Poll

The bunnybou or the Miami dolphin?? I'm having trouble naming my new drop hooked intruder fly I'm gonna bust out on the Salmon River in a couple of days. What do you guys think. We will pick a winner from everyone who leaves a comment before we leave Friday morning. The winner will receive a free pack of GTO original steelhead patterns. Thanks for the help and keep the comments coming. 

Billy

Week number 3 and were still posting

It's a miracle it's been 3 weeks since we made a promise to post weekly and here we are keeping that promise. Well technically we posted earlier this week, but our fishy propaganda doesn't count as that weekly post you all are craving.  By the way if you didn't see the release we put out earlier this week back up a post and check it out.  You'd be crazy not to jump on the chance to own one of these rods. Stands up great to steelhead and salmon and can even be fun plugging away on panfish in the summer sun.  The stealth version, we've got black on black for you with a blacked out rod blank wrapped in black thread holding on to blacked out guides. Finished with a great cork handle this rod is ready to drift some egg sacks out on the Niagara.  

Ok another shameless plug of our new baby, but hey we're proud fathers of these things. In other news www.gtooutdoors.com is up and running. We've got changes we have planned during maintenance this week and Paypal based checkout services are in the works for install in the next week or two also.  This will make ordering products so much easier and most importantly quicker.  To go along with a faster website were gonna be posting new products to our line up.  The new spin rod and its launch mate our team GTO 9' 7wt fly rod.  This rod is amazing this time of the year wether your Steelheading in WNY or bone fishing in the Bahamas.  Along with the rods we have some new lures and accessories we are excited to make available to our fans as well. Remember we use all our products ourselves and we are hard on equipment as josh likes to tell me. If we support it we know you'll enjoy it too. 

Onto other cool GTO news the entire team and then some will be together this next week for my bachelor weekend in the Tug Hill area of CNY.  We will be chasing steel down the salmon river in Pulaski and riding the snow as we cruise the trails on snowmobiles for the extended weekend. This trip should be a blast to get our 2014 team GTO season kicked off. Cameras will be in tow so expect some footage coming up on our YouTube channel, team GTO.  If you haven't subscribed to our channel yet you're missing out on some great footage and music mash ups. After that I will be salt water fishin on the fly during my honeymoon in February, then we will be back in Pulaski come March for the warm up and the spring run.  Really can't wait for this year to kick into high gear with team GTO.  For upcoming news and breaking news alerts follow us on Facebook and twitter.  We also have an Instagram account where I've gotta say we post some pretty cool pictures. Maybe they'll be available in framed print for sale some day who knows?? Hmmmmm

Thanks for the read guys and gals. Tight lines and have fun

Billy

3/52 this is almost scary

Early bird special from GTO outdoors

Early bird specials on our first production rods coming off the line. Our first release will be this 9 foot custom steelhead/salmon spin rod. This rod works amazing for drifting egg sacks and/or float fishing. GTO rod of choice to drift our custom jigs and eggs down the niagara river. Pair with a GTO outdoors float rig and custom maribou jig and its fish on. 

This rod will be listing on gtooutdoors.com in the upcoming weeks for over $225. Our early bird special is selling this rod at a bargain price of 174.99. Hand built, GTO designed and tested this is the rod you want in your hands when you've got a Great Lakes chrome monster on the other end of that line. Black graphite blank, with blacked out guides wrapped in black silk and perfectly hand epoxied, this rod is a work of art. 

To take advantage of our early bird offer simply message us on Facebook or twitter or email the company at gtooutdoors@gmail.com and we will get in contact with you to get a new GTO outdoors steelhead rod in your hands. To order through our website you currently need to email your orders to productpurchase@gtooutdoors.com.  Work is in progress to get a web based checkout up and running so stay tuned to be able to click and receive you order within days. 

We will be releasing more and more rods in the upcoming weeks and months. Keep stopping by the blog and gtooutdoors.com for more news and info

Thank you

Billy

Ps. No this does not count as one of my weekly blogs I owe all of you this year. Stay tuned I'm obsessed with steelhead right now 

Week number 2 and we're still blogging

Well it's the second week of the year and we are still living up to our promise of a blog a week. With that being said I am not quite sure what were going to tell you guys about. The weather in WNY has been brutal at best. We've had rain storms a three day blizzard and temps ranging from 50 degrees to -10 degrees. That doe snot take into account wind chill factors by the way. It's been cold and fishing has been all but impossible. We're headed out on Friday to try to drum up some new, fresh steelies but nothing since we've spoken last. 

What we have been up to though is taking GTO outdoors to the next level. We're expanding and it's exciting stuff. Www.gtooutdoors.com is live. Our very first website for our little start up company. Stop by to the site to see some team GTO pictures and videos or to purchase your favorite GTO products. Need a new fly rod or spinning rod built specifically for you by rod building professionals? Stop by www.gtooutdoors.com and we will point you in the right direction to get that rod for you. All our current products and a couple you might not have heard of from GTO are all up on the website. We have also got links to all of our social media sites on the website. Facebook, twitter, YouTube, blogger, you name it and we have a link to it so you can get your fill of team GTO. 

Did I say YouTube?  I sure did. Within the last week GTO has launched the team GTO YouTube channel. We will eventually be doing a regular web series on this channel and there is a trailer up for you all to see.  Also up on the channel catch a couple of our goose shorties from earlier this season.

YouTube up and going and www.gtooutdoors.com live and going strong. It has been a busy week in our small outdoors kingdom. This upcoming week should be even busier with new videos going up, new rods in development, and the design of new fly patterns and lures on the conventional fishing side.  On top of all that we will be filming three out of the next seven days. Steelhead steelhead steelhead we gots the silvers on the brains.  That's about it for this week. If I think of something I forgot I might make a special post for week number 2 of this 52 week adventure. 

Cheers

Billy

2/52

Missed deadlines

Yup we missed that 24 hour blog deadline, but you're going to have to understand people it's steelhead season, you're not the only ones getting short changed.  It was Christmas, it was New Years week, and oh yeah it was steelhead season, not to mention it was some great winter conditions for the last couple weeks here in WNY. we've experienced everything from a flood like river conditions to sub zero temperatures, with a lot of fluffy powder mixed in.  Great runs of fish and waters where we haven't gotten a tug in days, the highs and the lows, an emotional roller coaster.  Now you want a blog out of us too?  Hahahaha yeah I get it. 

On top of all this amazingness from Mother Nature we still have to grow the business and fill orders. Tying up flies and steelhead maribou jigs, while josh wraps a cool, custom 9' spin rod for steelie float fishing and a 9' 7 wt fly rod on deck, things are steady, things are growing.  I like it. If you're in the Buffalo/Niagara Falls area the weekend of the 26th of January check out the Niagara Fishing Expo and stop by the booth of Chuck Booker for a chance to win said fly rod.  Chuck will be giving this rod away with a paired reel to benefit the LOTSA pen rearing Program for the salmon and steelhead of Lake Ontario. This is not only for a great cause, but a chance to win an original GTO Outdoors fly rod. 

Also in the works we are still working on getting our website live for you all to enjoy. 

Www.gtooutdoors.com is slowly but steadily becoming a reality. You'll be able to view videos, check out photos of team GTO in the field or on the water, shop for original GTO products, and set up trips with our company. A lot of information to get out to you with a lot of roll outs in the coming weeks and months. Exciting times in the GTO kingdom indeed.  So with all of this said we will try to at least write a blog once a week this year and keep you all updated and in tune with our lifestyle. 

So until next week or maybe even before I bid you tight lines and good fishing my friends 

Billy

Blog 1/52 for 2014

Winter Steelhead

With a Little bit of Work Winter Steelheading can be Really Rewarding

Most of the challenge of chasing steelhead during the winter, especially Great Lakes steelhead, can be getting past the weather. Getting yourself out there in the snow, the ice, the freezing temps.  Getting past all this can lead to a very rewarding experience.  Usually you can be blessed to be the only one on whatever piece of water you choose to fish.  Less people on the water gives you the angler room to play these winter chrome monster correctly. Swinging big, colorful steelhead flies is a great choice in our opinion.  With fewer and fewer fish in the waters as the season goes on, swinging flies for steelies can become a game of numbers, very low numbers but, but rewarding numbers.  Even fewer fish will give in and take your swung fly. With the odds already stacked against you, you cannot afford to miss sticking your fly right in front of the fish's face. These fish are on the move so you need to be methodical, graceful, and technical with your swing.  You need to know it can happen at anytime and it will.

When you really think about it you're basically searching the water on a concentric circled pattern, a grid pattern search if you will.  Pick an area to begin, cast across the current as far as possible making sure to not miss any holding waters, and let your fly swing down and across till it directly below you.  Now strip some line in take a big step down stream and repeat. Swing the fly across all holding waters and eventually you'll place that big, colorful pattern right under steelie's nose.  Keeping up on the swing can produce a great day on some winter steelhead waters, but what if the simple swing is not enough?

What if while swinging through a nice pool you get a timid, little tug that you're sure was the silver monster you've been after?  Immediately bring in your line change out that purple, black fluffy Duffy to a pattern different in action and color, I prefer to change color the most. If you're swinging purple, tie on pink, pink tie on white, black tie on orange. You get the point.  Now move back upstream and begin your swinging pattern again.  Steelhead are on the move remember so moving back upstream and beginning our swing pattern is key. If you get the same timid hit this time through change it up again. Find the color that really enrages that fish that's timidly checking out what your swinging by him.  You'll find that color and before you know it you'll have a great winter steelhead on and he'll be emptying your reel to the backing as he fights to get back downstream. Bringing that fish to hand that you had to put time and effort into is so much sweeter than the rest of them. 

Good luck out there chasing winter steelies. This is one of our favorite times of the year going after these great fish. Have fun and be safe.

Cheers

Billy

Recipe: Roasted Leg of Venison with Root Vegtables

Roasted Leg of Venison

-team GTO 

Ingredients: 1 leg of venison trimmed up

1/2 cup of olive oil

Salt and pepper

3 tbsp garlic powder

1 tbsp onion powder

3 sprigs of thyme

5 carrots

5 potatoes

2 turnips

3 onions

1 cup beef stock

1 1/2 cups good red wine

1. Peel and rough chop vegetables 

2. Rub leg of venison with half the oil and generously season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and thyme

3. Place a roaster pan on med high heat and heat remaining olive oil

4. Sauté vegtables with some salt and pepper and a sprig of thyme until vegetables are nicely  colored 

5. Deglaze pan with stock and wine

6. Place leg of venison on top of vegtables, cover with foil, and place in the oven at 425 degrees

7. After 3 hours remove foil and finish of in the oven uncovered for 30-45 minutes. Take out when meat tenderly falls from the bone and has good color

8. Let leg rest for 15-25 minutes before carving. 

This is a great recipe for the holidays. From our GTO family to yours have a great safe holiday season

Billy

Gun Season

Well the annual whitetail deer gun season is upon us here in WNY. A time we look forward too for the entire off season.  This year was no exception.  For a week before opening day I anxiously awaited departure for our southern tier hunting and fishing camp, Plumbottom.  Gear packed, food and drink purchased, tree stands in tow we were ready to harvest an Alleghany County monster and start the season off with a bang.  How appropriate cuz that's how the season would kick off, with a bang.  A bang. A bang at one of those times when you are no where near prepared to harvest a huge mature whitetail. At about 11:45am the second day of the season I was sitting in a rocking tree stand as there was a good amount of wind when there was what sounded like a bulldozer coming through the woods behind me.  I stood and turned slightly to see what the commotion was about and two doe were standing looking behind them when a huge 8 point buck all of 140" stepped from the scrub brush at 75 yards. Bringing the gun up and focusing on the stud buck the prize does trotted to a patch of pines and the buck started after them. Safety off, trigger pulled and into the pines the buck followed his girls. Down the pines they scooted and out of site for the Rest of the trip.  The largest buck I had ever had the chance of harvesting and off he trotted with one thing on his mind and it wasn't my horrible luck.  Shortly after just for me I was kept company by a small doe who took up bedding fifteen feet from the bottom of my stand for three hours. Not having dmp's for the area I was stuck hanging with the young lady for the afternoon.  

Now Mike Baehr, Gary's brother, had no problem with his four year old stud opening day. Harvesting a score able  11point opening morning just after sunrise.  This is a beautiful buck that we've seen on the Beahr Farms for a couple seasons and have plenty of pictures of him on trail cameras.  

Also on the Beahr Farms GTO Outdoors jr member Trevor got the job done with his first ever deer putting this nice list swamp donkey on the ground around the same time I was missing the buck of my career done in the southern tier.   Great job Trevor. Trevor's dad team gto member Gary Beahr has had a great season so far filling all his doe tags, but has not had the chance to fulfill that buck tag. Gary is looking to tag out with something that puts his little brother's monster to shame. Good luck with that brother.

We will continue to keep on these whitetails while we fit some late season ducks and steelhead into the equation as well. Stay tuned for more GTO whitetail updates from the 2013 season. 

Thanks 

 Billy

Report from a Duck Blind

These past couple weeks have been exciting, hectic, and busy all wrapped into one. WNY is alive with wild life activity and GTO Outdoors is trying to capitalize on it all. With the whitetail rut winding up and the steelhead running out of the Great Lakes up into the tributaries there's plenty to do. Add on top of that trying to keep on top of this start up company and sell our brand to the masses. For those that do not know we have hand tied flies, roe sacks, and jars of salmon skein for sale. You have a couple options of how you can get your hands on said products. First you can stop by either Nature's Prize in Akron NY or Captain Bobs Outdoors in Clarence NY as they carry a full line of GTO products. Second you can email us at grillingtheoutdoors@gmail.com and tell us what you would like. We will get back to you ASAP and get your order filled. For those with no Internet and do not live near WNY give us a call at (716)560-0364 and Bill will be glad to help you get your hands on whatever your needs may be. We will be simplifying this process also in the next couple weeks as we are expanding our coverage online and will have a fully functional website up and running by the end of November. You will be able to view all available GTO Outdoors products and purchase right from the site. The website will also have photos, videos, links to this blog and all our social media sites along with much much more. We will make an announcement once gtooutdoors.com goes live.

In other news besides missing deer with the bows and chasing steelies and big browns out of the lakes it is duck season!!! One of GTO's favorite times of the year. This year has been treating us well with multiple birds on the ground. Now things could always be better, but we are having a blast and this sick obsession is taking time away from other things. Not only are the birds raining from the sky, but the hysterics and mischief that has been happening in the blind is a great time. The best part of the whole thing is we do not believe the migration has kicked in yet and we have until mid December to keep it up. We are Hoping to get some white tails on the ground next weekend during the firearms opener in NY state so that we can get back In a duck blind to keep the good season going. With all this going on we have been delinquent on our blog posts, but ill try to keep on the guys to post more in the upcoming weeks as we really ramp up our hunting, fishing, and grilling of the outdoors. Till then we leave you with some photos of our harvest during the bird season this year.

Cheers

Billy

PS. Many new products coming in the next couple weeks. They will all be available on gtooutdoors.com. Thanks guys

Recipe:Butterflied Venison Tenderloin Steaks

Here's one that team GTO will definitely be making this week at camp. A simple yet tasty way to prepare your harvest this fall.

Ingredients

1 venison tenderloin cut into 3/4 inch butterfly steaks
1 cup Speide Sauce (check your grocery store's marinade aisle)
2 tbsp sea salt and pepper

Cut your tenderloin into 3/4-1 inch venison steaks and place into a sealable freezer bag with 1 cup of Speide Sauce marinade. Seal bag and make sure sauce in liberally applied to all the steaks. If more is needed add more sauce. Place steaks into the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Light your charcoal or propane grill, preferably hardwood charcoal. When grill is ready take out your steaks and liberally apply sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to all the steaks. 4-5 minutes on each side until your reach a nice medium/medium rare and pull off the heat immediately. Serve right away either naked or with your favorite sauce. A nice chimichurri would be wonderful over the platter of steaks.

The next time you harvest a beautiful white tail or elk try this one out

Cheers

Billy

Overtime

Tis the season. The season I wish there were thirty hours in a day and nine days in a week. The salmon run is in full effect out of Lake Ontario, bow season is starting to get good, and duck hunting opens in a week. From stream to stand as much as I can leaves little time for blogs to be written, face books to be posted, or twitters to tweet. I love October and everything that goes along with it. I love fly fishing for huge salmon and steelhead. It's a treat to grab a huge brown trout while drifting for these awesome fish. When not wading the tribs of the Great Lakes I sit in a tree stand admiring the changing of the leaves. The beautiful transformation passes the time as I sit in stealth and await a trophy whitetail. As the days pass and the weather changes those same whitetail begin to change their behavior patterns as well. Do they know why this happens? Do we know why? Mother Nature changing the environment right in front of our eyes.

In the coming week we will be going to our southern tier operation for four days of bow hunting and fall brown trout fishing. We will prepare the camp for weeks and weeks of debauchery, camaraderie, and hopefully a productive whitetail season. The whole idea of a hunting camp is what drew me to the sport. An escape, a place we gather to de-stress and fulfill our primal urge to harvest and provide. It might just be an outhouse and trailer from 1984 but it is a sanctuary that I look forward to coming back to every time we leave.

October, a time of change, a time of harvest. The month of Halloween, the month of hunting, fishing, and cooking. Huge salmon, nice big browns, bucks and does preparing for the upcoming rut, and flocks of migrating ducks and geese. I might complain about my lack of time or how busy I am, but I truly do love putting in the overtime in the field, in the woods, or waist deep in a Great Lakes tributary. Stay tuned for reports from the many adventures coming up throughout the next couple of months as we hunt, fish, and grill the WNY area.

Cheers,

Billy