By Steve Black

If you haven't tried fried turkey, you've probably at least heard about how moist and flavorful the turkey meat is and how deliciously crispy the skin becomes. At Bass Pro Shop we carry everything you need to make this mouthwatering bird a do-it yourself project.                                                                            

    For this project you'll need a turkey fryer . A propane style over electric is the least expensive but also the most dangerous to use.  A basic propane turkey fryer has a 30 qt. pot with lid, a turkey rack, a lifter hook and the propane burner stand for the pot. Here's a good turkey fryer we sell with all that included for $49.97.

The best place to use a turkey fryer is on a flat surface dirt or grassy area several feet away from decks and houses and never inside a house or garage.

You'll also need around 3.5 to 5 gallons of oil with a high smoke point. Most of the turkeys I fry are around the 12 to 15 lb range and I have usually needed about 4 gallons. You'll have to have enough oil to just barely cover the turkey. Most fryers won't take over a 15 lb turkey very well and the smaller the turkey, the more oil your turkey pot will need to fill it. The scientific term for this is called 'displacement'. The more space your turkey takes up in the pot, the less oil that pot can hold. The type of oil I have always used are the cottonseed and peanut oils, but I have heard of good results coming from corn oil as well.

Both cottonseed and peanut oils are highly regarded for their great frying abilities, but I prefer the cottonseed since it has a slightly cleaner taste.

We also sell the cottonseed oil in a 3 gallon size called our Turkey Gold for $36.99 which makes it a better value than the one gallon jugs of cottonseed and the peanut oil since 3 gallons of our peanut oil would cost you about $45.

Figuring out exactly how much oil you need is a very important step so that you have just enough oil to cover the turkey but no over splash once you place the turkey in the boiling hot oil. A good way to do this is with a gallon size old milk or water container. Do a test with your turkey in the pot to see how many gallons of water it takes to cover the turkey. I usually still keep my turkey in its plastic wrap for this and just make sure I have about 2" of water over the turkey. That way when the turkey goes in the oil without the plastic wrap, I have enough oil to fill the cavity of the turkey and still be just over or at the legs. Don't be concerned if a little of the leg sticks out from the oil. As long as the meat of the legs is covered in oil, they will still cook.

Your going to aim for about 325 degrees frying temp and remember that the temperature will drop once the turkey goes in the oil. So I aim to get the oil to about 335 -340 degrees so when the turkey goes in it drops to the 325 mark. As long as you stay over 300 and under 350 the turkey will cook at 3.5 minutes per pound and taste delicious.

The only rule to how you prepare your turkey for frying is that it is completely dry both inside and outside. Any excess water has the opportunity to react with the hot oil and explode. So check the inside cavity extremely well and make sure no ice or water remain. A lot of times the turkey seems thawed but the inside cavity still has a little ice trapped inside. If so, I run some cold water through the inside of the turkey to melt the ice. Once the turkey looks good and thawed, I dry off the turkey with paper towels both inside and out.

Now to turn this soon to be delicious turkey into a fabulously delicious turkey you can inject it with a turkey marinade. We have dozens of marinades to choose from and can make your turkey as spicy or buttery as you like. My overall favorite is the Cajun Injector Creole Butter Marinade Combo for $6.99. The Creole butter sells for $4.49 for the jar, but the combo comes with the injector and a sample of their Cajun Shake which is a great seasoning to add to any dish.

Now here are your 12 Steps to Turkey Frying:

1) Go to Bass Pro Shop and get a turkey fryer, propane, BBQ lighter,  frying oil and the injectable marinade of your choice. Then on the way home get a 12-15 lb turkey from your local grocery store.

2) Measure exactly how much oil you need ahead of time.

3) Make sure your turkey is completely dry and inject with your choice of marinade.

4) Select flat area away from house to place turkey fryer and also place fire extinguisher nearby

5) Add oil to turkey fryer and ignite burner. Wait to reach temperature of 335 to 340 and never leave the hot oil unattended.

6) Temporarily turn off burner and place turkey on turkey rack and SLOWLY lower turkey into hot oil using lifter hook and thick pot-holder gloves

7) Put lid on fryer while still wearing thick pot-holder style gloves and insert thermometer into pot then re-ignite burner.

8) Have holiday beverage ready as you stand or sit  by the fryer and make sure oil stays at 325 for calculated time of 3.5 minutes per pound. Never leaving the hot oil unattended

9) When time is up, put on pot holder gloves and use lifter hook to raise turkey out of hot oil and place on sturdy cutting tray.

10) Turn off hot oil and wait about 10 minutes before you cut into your turkey.

11) Carve turkey. Once you begin carving, feel free to sample and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

12)  Serve to guests and loved ones and receive praises of your culinary craftsmanship.

St Charles, MO

White River Fly Shop

Large tandem streamers are a specialty of Kelly Gallop, the fly designer and owner of the the Slide Inn which sits on the banks of the Madison River in Montana.  Everything about these patterns says BIG FISH.  These flies have been making there way into  fly boxes of trout and bass streamer fisherman for a while now and you can find some really nice pics of some hogs that have been caught with a quick Google search. These are 8wt fly rod and short leader types of flies. I got a chance to talk to Kelly last fall and he told me that his standard leader rig for these flies is simply 2 feet of 14lb line connected to 3 feet of 10lb. mono or flouro. This shorter leader makes it easy to roll over these meaty patterns and if you need to fish deep just use a sink-tip/full sink fly line.  So stop by your local St.Charles, MO White River Fly Shop and pic up some these patterns like the "Bottoms Up" (top left) and the "S Dungeon" (bottom left) also available in natural, white, black, orange craw, yellow.and cinnamon.

I've spent the last 50 years fishing every creek and puddle I could find in Missouri between Table Rock and Mark Twain Lakes, fishing from everything from a 12' jon boat to pontoons to my friends' big Ranger and Nitro bass boats.  Even the best, most expensive boats I regarded only as tools to help me do what I really wanted to do on the water: fish!

Even this past year and a half since my responsibilities shifted to include managing a Tracker Dealership I only assigned emotional value to the boats in how the sum of their features related to the fishing potential.  All that changed the week of July 4th at Lake of the Ozarks.  Most folks would resent having to take work with them on vacation, but I had to put a 150 Mercury OptiMax Pro XS on a Nitro Z7 through its break-in procedures so we could use it for an upcoming event; so I sucked it up and took one for the team.

Now, as anyone who has ever purchased a new boat knows, during your first few hours of use you have to be pretty careful watching rpm's and not pushing the engine while it's still unseasoned.  Even so, as we got past the no-wake buoy I was shocked at how the Z7 popped up on plane with the throttle barely half-way forward!  I had some great experiences on my buddy's 2002 Nitro, but getting out of the hole was never one of them.  In that boat we would plow water as the seconds ticked by and we leaned as far forward as we could to help the nose finally dip and we would be on our way.  I can tell you it wasn't just hype when our designers called the Z7's hull design "Rapid Planing System!"  I found later that even a livewell full of water and two 225 pound guys didn't keep this baby from popping right out of the hole.

If you've ever been on Lake of the Ozarks over the 4th you'll remember there's a lot of boat traffic and a lot of big wakes.  You'd know I was kidding you if I said the Z7 made the lake feel as smooth as glass, but the foam filled stringer system and the modular construction ties everything together to make this boat as tough as they come without giving up any speed.  After I got 5 or 6 hours on the 150 ProXS I opened her up coming out of the Little Niangua and my passenger's eyes were wide as we cut across the chop and the speedometer rose to meet the 60 mark!

To say I was impressed with these and all the other performance features of the Nitro Z7 is a huge understatement.  There are bigger and faster boats out there, especially at Lake of the Ozarks; but I can honestly say the two days I spent breaking in the Z7 with its 150 Mercury Pro XS OptiMax were the most fun I've ever had on the water... and I didn't even have a fishing rod in the boat!!!

Recently, I was out at a local lake doing some kayaking and camping with my wife and 4 month old puppy. I had left my 4 weight fly rod in the car while we took the pooch out into the lake for a training session in the kayaks. In between trying to train my 4 month old Irish setter-standard poodle mix from tipping my kayak over, I  was also looking for possible holding lies that had fish in them. I honestly didn't see many fish, and after casual conversations with other anglers, it didn't seem that anyone was catching many fish that day.  Nonetheless, we went back to the car after Gibson(my dog) had decided he had enough sitting still in a small boat, I rigged up my rod and headed down the the part of the lake where I've had success before. 

As I made my way down the bank, casting to a number of places that looked as though they should hold fish, I caught only a couple bluegill no larger that 4" in length.  After an hour or so of failing to get a respectable size fish to show to my wife and dog , I began thinking of reasons to explain to my wife why today was not a good day to fish. My thoughts were somewhere around why the position of the sun and the barometric pressure were making the fish not bite, when I saw a respectable sized bluegill take my fly from the waters surface. When I set the hook, I could feel that there was more weight to this fish than compared with the 4" specimens I had fooled earlier. After a short but hardy fight, I located my camera and took a picture as proof of my trophy since my wife had left me a short bit earlier to bring back some snacks and water. 

I cast my line to the same spot and again an aggressive strike. This fish felt as healthy as the last. As I admired the large female and threw her back into the water, I thought "hey I should keep a few for lunch the next day so my wife and I can can have some bluegill sandwiches for lunch tomorrow". So now I had a mission to catch and keep enough fish to take home and I am  mostly a catch and release fisherman, so I had no stringer with me and had to improvise one out of a couple sticks that came to a 'Y' at the end. 

By the time my wife returned, I had 7 pan fish sized bluegill on my makeshift stringer and then caught 6 more that were large enough to take home and at least a couple dozen more that didn't quite make the cut and I threw back.

My only fly I used that day was a black foam spider. It could have used an ant, beetle, cricket, grasshopper fly, etc. that probably would have worked just as well. But my trusty bluegill spider was all I needed and has proven deadly on multiple occasions for me. I like it because it floats so well in the water and has those rubber legs that if you wiggle just right,  can usually fool at least a couple fish into thinking it's real. I usually tie my own and I like to add a little extra color to the tips of the legs with jig paint.

In my 15 years of fly fishing I still enjoy the fight of a bluegill.  Sure you can use an ultralite rod, a small reel and light line  on a spinning or spincast combo to catch bluegill. But a 4wt fly rod bent over double on a robust gluten of a panfish is enough to make even the worst of the world's curmudgeons smile from ear to ear. If you've never used a fly rod, bluegill fishing is the perfect place to start. They don't scare away as easily as trout or bass  and even if your casting technique involves frothing the water in front of you, they tend to come right back seconds later and still act hungry instead of scared. Come into our White River Fly Shop and we'll help you pick up some great bluegill flies to make your next trip a lot more fun. Or even better yet, well help you pick out some tying materials to make your own custom patterns.

Announcing the 2012 Fall Hunting Classic Preview Shoot!!

2012 Hunting Classic Preview Shoot

July 28, 2012   9am-9pm

Busch Wildlife Shooting Range

Preview selected firearms and bows featured in our upcoming

Fall Hunting Classic.

Don’t miss your opportunity to “Test Drive” these firearms, bows, & crossbows!

Whether you are a beginner with no experience or an experienced shooter, you will have an opportunity to shoot selected firearms from compact pistols to magnum caliber rifles, and selected bows and crossbows.

Representatives from several manufacturers/vendors will be available to answer questions.

This event is FREE, limited to the first 300 shooters that sign up.

Pre registration is required!

Registration starts NOW!

Register in person at the St. Charles Gun Counter, by phone at 636-688-2511, or by email @ arsteen@basspro.com NOW until all spots are filled.

There are many wonderful things about summer, but barbeque and ice cream are at the top of my list. I've got more experience with the barbeque and very little with ice cream making, so I am going to show you a delicious barbeque pork steak recipe to try out and afterwards you can head to your favorite ice cream/frozen custard stand and enjoy a frozen treat from the experts. Everything I use from the grill and charcoal to the rubs and the bbq sauce you can find it all at Bass Pro Shop. If you have little experience on the grill, a pork steak is a good piece of meat to bbq. Cooking a pork steak is a easy to cook and can be very forgiving if you were to cook it too long or too fast, it still tastes good.  If you are not from St. Louis, you are probably not familiar with the pork steak.  A pork steak is typically a 1/2 " thick cut from the loin, leg or most commonly the shoulder. If you don't have pork steaks in your area, just have a butcher cut any pork shoulder roast  into 1/2" to 3/4" steaks and your good to go. 

First, I get the pork steaks out of the refrigerator and set them on the counter so that they can warm up while I get the fire going. Next, I head out to the grill and get it hot. You can use either a gas or a charcoal grill, but pork steaks need to be cooked rather slowly and I prefer a two stage charcoal fire for taste and consistency. To build a two-stage fire, I simply spread the coals over only one side of my Weber Kettle grill and leave the other side empty. I like to use a charcoal chimney to get the coals hot before I spread them over onto the one side and then put the grate on top to allow it to get hot. I also threw in a couple hickory chunks on the coals for a little extra smoky flavor.

If you have a gas grill, then turn one side of the grill on low and the other side on medium to medium high depending on how hot your grill will get. Some gas grills don't have a true medium high setting and just go to hot too fast, so a little past medium is best if that is the case on your gas grill. Then, I head back to the steaks inside and I cover them generously with a rub. One of my favorites has become Rufus Teague's meat rub and spicy meat rub. The regular meat rub is great and my usual choice, but the spicy is excellent if you want to add a little kick. You should now wait until your fire is nice and hot and then I like to place the steaks directly over the hot side for a few minutes on each side to start with so that any fat on the outside gets charred and it will then be juicy and flavorful instead of rubbery which is what happens when only kept in indirect heat.

I then alternate from indirect heat for 7 minutes on each side to then a minute on each side on the hot side. Be careful not to char the meat by checking it regularly when on the hot side to make sure its not burning and never have it on the fire side if there are flame-ups. Its best to cook as slow, as your dinner companions will have patience for maximum flavor.

Since this is pork, we are looking for a done temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. I then pull them further away from the flames and put on the barbeque sauce for the final few minutes of cooking. I use the Weber digital meat thermometer now so that I don't have to guess on doneness anymore.

My choice for barbeque sauce this time was a Lynchburg Tennessee whiskey barbeque sauce made with Jack Daniels whiskey. Just spread a nice layer over one side and let it smoke on the grill with the lid on for a few minutes. Then flip the steaks over and cover the other side and let smoke a few minutes more.

Next, they are ready for the plate. Serve with your favorite side dishes. My wife and I choose potato salad and green beans. This is a protein driven meal, so I like to keep the sides simple so that the focus remains on the steaks. I hope you get a chance to swing by your local Bass Pro Shop for some bbq supplies and try this recipe sometime yourself this summer. I'm sure that you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

 Steve Black

St.Charles MO, Bass Pro Shop

By Steve Black

Saint Charles, MO

If your in the market for an upgrade from that old fly reel or just need a good back up, the Hobbs Creek reel is a perfect choice for under $50. Its an all metal reel with a black powder coat to prevent corrosion, an all metal disc drag that operates on a one way nut that can easily be flipped over for left to right hand conversion. You can get the reel in a 3/4, 5/6, or 7/8 weight sizes for just $39.99 and spare spools  at $22.99 each. Or get our new fully loaded Hobbs Creek in a 5 or 6 weight size with 20lb backing and WF(Weight Forward) fly line preloaded for $59.99.  I took the 7/8 weight reel up to the Kenai River in Alaska for big rainbows and sockeye salmon in July of 2006. My plan was to battle as many salmon and trout as this reel would take and then move on to my $300 reels once the Hobbs Creek failed. But for 3 weeks of fishing nearly all day, the reel held up strong and 6 years later I am still using it for local bass fishing. I can easily get 100 yds of 20 lb backing onto the reel with a WF 8 F fly fine and get nice retrieve rates when trying to get in line quickly. You'll be hard pressed to find any other reel under $40 or even $80 for that matter that can do that.  The large arbor feature also helps with lower memory of your fly line so that you don't have small coils that you have to straighten out every time before you fish.

Here is a pic of a Sockeye Salmon from the Alaska trip which was caught out of a tributary of the Kenai River.

The 2012 fly fishing classes have started at the St.Charles, MO Bass Pro Shop. We offer 2 classes, Beginning Fly Tying and Beginning Fly Casting. There are 10 spots available in each class and you can sign up by either coming by the White River Fly Shop or by calling the store at 636 688 2500 and ask to speak to someone in the fly shop. All our outdoor workshop classes are FREE and so they can fill up quickly.

Beginning Fly Tying

This class is held inside the store in our White River Fly Shop and we supply you with everything that you need for the class. You will learn fly tying basics like starting thread on a hook to tying the whip finish. At the end of the class you will have at least 3 flies you will have tied yourself that will certainly make it onto your line on your next fishing trip. Fly tying classes are always on Thursday nights from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. on the dates listed below.

    Feb 16th
    March 22nd
    April 12 & 26
    May 10 & 24
    June 7 & 21
    July 12 & 26
    Aug. 9 & 23
    Sept 6 & 20
    Oct 11 & 25
    Nov 1st

Beginning Fly Casting

This class is held outside in the large grassy area at  Boonslick Park, which is located directly across the store on the other side of Boonslick Rd. There you will get some practice learning the basics of how to form a  "tight loop" and basic false casting. In this class, if you have your own gear, you should bring it. Its best to learn on the rod that you own and will be fishing with in future trips. On the other hand, if you have absolutely no gear and just want to give fly casting a try, we will have plenty of Dogwood Canyon combos available for you to use during the class. This class is for the newbie as well as someone looking to improve their current casting technique. Fly casting is always on Saturday mornings from 9a.m. -11a.m. at the dates listed below.

    March 31st
    April 14th & 28th
    May 12th  & 26th
    June 9th  & 23rd
    July 14 & 28th
    Aug 11 & 25
    Sept 8 & 22
    Oct 13 & 27
    Nov 3rd

Yep! Its that time of the year again... before you know it spring turkey season will upon us. So you like to turkey hunt but you feel that its lost that challenge that you yearn for, has it become too easy, has the expense of ammunition got you thinking twice about going? Perhaps its time you try using a more traditional method! It has become an increasingly popular way of extending ones time in the woods, and giving you more opportunities. That method is archery hunting for turkey! It is a real challenge and can provide for lots of fun and the reward is often great.

Hunting turkey with a bow and arrow brings its own set of challenges and obstacles, but fortunately over the last decade or so there have been several advancements or innovations in the industry that are aimed directly at the turkey hunter. Most notably are turkey specific broadheads, the first and most popular of these is the Gobbler Guillotine by Arrowdynamic Solutions, next is the Bullhead turkey broadhead by Magnus, and last but not least is the newest of the three; released for this year is the new Rage-Turkey expandable by Rage Broadheads.

The Guillotine and the Bullhead are both fixed bladed broadheads that provide for an impressive appearance with their 1 1/4- 2" fixed length cutting blades. These are designed so that you can take a shot and not have to be precise and still have a quick and humane kill. The tag line for the guillotine is "close is good enough". Both the Guillotine and the Bullhead come in 100gr and 125gr variations; however the blade length varies and will be shorter in the 100gr variations, hence i would suggest the 125gr variation as it gives you the greatest reach-literally. The down side to this broadhead design while effective, they have very poor aerodynamic properties and can effect arrow flight negatively, severely limiting their effective range. The guillotine requires 'sheaths' so as to not create lift and disrupt trajectory. Magnus claims their design negates the need for such sheaths and that their side mounted blades do not create lift.

The Rage on the other hand is an expandable broadhead. This design gives you target tip flight, minimal trajectory distortion with maximum effective range, all while still providing a 2 1/4 cut. This is achieved by Rage's proprietary SlipCam design that uses either 2 or 3 blades that fold into the ferrule or body and deploy to the rear on contact. This is a a design that has been proven for many years in their other hunting broadheads. This design however requires you to be more precise in you shot placement as you don't have the leeway that the guillotine and bullhead provide you. However that is a minor disadvantage when you ad up all of the other advantages of the Rage design over the fixed blade designs.

No matter which broadhead you choose, be rest assured that it is a quality product and will do what you need it to do. 

Good Luck and Happy Hunting from all of us here at Bass Pro Shops!

1. Shotgun
2. Call
3. Camouflage
4. Permit
5. Other items that I suggest you take but are not entirely necessary:
   
   • Knife or Knives for cleaning your bird
   • Camera- to capture that great moment
   • Binoculars- its a great help to spot those distant birds
   • Bug Repellent as often it can be damp and humid
   • Rain gear for those days when mother nature just doesn't cooperate

• The diaphragm call produces sound by the user forcing air through either a silicone of latex reed. The diaphragm call will often be referred to as a mouth call.
• The friction call produces sound by rubbing two pieces of material against one another. The most common of the friction calls are the box and slate.

By Steve Black

Did you know that 1 out of every 5 guys that comes in our shop buys a chest pack instead of a fly fishing vest? That's 20% of people on your local waters are now sporting these packs and that number has been growing each year. Lots of people are looking for a way to be more efficient and that's really what the chest pack is about.

 Now some fly fishermen and fly fisherwomen will never let go of their fishing vest filled with 50lb of gear for the chest pack. And I equate that logic to the George Costanza character from Seinfeld who could never throw away a receipt and ended up with a wallet that exploded! While your vest wont explode, it is getting heavy these days and it weighs you down.  So for all those out there that think there must be a better way, here are some of the latest packs in the Bass Pro Shops lineup.

White River Deluxe technical pack $49.99, and the smaller Spring Creek pack at $34.99 are great over the neck style packs with padded neck straps and vented backs so that you won't sweat.

William Joseph Mag Series Chest packs are a very cool new chest pack series that  has zero zippers just magnets. The magnets are lined all the way around the openings for a great closure and water resistant seal. They come in three sizes, the Amp $69, Current $89, and Surge $109. 

The Fishpond Arroyo Chest pack is similar in design to its bigger brother the Waterdance Guide pack, yet the Arroyo offers a lighter and smaller version that now features a waterproof fabric developed by Marmot for use in their rain jackets. It has already been a great seller and a good buy at $69.

While not everyone wants a pack hanging around their neck or even not just in front of them, the larger neck style packs like the White River Deluxe technical pack and many Fishpond packs offer a second, longer, strap to wear as a sling and the William Joseph Mag series packs and are adjustable to wear as a sling so you can slide the pack around behind you and get it out of your way.
Personally I am a fan of the packs like the Fishpond Waterdance Guide pack and the William Joseph Surge Series chest packs are designed to wear around the waist so you can take all the weight off your neck and shoulders and place it in the hips. These are also great to swing around behind you and get out of your way while you fish.

So take a look at some of the more efficient pack options next time your interested in buying a vest . I have been using chest packs now for the last 6 years and have not looked back. And believe me, the packs that companies are coming out with now, are  products of lots of research and development and are a long stride from the packs of years ago.