No matter how fine a fisherwoman she is, someone, somewhere is sick of her stuff. But not me!!!!!!

split shot, I'm sorry, friend, but I don't like to mix my pictures of beautiful fish with my foaming at the mouth pictures. I might drop drool all over the part of the picture of the fish.

RJS. BBQ meats need no sauce. I make my own sauce and rarely ever taste anything else I like. One exception: A little sprinkle of the sauce at Luling City Market BBQ in Luling, Texas is as good as it gets from a BBQ joint. Just ask the hundreds of people in line everyday. If you don't like sauce, then by all means, don't use the sauce.

No doubt Texas beef is born tough. A lot of smoke and the right amount of heat, at the right time, makes it tender. Actually, it is just the heat that does the tenderizing. The smoke is for the flavor. Blend that wood!

This all brings me to my trip in 1971 to Alaska to weld on the Alaskan pipeline. I had my youngest brother riding with me and when we got to British Columbia, Canada, we stopped at a Dairy Queen for some food. My brother asked for a Dr. Pepper and three tacos. (Imagine a teenaged girl with a strong British accent) The girl behind the counter stopped, looked at him kinda queer like and asked, "What's a taco?" No one in Western Canada back then had ever heard of tacos or Dr. Pepper.

A day or two later we saw a restaurant advertising authentic Texas BBQ. We had to try it. Shoulder roast baked in an over with Kraft BBQ Sauce slathered all over it. The most beautiful women you could ever want to strain your eyes over. The food, though, had a ways to go. But the sea food--awesome.

RJS, I not Mexican, though I sometimes wish I had been. Don't take this to the bank, but I think Barbacoa is beef CHEEK meat that has been smoked or bar-b-qued. (I hope I am spelling all these words correctly) I used to bar-b-que the cut of beef known as top round or inside round. Any good butcher can fix you up with some. It is leaned than brisket and more tender, too, if not overcooked. It also makes the best beef jerky meat on the cow. These days it is probably about the same price as brisket. If you like the fatty meat on the brisket (deckle) end, you may not like top round. I'm just sayin'.

As for all you one meat, one wood, kind of cookers, do you only use one spice on your meat? Learn to blend those woods just as you would blend your seasonings. You will amaze your guests by simply blending mesquite and nut wood (oak, hickory, pecan) mixed with fruit wood (apple, cherry) even alder wood if you are so lucky. You wouldn't make Bar-b-que sauce with just one ingredient, so why smoke with just one type of wood?

When I was a welder-fitter working in a machine shop we had a saying: If it don't fit get a bigger hammer. I'm sure that saying is used in many trades and can easily be modified to : If it don't work, get a bigger hammer. I'm a firm believer in the fine art of the hammer and I have the smashed and useless parts to prove it

As for the young lady in the bikini, I have nothing to say. Actually, I just can no longer speak. Did they really build 'em like that when we were that age? I don't seem to remember appreciating nature quite that much back in those days. To who ever she belongs to, happy days and happy nights to you.

Getting back to the lady with the curlers in her hair, you lucky devil.

Go ahead and rap on that tilt pump motor. I would make sure I needed a new one. I'd get a bigger hammer.

Sorry I misspelled caviar. I even looked it up and still spelled it wrong. I don't have any caviar, but would be glad to give it away if I did own some. I tried caviar when I was a wee bit younger and at an age where I ate almost anything. I didn't see the point then, either.

I have taken the roe sacks from spotted sea trout, rolled them in cornmeal and fed them to my brother-in-law. He eats anything that makes him seem more worldly. Snails and such.

I'm just not that much of an egg eater. I eat my chicken eggs broken open and fried bullet proof. None of that runny yellow stuff for me.

I've tried it all, even the snails. I no longer have teeth so I eat a lot of peanut butter. Don't miss snails, caviar or buffalo carp fish.

This is fun talking about, though. A great big ol' howdy to all y'all folks.

I'm sorry if you think I misunderstood your post. I was just trying to be silly. No offense intended. I, to, have tried to eat buffalo fish. Actually if it was 50 cents a pound prepared, it was a true bargain. And, deep fried and eaten warm, not left over, carp ain't too terribly bad. I'd say it was like eating some of the better tasting fish slime and bottom dirt I ever tried. Oops, There I go again, trying to be goofy again.

I wouldn't want you to think too badly of me. I'm just tryin' to be funny sometimes while offering a little advice about the few thinks I know a little about. It is hell to be old, fat and lazy, with no one that will talk to face to face.

By the way, I'd rather eat the buffalo than the Cavier. I don't do sushi, either. No wonder no one talks to me.

Thanks for understanding. I hope.

At 50 cents a pound, before someone fileted and cut out all of the red meat, you could afford to feed your whole gun club some good old Beluga Siberian Cavier for about the same cost as the remaining buffalo white meat. You can get that salty snack food for about $4,500 a pound. I not sure which would taste the worst, but cost per pound would be about the same.

And, you can always eat the Cavier on a cracker and save the wood plank for some Alaskan cod.

What a waste of sweet and sour sauce and steam. And don't be eatin' too many of them boards. If they aren't done enough, you may get splinters when you wipe. If you try to smoke them, I have always found that they are pretty hard to keep lit.

I don't usually make firm suggestions, but you can leave them in the sun for a while, then cut them up and use them for bait and hope to catch something you CAN eat.

Have fun catching them. The really big one's are like trying to drag a refrigerator off the bottom.

Below the dam was always a great place to fish. I used to stay away from the "under the cable gang" when it was so crowded you could walk from bank to bank across all the boats. Lost a many a sparkplug weight in those rocks. Hooked a few small gar there but I usually cracked their skulls with an old half of a baseball bat that I kept for such occasions. If you fry the meat and eat it while it is still hot, you could get by on it. Once it gets cold it makes good chum.

One of my sons was fishing the Navasota River about twenty years back and caught 71 inch alligator gar. We were taking pictures in our driveway. I picked up the business end of the fish, stood up and opened his mouth for a picture. Everything went well. When I went to drop the fish, I was standing a little too close and his top teeth snagged the blue jeans I was wearing at about the mid thigh level. Thank goodness for my skinny little chicken legs. Ripped those jeans open in three places that were about six inched long. I no longer lift heavy gar by the mouth. I would send you a picture except that kid grew up, got married and completely kicked me out of his life for a woman he picked up in her daddy's beer joint. He kept the pictures along with about hundred other things I had gladly given him over the years. I guess you can't argue with beer.

I have no way to know if there are still alligators in the south end of Lake Livingston, but in the early 80's there were several gators living on Pine Island, down near the dam. I saw a gator that, at the time, I figured was about eight feet long. It was sunning itself on the sandy beach that may, or may not, still be on the north side of Pine Island. I used to spend most of my time on the lake fishing around Pine Island and never went home completely skunked.

I'm not familiar with Lake Livingstone, but if that is just a mistake in spelling and you are referring to Lake Livingston, in the Texas piney woods area, April is a great time to catch catfish in shallow water around bulkheads and piers or other close in structure. Or, you might get into a school of crappie hanging out near some vertical standing pilings in moderately shallow to deep water. Though I have heard that all schools in Texas are shut down due to the Coronavirus.

If you have access to a creek leading into the lake, white bass are still spawning in those creeks and can be caught on hardware or live bait, and you might drag in a catfish or two. Good luck!

You are right. Sand it, wire brush it or what ever you have on hand that will remove any surface build up. The cleaner a surface is, the better epoxy, or any other type of glue, will work. I hope you can find a store open that sells JB Weld. I think you will be amazed at the holding power.

Auto parts stores and some grocery stores sell "J.B. Weld," a two part epoxy that will keep that crack manageable until you can find someone to weld it back together. It will cost you less than ten bucks and you will have plenty left over for another project.

Aluminum oxidizes as soon as air hits it. Use a wire brush to remove the paint and rough up the aluminum just before you put on the epoxy. Let it sit over night and then you can paint it, or not, until you take it for final repair. J.B. Weld is so strong that if you put your trolling motor in a different place, you may never have to have it welded. (Don't use the 5 minute epoxy for this job.)

If you have a welding supply shop near you, they sell aluminum brazing rods that a butane torch will melt. I'm not sure if that method will hold any better than the epoxy because you will not be fusing the existing boat aluminum with the brazed rod. Just patching, for lack of a better description. No, I do not work for J.B. Weld, but I have used on my own boat.

I have found stock tanks are a great place to try for crawfish. This time of year, while tanks are low in Texas, is a perfect time. I don't use traps, though I'm sure they will work. I use cast nets. Yes, you should know where the brush and sticks are, but if you can throw a cast net for minnows, you can catch crawfish with out the wait or the bait. I take a small kids plastic swimming pool (about $10.00 or less) to empty my net into. I also take my youngest son to throw the net. He is much better than I am. Hope you have access to a stock tank with crawfish and not too much brush. You can also wash and purge your crawfish in the plastic pool. Good luck!