Camping Uncovered

Getting back to nature can be a fun way to experience life. But finding out at 4 am that your tent can’t stand up to the elements is a lesson learned the hard way.

Camping in the wilderness requires the use of a good tent. There is nothing worse than deciding to “rough it”, only to find you’re exposed to rain and wind.

Camping tents can be as easy as a two-person pop up model, or an elaborate three-room family affair. What’s important is having a dependable tent that’ll save you from undue aggravation or danger.

There are lots of things to look for in finding the perfect tent to fit your needs. Think about the shape of the tent, along with the weight, types of poles and setup time. If camping alone, be sure to choose a model that’s simple to assemble. If you’re not sure, ask an associate at a sporting goods store or outdoor outfitters.

Finally, be sure that the tent will fit in your automobile, while leaving room for all of your other gear.

Size it Up

Size most definitely matters when it comes to choosing a tent. Make sure that there’s enough room for you, and your fellow campers. Everyone needs to have space to stretch out and to move around. You might be using air mattresses, so keep that in mind when judging the depth. The tent must be high enough to stand up, or at least sit up. Manufacturers tend to overestimate the number of people that can sleep comfortably in a tent. So, while it is possible to cram four fully-grown adults into a four-person tent, you’ll all sleep superior in a six-person model. Similarly, a two-person tent might be able to hold two people, but they’re clothes and food will have to wait outside.

Weigh Your Options

If you’re headed to a remote location and will be hiking or portaging to camp, you simply can’t take along a heavy tent. A large canvas tent has no business going along on a ten-mile hike. You’ll also be bringing all of your clothes, gear and food, so the last thing you need is to be weighed down even more by your tent. There are several lightweight models available that provide comfort and security. If, on the other hand, you’ll be driving to your campsite in a car that can handle plenty of cargo, then go ahead and pack a huge tent.

Material

Most of today’s modern tents are manufactured with lightweight nylon or taffeta. These are strong, durable materials that can stand up to all types of weather. Be sure that the tent you select is certified waterproof. You might pay a little extra, but it will be worth every penny when the storm clouds begin brewing.

Assembly Required

Ask to see the assembly instructions before you purchase the tent. Then, try assembling the tent at home before you leave on your camping trip. The tent you choose should be simple to assemble with few or new tools required. You’ll have a lot to do when you reach camp, and you don’t want to spend a lot of time fighting with a difficult tent. Camping is about resting and becoming one with nature, not stressing and struggling with a tent.

For many, camping is an activity that’s meant to be fun. However, you mustn’t lose sight of the fact that choosing a tent is serious business. Your tent must be comfortable and easy to use, while offering protection from inclement weather and curious wildlife.

The colors in the Upper Peninsula in the fall will be well worth the trip to see. There are nine different areas that are suggested. The first is a trip of 105 miles from Hancock to Lake Linden, on to Lac La Belle, Bete Grise and then to Copper Harbor. Leave Copper Harbor and go to Eagle River and on to Calument and Laurium and back to Hancock. The route covers Mackinac County with the peak color expected in mid-October, Chippewa County with the peak color expected the first two weeks of October, Luce County with peak color expected the first two weeks of October and Schoolcraft County with the peak color also being the first two weeks in October. This is called the Eastern Upper Peninsula tour.

Visitng the Central Upper Peninsula your tour would go from highway 107 to 64 where you begin at Silver City and on to Ontonagon. Now go to Highway 45 to Rockland and Victoria. Now you will have to backtrack a bit to highway 26 and on to Greenland. At Greenland you take highway 38 to Baraga and then hwy 41 to Chassel and Houghton. Now you take hwy 26 to Twin Lakes and back to Greenland. This tour will be approximately 200 miles. The season for you to see the peak colors of fall begins the first week of October and runs for about three weeks.

Now you can take the third tour which takes you on hwy 2 from Ironwood and Wakefield to Watersmeet, Iron River and Crystal Calls on the Western Upper Peninsula. Then take hwy 141 to Covington and then to highway 28 to Bruce Crossing and back to the beginning at Wakefield. Peak season for seeing this colorful route is the last week in September and the first week in October.

The 4th tour starts in Ishpeming on highway 29 and goes to highway 510 to Nagaunee and Huge Bay, take highway 550 to Marquette and then 29 to Munising, on to highway H 58 to H 15 for a drive to Singleton and then highway 28 to highway 94 to Chatham, Gwinn and then on 35 to Palmer and back to Ishpeming. All toll this route is 165 miles long.

Tour 5 is a little shorter beginning at Iron Mountain and Norway on Hwy 2 to Spalding, hwy 41 to Menominee and Hwy 35 to Cedar River and Escanaba. This is 125 miles long.

Now on to tour 6 which is from Esdanaba on highways 2 and 41 to Rapid River. Turn onto highway 2 and go to Manstique and Saint Ignace. Even though this tour is 183 miles it runs quite straight along the bottom area of the peninsula.

Tour 7 is form Whitefish Point to Paradise on hwy 123 then to Newberry and hwy 28 to Seney where you take 77 to Grand Marais and H58 to Deer Park and back to hwy 123 and Paradise. This is 150 miles long.

If you thought you had taken all the tours of this area you are wrong, there are two more stunning experiences for you to enjoy. Tour 8 starts at Saint Ingace on hwy 75 and toes to Kincheloe and Sault St. Marie. Now head south to highway 129 and Pickford to highway 48 for a visit to Goetzville and De Tour Village where you’ll get on 134 to Cedarville and then back to Saint Ignace. Another trip of 150 miles.

The ninth tour opportunity is off hwy 28 where you go to highway 123 and enter Eckerman. Following 123 north you will go to Paradise and then back to the intersection where you turn east toward Curley Lewis Scenic Hwy and follow that to Bay Mills and Brimley. This is the shortest route suggested for the fall viewing of just 90 miles.

Camping is one of the best ways to relieve stress and clear your head. That’s why it’s so important to purchase a tent that’s easy to use and provide worry-free protection.

Without doubt a good quality, dependable tent is the first stipulation of wilderness camping. After all, “roughing it” doesn’t necessarily mean going face to face with the elements when you’re far away fro home.

Tents come in a variety of shapes and sizes. There are compact, easy-to-carry two-person tents that assemble in moments, and there are huge family-size models with separate bedrooms and even lighting. What matter most is that the tent you choose is durable enough to keep you safe in the outdoors and sheltered in all types of weather.

There are many things to look for in finding the perfect tent to fit your needs. Consider the shape of the tent, along with the weight, types of poles and setup time. If camping alone, be sure to choose a model that’s easy to assemble. If you’re not sure, ask an associate at a sporting goods store or outdoor outfitters.

Remember to consider the transportation of your tent. If you’re looking at a massive, bulky tent that’ll take up the entire trunk of your car and leave no room for food and gear, keep shopping.

Size

Are you camping alone, or with your family? Are you packing along a lot of gear? Do you have pets that will need protection? These are all points that will come into play when choosing the size of your tent. You (and those sharing your space) will need room to sleep comfortably, stretch and move around. You’ll need to sit up or stand. While it is possible for a family of four to sleep in a four-person tent, you’ll all be more comfortable in a roomer six-person model. Two people will be comfortable in a small tent, but may need to store their belongings in a separate shelter.

Weight

If you’re hiking or portaging to your destination, you’ll have to give serious thought to the weight of your tent. Big canvas tents and ten-kilometer hikes just don’t mix. You’ll be carrying all of your gear and necessities, so you don’t want to be weighed down even more by a heavy tent. Choose a secure but lightweight model. On the other hand, if you’re driving to the campsite in a heavy-duty vehicle with lots of cargo room, then go crazy and bring a huge tent.

Material Matters

Most of today’s modern tents are manufactured with lightweight nylon or taffeta. These are strong, durable materials that can stand up to all types of weather. Be sure that the tent you select is certified waterproof. You might pay a tiny extra, but it will be worth each penny when the storm clouds begin brewing.

Ease of Assembly

Ask to see the assembly instructions before you purchase the tent. Then, try assembling the tent at home before you leave on your camping trip. The tent you choose should be easy to assemble with few or new tools required. You’ll have a lot to do when you reach camp, and you don’t want to spend a lot of time fighting with a difficult tent. Camping is about resting and becoming one with nature, not stressing and struggling with a tent.

Tents are not luxuries for the faint-hearted, or copouts for rookie campers. They’re necessary tools that satisfy the basic human need for shelter. Even the most experienced outdoor enthusiasts will agree, there’s no thrill in coming face to face with a forest critter at four a.m.

Now all of Michigan is beautiful in the fall but you particularly will enjoy the Upper Peninsula with its nine different tour areas to see the foliage. First you’ll want to go to Hancokc and on to Lake Linden. You’ll then go to Lac La Velle, Bete Grise and Copper Harbor. Copper Harbor will lead you to Eagle River and then on to Calument and Laurium where you’ll have circled back to the beginning at Hancock. With 105 miles of beauty beginning the first week in October and running through the second week in October you’ll certainly enjoy this Eastern Upper Peninsula tour.

Visitng the Central Upper Peninsula your tour would go from highway 107 to 64 where you start at Silver City and on to Ontonagon. Now go to Highway 45 to Rockland and Victoria. Now you’ll have to backtrack a bit to highway 26 and on to Greenland. At Greenland you take highway 38 to Baraga and then hwy 41 to Chassel and Houghton. Now you take hwy 26 to Twin Lakes and back to Greenland. This tour will be approximately 200 miles. The season for you to see the peak colors of fall begins the first week of October and runs for about three weeks.

The Western Upper Peninsula takes highway 2 from Ironwood and Wakefield to Watersmeet, Iron River, Crystal Falls where you go on highway 141 to Covington then highway 28 to Bruce Crossing and back to Wakefield. This trip is 220 miles. Counties included are Iron with peak color the last week of September and the first week in October, Baraga with peak being the first week in October, Houghton & Keweenaw with the last week in September or first week in October and Gogebic and Ontonagon with peak color expected the last week in September and the first week in October.

The 4th tour starts in Ishpeming on highway 29 and goes to highway 510 to Nagaunee and Huge Bay, take highway 550 to Marquette and then 29 to Munising, on to highway H 58 to H 15 for a drive to Singleton and then highway 28 to highway 94 to Chatham, Gwinn and then on 35 to Palmer and back to Ishpeming. All toll this route is 165 miles long.

Tour 5 is a tiny shorter than the others. It begins at Iron Mountain and Norway on Hwy 2 to Spalding and change to hwy 41 to Menominee and then hwy 35 to Cedar River and Escanaba. For 125 miles you will see a wide array of beautiful trees with splendid coloring.

The sixth option is from Esdcanaba on hwy 2/41 to Rapid River then hwy 2 to Manistique and Saint Ignace. This is 183 but in a rather straight line.

Try tour 7 which starts at Whitefish Point and goes on to Paradise on hwy 123. Newberry is next on highway 28. Now go to Seney and take hwy 77 to grand Marais and H58 to Deer Park and back to highway 123 and Paradise. This route is 150 miles in length.

Tour 8 begins at Saint Ingace on hwy 75 and goes to Kincheloe and Sault St. Marie where you drop down on highway 129 to Pickford, then 48 to Goetzville and De Tour Village where you take 134 to Ceaderville and then back to Saint Ignace. This is a 150 mile trip showcasing the fall foliage.

The last suggested tour is number 9 where you begin off highway 28 and join highway 123 and begin at Eckerman. Take 123 north to Paradise and then go back to the intersection to turn toward Curley Lewis Scenic Highway. Stay on Curley Lewis Scenic Highway to Bay Mills and Brimley. This is the shortest of the tours at just 90 miles.

The colors in the Upper Peninsula in the fall will be well worth the trip to see. There are nine different areas that are recommended. The first is a trip of 105 miles from Hancock to Lake Linden, on to Lac La Belle, Bete Grise and then to Copper Harbor. Leave Copper Harbor and go to Eagle River and on to Calument and Laurium and back to Hancock. The route covers Mackinac County with the peak color expected in mid-October, Chippewa County with the peak color expected the first two weeks of October, Luce County with peak color expected the first two weeks of October and Schoolcraft County with the peak color also being the first two weeks in October. This is called the Eastern Upper Peninsula tour.

Jumping over to central Upper Peninsula will grant you to take highway 107 to 64 with your tour beginning at Silver City and then to Ontonagon, keep going to highway 45 and Rockland and Victoria. Going back just a bit to highway 26 you’ll go to Greenland and then take highway 38 to Baraga. Turning onto highway 41 to Chassel and Houghton you will see beautiful colors. Now take highway 26 to Twin Lakes and return to Greenland. Enjoy the 200 miles of this tour with its peak season the first week of October and on for approximately 3 weeks.

Now you can take the third tour which takes you on hwy 2 from Ironwood and Wakefield to Watersmeet, Iron River and Crystal Calls on the Western Upper Peninsula. Then take hwy 141 to Covington and then to highway 28 to Bruce Crossing and back to the beginning at Wakefield. Peak season for seeing this colorful route is the last week in September and the first week in October.

The fourth option is to begin in Ishpeming on highway 29, go to highway 510 to Nagaunee and Huge Bay, then 550 to Marquette and 28 to Munising, where you can take highway H 58 to H 15 to Singleton and highway 28 to Highway 94 to Chatham, Gwinn and then 35 to Palmer and back to Ishpeming. This trip is 165 miles.

The fifth option is a shorter one beginning at Iron Mountain and Norway on Hwy 2 to Spalding and then highway 41 to Menominee and hwy 35 to Cedar River and Escanaba. Just 125 miles long but full of beauty.

Now on to tour 6 which is from Esdanaba on highways 2 and 41 to Rapid River. Turn onto highway 2 and go to Manstique and Saint Ignace. Even though this tour is 183 miles it runs quite straight along the bottom area of the peninsula.

Try tour 7 which starts at Whitefish Point and goes on to Paradise on hwy 123. Newberry is next on highway 28. Now go to Seney and take hwy 77 to grand Marais and H58 to Deer Park and back to highway 123 and Paradise. This route is 150 miles in length.

If you thought you had taken all the tours of this area you are wrong, there are two more stunning experiences for you to enjoy. Tour 8 starts at Saint Ingace on hwy 75 and toes to Kincheloe and Sault St. Marie. Now head south to highway 129 and Pickford to highway 48 for a visit to Goetzville and De Tour Village where you’ll get on 134 to Cedarville and then back to Saint Ignace. Another trip of 150 miles.

The ninth tour opportunity is off hwy 28 where you go to highway 123 and enter Eckerman. Following 123 north you will go to Paradise and then back to the intersection where you turn east toward Curley Lewis Scenic Hwy and follow that to Bay Mills and Brimley. This is the shortest route recommended for the fall viewing of just 90 miles.

Many anglers fish without ever knowing how their baits actually induce fish to behave the way they do; in taking bait and hook into their mouths. But if you knew better how to accomplish this effect in practice, and how to manipulate it more appropriately at times, do you think this would increase your chances of bites and fish landed? If so, then read on!

Bait always involves confidence and indeed many anglers constantly doubt their bait because they do not understand how they truly work, except having very limited and even incorrect ideas or impressions about proteins or flavours; as a result, many anglers are negative about certain baits, without even ever having used them personally! Confidence catches fish for many reasons because it makes you fish superior and be sharper and more tuned-in and expectant of success, so you tend to do more things right at the right time, more often, but you can all the confidence in the world and still blank because of a lack of knowledge and understanding! Confidence is the thing that sells commercial readymade baits and anglers take second-hand views from so-called big-name anglers thinking they will emulate their success using the same bait, forgetting that many (not all) big-name anglers are the most skilled and talented anglers of their generation.

Why would you care of you knew anything more about bait anyway; after all you catch fish right, and you have confidence in your baits? The difference between you running against an Olympic champion and expecting to win is you can try hard as you can with the amount you already have or know, but the Olympic champion has prepared in as many ways as fully as possible for a very long time; and that’s why he is the best; talent at the top is not enough! In many ways use of flavours is like a race, where so many are simple taste or flavour carriers and mere attractors, (not feeding triggers) but others are like live rocket fuel by comparison, but you could spend your life missing out by not finding out; because most anglers keep secrets to themselves…

Many secrets are hidden from our senses but uncovered very easily by a little messing about with baits and some very elementary science, for instance, many carp bait substances change when in water into different ones to those we experience as humans in air… Garlic releases that pungent smell when broken in air and we are all familiar with similar compounds from onions and chives for example. But the smells from garlic we associate with its success are not strictly accurate, as certain of the key chemicals do not get produced in water the same as in air, and this might suggest to some thinking anglers that far more is going on, perhaps on a more deeper level to do with the biology of the fish in response to bioactive garlic substances rather than just a smell or taste.

Carp are turned-on by far more than a vanilla or strawberry flavour combination and in fact often these will provide no response at all as they’re not true feeding triggers as such, but some bait substances compensate for this by affecting carp in far more profound ways internally! Science is hard right; well I did an easy test on carp baits this day by eating wheat-free biscuits and a wheat free doughnut; all done in interests of science and in the best possible taste! Sometimes there are substances used in foods and baits which are naturally there or added deliberately which induce you brain create the sensation of pleasure so you enjoy them more…

Now when I ate these foods, the bit that made me want another wheat-based doughnut or biscuit after eating the first one had disappeared from the wheat-free products, (and what a surprise and disappointment that was!) This meant that something beyond just taste and smell impacts was involved. Something that effected the release of those feel-good hormones in the brain were gone and I really noticed the difference!

If you ate food frequently that tasted and smelled good but had no further incentive to keep you eating more of it, you’ll more than likely eat something else in preference if that food does has an extra feel-good brain chemical releasing impact. The bait or food which creates more pleasure is preferential in humans and it is the same in fish! You brain chemicals are directing your actions on a basic level and when it comes to the impact of a key part of wheat, your actions as a result of eating it can very easily be to eat more; more cake, toast, biscuits, doughnuts etc, this is one vital reason people so easily over-eat these foods and create behavioural cyclic eating problems!

When you look, you won’t believe how hard it is to get away from wheat in your diet as it is exploited so much in modern foods to get you to eat more and purchase more in regular, habitual ways! Even in carp fishing it is recognised that fish eating baits without supplemental nutritional foods can drop weight as with fish addicted to tiger nuts or peanuts alone, so using such things as part of your nutritional bait is a huge edge. You might not call it manipulating carp behaviours in your favour, or call it creating addictive or habit-forming behaviours, but it works in practice; you’re your own guinea-pig every day! These edges are supplied to you by the bait secrets ebooks author with more experience of eating healthy biscuits and doughnuts (probably,) than any other author!

Tim Richardson.

It might sound strange to imagine a fish as a tongue, but that’s what they’re in effect in water; and exploiting this fact is well proven to catch you a shocking amount of fish! Too many anglers think like anglers instead of seeing and sensing things from a fish perspective and this often is the difference between an average angler and a big-name one! It’s the substances leaching and dissolving into water from your baits that seriously impact on specialised taste and smell cells, (plus other senses) all over the external and internal surfaces of fish and realising that this is similar to taste buds on your tongue is something you can hugely exploit with bait to completely transform your catches…

To start with, I’ll group carp and catfish together, because many anglers catch both or target both and seek the biggest ones possible. These fish share so many dietary essential requirements that baits meant for massive carp or catfish will often catch specimens from each group. Carp and catfish are like swimming tongues because they are covered in receptors cells inside and out that maximise the ability to detect potential many food substances in concentrations as low as 1 part in a million or even 3 parts in a billion!

I always laugh when I see someone sniffing a bottle of flavour, or tasting a bait, because this is really a measure of personal preference, rather that scientific testing of how a substance actually triggers feeding intensity or not in water, plus our senses are dulled compared to fishes by a gigantic percentage; these are the bloodhounds of the water world! We taste and smell using specially adapted cells in our tongues and noses; these have wet surfaces at all times to enable use to detect substances effectively in air, but fish evolved such cells all over their bodies, as well as internally, so they’re like huge tongues really. Specialist fish cells are part of many vital sensory input systems are found in various areas of concentration and cell forms; for detection of various substances, and other input information, like water temperature and pressure waves from your lead almost hitting them etc!

It is noticeable that carp will detect various substances using cells and groups of cells that are specially adapted for the purpose, detecting particular essential amino acids especially well in certain combinations for instance. To detect foods and your bait substances special cells are found in fish in the skin, the face and head, the lips, barbels, fins, nose, mouth, throat and so on. You might wonder how carp detect oils in water, but even these are very slightly soluble and adding lecithins is an important point here too!

The lateral line in carp and many Cyprindae fish extends from the tail to the mouth and utilises specially adapted pit cells. This line of pits and cells are obviously highly important as they extend along the entire length of the fish. In carp the lateral line is so important that through evolution, the jaw bones and head has become shaped so to accommodate this system providing vital external sensory inputs!

Over all carp possess an amazing radar array with nerves all combining in the brain for the fish to respond appropriately to, and this is where we have the ability to truly exploit all these systems together in our baits and fishing approaches and tactics etc together in our favour, to make them far easier to catch! Obviously the more you know about what you’re hunting, the more you can exploit everything vital to them, and carp olfaction and chemoreception are prime examples to exploit! You might discover carp become more predictable when you think like one rather than like an angler; even sensing weather changing and air pressure changes; many top anglers develop extra sensitivity naturally by being outside so much and this can act like a sixth sense when casting into a swim, choosing swims and so on!

The worm-like projections around the mouth of a carp help in the vital decisions and behaviours made in testing or eating an item, or rejecting it, and these are packed with high concentrations of specialised receptor cells; so getting your bait right is essential! You baits can absorb water so releasing substances, or even simply dissolve into the water in the case of highly soluble or hygroscopic additives, ingredients and flavour components like glycerol for instance. Now the chemical substances from your bait are most concentrated near your bait and this message in solution gets weaker travelling further away and this is obviously very significant in drawing fish to your bait!

Fish will track-down your bait by following the concentration gradients of substances leaching outwards from your baits. Making the most of bait produced concentration gradients in many ways really gives you the edge, and making your own baits and ground baits, and being able to adapt ready made ones for this purpose especially is such a massive edge! A bait packed with many of the essential dietary stipulations of carp will give carp far more reason to pick-up your bait and actually consume it compared to many baits with much less vital reasons on offer, and you can boost this effect in many extremely potent ways in your homemade baits and ground baits or in any ready made boilies, pellets, particle baits etc…

Your bait exploitation of substances that intensely excite your large carp and catfish is simply one of the most potent edges you can give yourself; and this is why knowing more about bait is such a valuable, powerful advantage over competing anglers and their baits! Discovering more potent information about bait manipulation costs peanuts when compared to remaining perhaps relatively ignorant; and maybe blanking more, or not catching those dream fish you could potentially catch so much faster!

By Tim Richardson.

Joining the growing number of wineries in the nation Washington has seen a 400 percent increase in the number of wineries in the past decade. With this increase has come the capability to purchase great wines from this beautiful region that will satisfy the most discriminating taste.

Modern technology has made the process of making wine more sophisticated but the talent to produce great wine is all in the hands of the vintner who uses skills developed over generations of great wine makers sharing their knowledge to have some of the ideal wines now available at the wineries in Washington.

If you were in France and drinking wine in the regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy you would be at the same exact latitude of the wine country in Washington. With all the positive things going for wine in Washington being designated as American Viticulture Area is certainly a plus!

No crowds, no hurry, no pressure. Isn’t that what a vacation should be? You will experience the peace and pleasure of great countryside and great wine on a wine tour in Washington. Find the wine you like by going to the wine tastings offered by the different wineries. Find a great place to stay while in the area and make it the most resting and enjoyable vacation you’ve ever taken.

Full bodied reds and dry whites are both available at the wineries in Washington. Try them all, pick your favorite and enjoy the beauty of the state while you travel from winery to winery.

Swirl it, Smell it and Slurp it! Get your wine glass, pour in your favorite wine, then swirl it around the glass to get the air to it, smell the wonderful aroma of the wine and then slurp (quietly, gently please) a tiny to add more air to bring out the full flavor of the wine. The experience will be completely delightful.

If just 1% of the wine grapes of Washington are grown on the eastern side of the Cascades then you would think that it was a poor area for wine growers. In fact, it is a great area where the soil is right, the climate perfect and the growing season long to provide fully ripened, fruit flavored grapes with good acid levels and amusing aromatics. This area will certainly become more of a draw to vintners in the time to come.

The French, Italians and Germans began planting wine grapes in the say as early at 1825 for their own use when they were settling the area. Commercial planting of wine grapes didn’t being in Washington until the 1960’s with rapid expansion of the industry occurring in the mid-70’s. Now there are new wineries opening each couple of weeks for your enjoyment.

Route 66 in Texas offers the Baby Boom generation or the Silent Generation the opportunity to take a trip back in time. Here you’ll enjoy the days of the past as you visit the panhandle of Texas and see what the people of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s saw when they traveled across the country before the Interstate Highway system. Meeting the people along the way will make your trip extra special.

The influences of the years greatly impacted the type of personality the different generations have, such as the Silent Generation, born between 1927 and 1945, were impacted by the Great Depression, WWII, and the Cold War. In the middle of the route 66 trip you will enter the panhandle of Texas where you will meet some super people.

The Baby Boom generation was born between 1946 and 1964 when the primary influences were the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and the assassinations of the 1960’s of Dr. King and President Kennedy. This generation tends to be achievement-oriented and willing to give up personal time for get ahead. This generation should take the time to travel the roads of the great United Says and enjoy seeing the array of small towns, massive cities and meet the people that make up this great nation.

Leave Illinois on your family vacation and take route 66 to Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and then California. This trip of the heartland will give you a fabulous view of the people and cultures that make this country so great.

You’ll either start your trip in the Chicago area and then end in Los Angeles. It gives you the opportunity to see such places as the Arch in St. Louis, the smaller towns along the way and the middle sized towns such as Springfield and the wonderful people of Missouri. Kansas will take you to Galena, Riverton and Baxter Springs with all the history of these communities and all there’s to see. Tulsa is a great place to halt off and take a tour of this beautiful city. The hospitality will certainly leave a warm place in your heart. Here the people are so nice they actually stop to let a vehicle enter the stream of traffic from a parking lot!

Taking a route 66 tour of Oklahoma you will enter Texas and the panhandle. Here you’ll have the chance to spend some time in Amarillo and learn about the history of Texas settlement. Tucumcari is at the east edge of New Mexico and welcomes you to the beautiful say. Then on to Albuquerque where you can visit the museums and visit with some of the people from the city who have stories of the growth of the city. Take the time to see some of the museums where you can learn about the Native American influence in the area. With just the state of Arizona left before reaching California and the end of the route 66 trail you will have had the chance to see some beautiful country and build a great family vacation.

Sausage meat is now part of carp and cat fishing history having proven its worth as a very effective cheap bait ingredient for small and huge fish (many thousands of times, and for decades.) It is far cheaper than using the popular Pepperoni and similar luncheon meat type products for example. But how do you make extremely effective but very cheap baits and ground baits using it; see a few very proven large fish suggestions right now!…

Using sausage meat is rather more ethical than basing your baits on very valuable marine resources, but you can use it to bulk-up certain fish or shellfish bait mixes to cut costs and create different nutritional profiles, tastes effects etc. you can easily get sausage meat fresh or frozen fresh and fresh is ideal although catfish are also renowned for loving baits just souring, but I would prefer to use this effect with blood based baits for instance and not pork. Often the biggest fish in your water will take a new safe bait pretty quickly and certainly sausage meat based baits are not trendy so can really give you many competitive edges!

You can use the minced products or use a mincer to make a sticky pliable material to use to base you bait on. Pork meat is very nutritionally stimulating to large catfish and carp, supplying many essential nutritional needs including many amino acids and energy packed oils. Sausage meat may be made from pork alone or with other materials, but even adding very cheap wheat flour, or with a few eggs to meat with sausage rusk will bind bait to make practical bait dough for paste or boilies.

Making one of the cheapest protein based homemade baits is simple, fast and very simple to do:

For instance, begin off with a small amount of meat to practice with like just half a pound of minced meat mixed with around 3 hens eggs in a bowl and with enough wheat flour added to mould into a pliable bait dough. You can use this as bait or put into sealed plastic freezer bags to store in the fridge or freezer for later use. Such bait is usually very instant on most carp and catfish waters, even though different grades and brands of sausage meat will vary in success rates so do experiment!

Putting regular batches of baits in swims is a very good advantage to get fish to really respond to your new bait. (You don’t have to do this using sausage meat as it is mostly instant acting; but why miss a good trick!?) If you put out golf ball size baits a few times into swims before using it, then fish will eat this safe bait and it will definitely improve your results come the time of using when you do fish with it!

Introducing safe free baits is never a wasted exercise and in fact this is one of the most powerful methods of achieving big fish catches anyway. Many simple ground baits can be made from sausage meat too. Using paste on the hair or direct on the hook has been catching massive carp and catfish for decades, and now is a great time to try it! Paste bait is really effective but if smaller fish are troublesome simply scald or par-boil your baits to make them more resistant and use paste on your rig too!

As most commercial rolled baits have uniform shapes, your homemade baits in odd shapes have the advantage over more wary fish by disrupting their reference points! Boilies are just made by placing your dough baits only a handful at a time in half a pan of boiling water in a pan for a couple of minutes; this makes a resilient skin when they dry-off on conveniently put absorbent towels or trays etc. keep your water boiling at all times by not adding too many baits at once and keep taking baits out after around 2 minutes or so.

Boil your baits for anything from a minute to 5 minutes; the longer boiling makes them harder, but this loses more attraction in the process. To help attraction there are so many choices to add to your bait, or just to keep results coming. For instance you could add sea salt at about a teaspoon per 2 eggs worth of bait mixed, or add curry powder at a heaped teaspoonful per egg used in the mix or more depending on the form of curry powder used.

You might just add a teaspoon of black pepper powder per egg used. Other examples of well proven kitchen favourites are yeast extract products like Marmite or Vegemite; add at a heaped tablespoon per egg, or even Parmesan or blue cheese powder which is ideal in sausage meat baits. You can simply add some Minamino or proprietary fishing liquid amino acids supplement like Nutramino to boost feeding stimulation and nutritional profile of your bait; or add fish meal, keratin, or poultry meal, or ground bird foods and lecithins for more digestible baits in winter, for example…

The choice of ingredients, additives, flavours, taste enhancers etc not only bewildering for most anglers, but often high-priced. It is a giant money-saving edge when you know what you are really adding for exactly what direct or indirect purpose in stimulating fish digestion, or to enhance responses at fish receptors and the brain to induce more intensive feeding for instance. Whatever you use, be it a bioactive flavour complex, or simple monosodium glutamate or anchovy source, often keeping things cheap will provide many hidden edges over anglers commercial baits which might already have peaked as it were…

Fishing baits which are based on substances that trigger fish feeding and fish metabolism among many other things are well recommended, but you need to get to know the details of this to exploit them most cost effectively, but remember the advantages of using a popular commercial bait is lessened by far when fishing against more experienced, talented, full-time moneyed (or bait sponsored) anglers! Homemade baits like those based on very cheap sausage meat work against those highly hyped baits that cost a fortune (even if they are enzyme active etc,) and will catch you lots of big carp and catfish: fact. Obviously the more you get to know about bait the more edges you can have which save you a fortune and keep producing better than average catch results, and cheap baits are not necessarily crap baits; but the complete opposite so keep reading!

By Tim Richardson.