake fishing would be our best option. After launching the boat, we motored over to the dam where I caught a bunch of bass last summer for the Corporate Olympics. We started out in the cove on the side of the dam, nothing. The wind was blowing hard and we were hoping this would give us some protection. Then we fished all along the rocky shore. Then we fished another cove on the other side - Still nothing. We were using different kinds of jigs that either worked last year or were recommended by the tackle store. We then started using big spinners but to no avail.

We then went up the arm of the reservoir where the Provo River comes in. Within minutes I hooked something huge. This fish just kept taking out line. I tightened the drag a bit and started gaining on him. I told Kevin to grab the net, but just then it got off. Ooh, it would have been nice to see that fish. This excitement got our spirits up. We also noticed the wind had died down.

We started fishing alongside the muddy water that the river was bringing into the reservoir. For a while we would drift through the current from the river, and then we would tie onto a branch sticking out of the water and cast into the current. Kevin caught two nice cutthroats, one 17 inches and one 18 inches.

I ended up catching a 20 inch brown trout.

Kevin filleted the trout and the next day at work gave me the brown. It was packaged in a thermo seal plastic bag. On one side you could see the nice pink meat, and on the other side the skin. That evening, I cooked it up for dinner. First I made some tartar sauce and placed it in the fridge. Then I dipped the fish in an egg-milk batter, then coated it with Shake N’ Bake. I then placed it in canola oil in the frying pan. I cooked it on medium heat for five or six minutes. Pulling the fish out of the frying pan, I checked the meat and it was flakey and cooked all the way through. This made a wonderful dinner and in fact, provided so much meat that my wife and I were only able to eat half that evening. We had the other half for dinner the next day. This was a good lead in to Mother’s Day.