Blog

The Issue:  After our tour through Washington, Erik and I got directed to make sure we end up in Lewiston, ID by 8 pm.  We were put on a team of Big R employees with the task of re-pricing every item in the D&B farm store in Lewiston with Big R Store price tags…yep… every single item (pretty much).  After 12 straight hours and one piece of Dominos we were pretty close to being done, pretty grumpy, hungry, tired, and frustrated to be inside with the Clearwater minutes from us all day long and spey rods strung in the truck. 

The Remedy:  Effie Burger.  I took two Aspirin.  Drank a water and… stuff.  Ordered half an Effie Cheeseburger… yes a half as I learned my lesson the first time.  Erik and Charlie both ordered whole burgers, which made me feel lame.  Charlie finished his whole burger, and then ordered gizzards.  Erik tried a gizzard, which impressed me but commented, “I wouldn’t go out of my way to order these again”.  I thought they were pretty good. 

The Conclusion:  We got the whole store priced with a great team of employees.  The day was actually a great day, and it was very exciting to be in such a cool new community.  The views of the Clearwater River from the hill in the morning are amazing to wake up to.  Although we have no fly tackle for sale, I would ask all you area steelhead fisher people to consider us for your dog food, Carhartt’s, Wrangler Jeans, warms socks, etc.  The real take home here being… Effie burger saved the day again.









 

Calvin, Erik, KK, John, and the rest of the crew just got back from a few days steelheading on the Clearwater River in Lewiston, ID.  I mostly casted while Calvin and Barrett Mattison put on a clinic on actually landing steelhead on the famous stretch of water from Orofino to Lewiston (John Teini also got his first which was pretty awesome!).  It was a great trip with a number of guys learning how to use a double hand fly rod for their first time, others getting their first steelhead, some landing multiple steelhead on the fly, and for some it is all about the Effie Burger. 

The Effie Tavern is located in old town Lewiston at the bottom of the hill (most of the development has gone up hill) and is not far from the river.  Lucky for us, fleece pants, hoodies, flip flops with wool socks, and stench isn't too big of a problem at the Effie Tavern, or at least no one called us out on it.  We looked at the menu only to find a few items which included an Effie Burger, an Effie Cheeseburger, an Effie Cheese and Bacon Burger, a double Effie Burger, fries, beer, water, and chicken gizards (that's all I can remember).  With a standard Effie burger costing about $12; I thought Calvin had brought us to a pretty fancy burger joint in disguise.  These are the largest burgers I have seen, and I now understand why Scott, when approached about joining us for dinner at Effie, just rolled his eyes and put his hand on his stomach.  I split a burger with Calvin, and Paul did not. The photos are before and after photos of Paul, pre and post Effie.

fyi... the back of the restaurant has a pool table and seating for larger groups.

Believe it or not... the salted nut roll is one of our best selling items.  We sell stock tanks of them (very farm store).  Hungry shoppers, fly fishermen, and workers combine their dollars day after day to purchase these bad boys 2 at a time. 


















This morning I received a special gift from our Big R Fly Shop in Ponderay, ID.  The package simply said "To Sam From Patty" (Patty is our store manager).  5lb's of salted nut roll is being shared around the office today, and although this special edition, ridiculously sized, roll of nuts and sweetness isn't available at your local fly shop; a much more convenient candy bar size roll is perfect for your drift boat, fly vest or chest pocket.

2 nut rolls is less than the price of one fly.   

 

I’ve been hearing how people don’t hunt ducks because they don’t like to eat them since I could walk. So last year a friend of mine who works at for the Reno Fly Shop invited my girlfriend and I to stay at his cabin at the Canvasback Duck club near Fallon, NV. I was probably more excited than my girlfriendabout the opportunity.

This place is more than a standard duck club, these guys take waterfowl hunting to a different level. We stayed in a 400 square foot cabin with 7 black labs. There are decoy rooms, calls everywhere, duck boats, duck mounts, cleaning rooms, kennels… it is a duck hunting community of about 100 cabins. The streets are named after ducks.

4 am the sirens go off to meet at the town hall where we there is a Powerball that decides your duck blind fate for the day. Sirens then sound at shooting light and it’s game on. However, in the evenings the harvest is taken to the kitchen for a true taste of how duck is supposed to be cooked, and it’s simple. My girlfriend, also undecided on how stoked she was for the single dinner option of BBQ duck was also floored by how great duck is when cooked properly.

Instructions for enjoying your duck:
- Get duck breast from duck
- Roll in olive oil
- Roll in rub (the best I have ever tried is Duck Commanders Cajun Rub 3.99 @ Big R)
- BBQ about 3 minutes on each side on the grill between 350-400 degrees
- DO NOT OVERCOOK DUCK 

This will be the best thing you have ever imagined (maybe an exaggeration) it is seriously amazing. However, I will say that opening day Jesse Ova who is manager of the Havre store came down for one of our Duck BBQ’s and his exact quote was this “I hate to admit this, but that was the best duck I have ever had.” My head grew in size after that experience but I can’t take credit. Dave Stanley and Mario Walther from the Reno Fly Shop have changed my opinion on duck and hopefully you can try this at home. Duck Commander Cajun Rub is in stock at Colville, Havre, and Great Falls Big R Stores.  - Sam Wike

Izzack's is now open in Craig, Montana and here is their new menu for spring for when you get off the river.  Apres fly-fishing destination.