fishing

THE KNIFE FOR ALL SEASONS

12 December 2019
J. Wayne Fears
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Categories: Fishing, Survival, Uncategorized

For over four decades I have depended upon the Schrade Model 125OT knife for most of my guiding and outdoor writing adventures. My first 125OT was given to me by Henry Baer of the Schrade Walden Cutlery Co. back in the late 60’s with the challenge to try it as my knife while guiding big game hunters. He felt sure I would like it. I gave the USA made folding knife a lot of hard use and it became my knife of choice for much of my career. Made from 1095 high carbon steel, the 4-inch clip point blade held an edge well and was quick and easy to sharpen in the field.

Recently I decided I wanted a high quality all-purpose hunting/fishing/camp fixed blade knife that had a high carbon steel blade design similar to the 125OT. My woods roaming buddy, Medrick Northrop, wanted one also, so we began a search to find a forge that could produce such a knife.

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DOUGH BALLS CATCH MORE THAN CARP

26 July 2016
J. Wayne Fears
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Categories: Tater Knob Tales

August can be a hot, somewhat dull month for a youngster growing up in the country. Most crops are laid by, fishing is slow and soon school will be back in session. It is a time when adventure is scarce.

“Punky” Kelly, Walter “Chipmunk” Green and I were sitting in the shade, under a country road bridge, trying to catch bluegills from a pool of water that resembled lukewarm coffee, Punky, a freckled-faced, red headed, short, round boy, was reading aloud from a tattered outdoor magazine about the excitement of using dough balls and a rod and reel to catch large carp. 

“I saw some big carp over in Mr. Sharp’s gravel pits the last time I was fishing there with my dad,” Chipmunk told us through his toothy grin, the source of his nickname.

“That’s a long bicycle ride from here,” I responded. “But pulling in some of those monsters would sure beat sitting here drowning worms.”

Punky devised a plan. “The recipe for making dough balls is in the article, so let’s go to my mom’s kitchen and make some,” he said.

“She’s helping Dad work on the hay baler at the Perkins’ place, so we’ll have the kitchen to ourselves.” The kitchen was Punky’s favorite room in the house.

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WHERE HAVE ALL THE WOODSMEN GONE?

24 July 2016
J. Wayne Fears
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Categories: Survival

He is as rare and endangered as any critter in North America, perhaps more so. No, I’m not talking about a Black-footed ferret or the Florida panther. I am speaking of the “woodsman”.

I grew up in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, when outdoor magazines were a colorful mix of adventure stories with really useful “how-to” information thrown in to help the reader learn a collection of outdoor skills that was called “woodsmanship”.

Writers such as Charlie Elliott, Fred Bear, John Jobson, Ted Trueblood, Russell Annabel, and Townsend Whelen took us to the most remote corners of North America. These men could use a canoe like an Indian, navigate by the stars, and cook scrumptious meals in a reflector oven. They could sharpen an ax, track game across a bed of rock, butcher a deer, and make a comfortable shelter using only a tarp.

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