Flu is not fun. 3 weeks and 1 day since I came down with it. STILL not all better. Fever and contagion been gone for a week. However now ears are clogged. But I had to go fishing. Two skunkings Saturday and Sunday. Then on Tuesday, success! But I changed it up and took an ultralight spinning rod. Left my fly rod in the car. I was going for wild natives. I knew there were perch, fallfish, chain pickerel, red breasted sunfish and some other non-native wilds such as bluegill, calico, and largemouth.
This stretch of river is interesting. I caught a brook charr there last year in the spring that I assumed had to be a stocked fish. There has never been evidence of a reproducing population of charr in this river. Yet the state designates it a "sea run brown trout stream." Not much evidence of them either actually. Never found a redd. Some people claim to see them and rumours of catching exist. But just exactly what is going on remains to be proven. But about the brook charr: it had pink flesh! Most of it. A section of it was lighter. And part of the flesh tasted riverish--but I ate it with skin on so not proof of anything.
At any rate, that's the thing about this stretch. Variety and surprises.
Well, it turned out that a white spinner was the only thing they would touch. Not interested in the black ones, nor in jigs. Hook up three times. Landed two. The first one was very chunky and about 18 inches long. I felt something like dragging the weedbed when the lure was half way across the river. Then as it got right to the bank I noticed an apparition following right behind it! Somehow I willed the fish to take it--and it did--right at the bank! Fun fight. Fortunately for the fish the treble was not deep and only one hook engaged in that little flap thing. Got it out OK and back it went.
Next pickerel was only moments later about 20 yards down. Almost same length but much leaner, it took it into the gills so it came home for the next night's dinner.
I decided to try something new: instead of trying to fillet out the y bones, I learned that if you slice it like steak but not all the way through the skin, spaced about 4 mm apart, the bones will soften when you cook them. I did multiple ways: cornmeal only, cornmeal + egg wash + cornmeal, and panko only, and panko over egg wash. I also cooked one slice of (boneless) by itself. All fried in shallow sunflower oil (because I had it).
Well, it was delicious. The corn meal feels drier, but the panko is crunchier All delicous. No seasoning but salt and pepper. Perfect fish.
It is very satisfying to go a mile from home in very good clean fresh water, catch a wild fish, and make a delicious dinner. This was not possible in my 1970s suburban childhood (pollution, and well yeah you could eat the planted trout but the river smelled like sewage...).
