# ISO Fantastic Fish Stories...



## Kayelle (May 6, 2015)

Aloha! We're back home from Hawaii, and I wanted to tell you about the best fish I *EVER ATE *and the most amazing part is I cooked it! 

We bought a nice thick piece of ONO, and a jar of All Purpose Hawaiian Seasoning Salt (8 oz) - Noh Foods Hawaii
The condo where we stay has an electric range I hate, and skillets that belong in the trash, but I did have some bacon fat from breakfast so I felt brave.  I was *very *generous with the seasoning salt that contains not only Hawaiian sea salt, but also garlic, vinegar, and chili peppers. I seared the 2" thick ONO on both sides in the bacon fat, and shoved the pan in the 350d. oven for a few minutes. I must have gotten really lucky and hit that "sweet spot" where it was just seconds away from being under done!
Zowers........that was the best piece of fish I've ever eaten in my very long life!!

ONO is also known as Wahoo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Do you have a "Fabulous Fish Story"?  I'd love to hear it.


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## Dawgluver (May 6, 2015)

The absolute best fish we ever ate was after a VERY long plane trip to Maui from here in the heartland.  Exhausted, we popped into a beachside restaurant, met Loretta, the parrot, and had the most exquisite piece of macadamia crusted mahi mahi (also known as dolphin, but no relation to Flipper, it's a fish, not a mammal) ever.  DH and I still talk about it.  The second best fish is the nasty, predatory lionfish, coconut crusted, at one of our favorite places in Mexico.  And right up there is the walleye my dad and I would catch on Lake of the Woods in Ontario.  Just fried in butter.


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## Kayelle (May 6, 2015)

Dawgluver said:


> The absolute best fish we ever ate was after a VERY long plane trip to Maui from here in the heartland.  Exhausted, we popped into a beachside restaurant, met Loretta, the parrot, and had the most exquisite piece of macadamia crusted mahi mahi (also known as dolphin, but no relation to Flipper, it's a fish, not a mammal) ever.  DH and I still talk about it.  The second best fish is the nasty, predatory lionfish, coconut crusted, at one of our favorite places in Mexico.  And right up there is the walleye my dad and I would catch on Lake of the Woods in Ontario.  Just fried in butter.



Ahhhh yes, Mahi Mahi Dawg, also known as Dorado in Mexico. Many moons ago my late husband and I came home with a dry ice chest filled with Dorado. Mahi-mahi or "Dorado&quot fish pictures and species identification

Thanks for the lip smacking report.


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## Dawgluver (May 6, 2015)

Yes!  Dorado!  Ohhh, how I would love to catch and bring one home.   When you fish there and bring it in, any restaurant will cook it up for you.  They serve it with a variety of sauces and sides.

Drat.  I saw a recent video where a guy was showing off his mahi catch, and a seal jumped up and stole it!  Just grabbed its tail from the boat and took off!


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## Andy M. (May 6, 2015)

About 45-50 years ago, I had a friend who like to fish off the coast of Gloucester MA.  He kept raving about bluefish.  I finally got him to bring me some.  That was one delicious fish.  

Years later, when I was working in Gloucester, I dropped in on the IT Manager and we got to chatting.  He reached into his desk and pulled out a mason jar of ugly looking dried up cubes of some kind of flesh and offered me a piece.  He wouldn't tell me what it was until after I tasted it.  WOW, it was extraordinary - smoked bluefish.


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## Cheryl J (May 6, 2015)

The very first thing that came to mind was back in my camping and fishing days, the last camping trip was about 15 years ago.  I'll never forget how good fresh caught brook trout is, lightly seasoned and fried in a cast iron pan over an open campfire.  Gosh, those were the days....


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## Kayelle (May 6, 2015)

Yep, those were the days Cheryl when life was so sweet and simple camping and cooking in the great outdoors. Our kids actually talked to us by the campfire because there was nothing else for them to do without a single "portable electronic gadget" yet invented. Sigh..


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## GotGarlic (May 6, 2015)

I have a couple of fish stories  I made wahoo a few years ago, smeared with olive oil and fresh herbs from my garden, seared in my cast-iron grill pan. So yummy! 

No. 2: The first time I had Dover sole was in a historic restaurant in Ireland - pan-seared and served with a lemony sauce with currants. Delicious!


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## Addie (May 7, 2015)

I was married to a commercial fisherman. On the very last catch, he would find the largest Haddock and gut it for me. He would bring it home minus the head and filet it in the house. Regardless of the size, I would always cook the whole thing for supper.

One day he came through the door and told me to clear off the kitchen table. He then came in with a Haddock that had been gutted, but still had the head on it. That thing hung over both ends of the table. That fish was less than three hours old. The tail was still curled upwards. It was spotted swimming along side the boat as it was headed in to dock. My husband and another fisherman grabbed an instrument that was on deck and they speared it. Getting it aboard was another thing.

He fileted it and cut off the head. Now I always cooked the whole fish that he brought home that night. There was no way I was going to cook all of this one. I gave some to my landlady upstairs along with the frame and head. She always made fish chowder. I put aside some for supper and the rest got wrapped for the freezer in meal size packets. 

I then baked the filets for supper just plain with some lemon squeezed on it. It was so fresh tasting. Even the kids noticed the difference. Sitting here, I can still taste it and my mouth is watering.


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## Cooking Goddess (May 7, 2015)

If shrimp count, I can still almost taste the fresh grilled shrimp I had when we went to our timeshare resort in Fort Myers Beach for the first time. We checked in on our 38th wedding anniversary and wanted to go somewhere "special". After suggestions from the resort staff and looking at menus we gave up. Went riding around until we ended up at the old fish market/dockside bar and restaurant in town. Himself remembered going to that same market with his Dad when he would visit his parents in the early 1970s before we were married. The shrimp was simply prepared, but it was delicious since it had just been swimming in the gulf about three hours earlier. 

If you want my best fish ever story involving a fish, it is my memory of going to the local bar (back when it was OK for a kid of 8 to come in with their parent) for the Friday Fish Fry. All you could eat Lake Erie perch. They are my favorite fresh water fish.


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## Cooking Goddess (May 7, 2015)

Dawgluver said:


> ...I saw a recent video where a guy was showing off his mahi catch, and a seal jumped up and stole it!  Just grabbed its tail from the boat and took off!


Better the fish than the fisherman!


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## Addie (May 7, 2015)

Cooking Goddess said:


> If shrimp count, I can still almost taste the fresh grilled shrimp I had when we went to our timeshare resort in Fort Myers Beach for the first time. We checked in on our 38th wedding anniversary and wanted to go somewhere "special". After suggestions from the resort staff and looking at menus we gave up. Went riding around until we ended up at the old fish market/dockside bar and restaurant in town. Himself remembered going to that same market with his Dad when he would visit his parents in the early 1970s before we were married. The shrimp was simply prepared, but it was delicious since it had just been swimming in the gulf about three hours earlier.
> 
> *If you want my best fish ever story involving a fish, it is my memory of going to the local bar (back when it was OK for a kid of 8 to come in with their parent) for the Friday Fish Fry. All you could eat Lake Erie perch. They are my favorite fresh water fish.*



Around the corner from where I lived the French Club every Friday would turn their dance floor into a restaurant and families with very small children would always come even though the bar was right through the open doorway. Should any kids wander into the bar side, they would come back on heir own. Fish was always the main item. But I do remember when one mother stated the reason they came every Friday was because no one ever complained about the kids. And there were some very raucous kids there. But it was family night and kids are part of the family.

As we all know shrimp can be very tricky to make. You cook them until they turn pink and the are so tender, but cook them too long and they become tough. Not long enough and they are half raw. YUK! But this club had their boiled shrimp down to an art. You got a heaping bowl of shrimp, (shell your own) with a good size helping of garlic butter to dip them in. Always a favorite with the crowd and myself.


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## Dawgluver (May 7, 2015)

Another fish story:  we took the whole fam damily on DH's side to Michigan, one of the great lakes.  We went fishing.  We had enough people to take two boats.  The fishing boats hadn't caught anything for weeks, and told us fishing was really bad, but we surprised them, and caught lots of salmon, etc.  The crew cleaned and filleted them, and we had a wonderful barbeque cook out.  So much fish that we had to give a bunch away, and got free wave-runner time in exchange!  And being an old ND gal, I was the only one who knew how to drive a wave-runner with all the waves, very similar to driving a snowmobile!  Watching others try to drive a wave-runner was very entertaining, especially with somewhat, um, large people on the back.  And according to some, the water was very cold!


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## CWS4322 (May 7, 2015)

The best fish I have ever eaten is the walleye we caught at Lake-of-the-Woods. My grandpa had a short (maybe 3-4 ft) steel fishing rod that us kids used that to catch our first walleye. I can still see us out in the fishing boat....me with that rod, a bobber on it. My grandpa manning the net. Bringing my first walleye back to the dock and kissing it. And my grandma making sure I got to eat the tail, pan fried, so I didn't get any bones. You can cook walleye lots of ways, but my favorite is breaded and pan fried. Takes me back to Lake-of-the-Woods and summers spent with my grandparents. Walking the ditches to pick wild asparagus. A side of wild asparagus with fresh walleye--does it get any better than this?


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## CWS4322 (May 7, 2015)

My favourite view from the cabin.


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## Josie1945 (May 7, 2015)

Hi Kayelle,
  Glad you are home,
 I missed your daily posts.

Josie


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## puffin3 (May 7, 2015)

My favorite times as a commercial fisherman were when we started fishing for rock cod/ling cod/Dungeness crabs/prawns after the trolling season for Spring salmon had closed for the year.
There were half a dozen boats like mine with live fish wells in the S. Gulf Islands.
In the evenings some of us would raft up. We all had diesel flat top stoves.
Each boat would fill the cast iron stove top with some form of fresh seafood.
One would have crab, another lingcod fillets, another large whole prawns still jumping, another cook made a huge salad. Lots of tins of cold beer we stored in the live wells. Good friends. Playing cribbage after diner until the sun went down.
These crews were all lovers of excellent food. All the cooks were experts.
Funny how in every society people gravitate to those who are like minded.
Those were very special times.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (May 7, 2015)

My best fish story, I caught a 12 inch rainbow in a beaver dam.  This critter would lunge at my worm, and stop like it had just run into a glass door, about two inches from my worm.  He lunged and came up short three times, then gave up.  I flipped my worm closer to the log that he hid under, and when he lunged, he bit the worm and I set the hook.  I started reeling him to me, and at that same spot that he had stopped before, he came to a dead halt.  I couldn't pull him any further.  I was truly puzzled.  I walked into the beaver dam, about chest deep water.  I bent into the water and grabbed him.  It was then that I saw he was tethered to the log by a broken fishing line, with its hook in his mouth.  I clipped the line and took by fish home, cleaned and ate him with the brookies we'd caught.

My Dad always just dipped the trout in flour, pan fried in about two inches of oil, until golden  brown on both sides.  There were cleaned of course, with the heads removed.  I would just grab the backbone at the head end, and peel it out, bones and all like a zipper.  No sides were served, and the only condiment was ketchup.  Sooooooo good, sitting there with my Dad, just eating a mess of freshly caught and cooked brook trout.

Equal to that was swordfish, and ahi tuna kabobs cooked on the Webber with only my eldest daughter, but that's another story.

Oh, but wait, the brook trout caught while camping with DW and my kids (they were small then), sealed and cooked in foil with butter, salt, onion, carrots potatoes was fabulous.  I guess any great fish, prepared well, when eaten with the best people makes for the best fish meal ever.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Dawgluver (May 7, 2015)

CWS4322 said:


> My favourite view from the cabin.




How I love LOTW.

OK, one more.  Dad caught a really big walleye, and Mom decided she wanted to stuff it and bake it whole, as her mother used to do.  We all gave her the hairy eye, as we were used to having it filleted and pan fried.  It actually was pretty good.


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## CWS4322 (May 7, 2015)

Dawgluver said:


> How I love LOTW.


We just call it "The Lake." My grandparents, in-laws, my mom and her brothers built the cabin in 1948. My cousin inherited it when my grandma died (because he was the oldest cousin on both sides). The condition my grandma put on that was that the other side would always have access to it. The only change he made was to put in hot and cold running water, an indoor toilet, and a shower. The furniture is the same as it was when my grandparents were alive. The water is low this year--the sandbars are visible...there are four of them and we used to walk along the sandbars to "the Loaf," a rock that looked like a loaf of bread. There is the Big Loaf and the Little Loaf...my cousin's grandkids are doing the same thing when they go to the cabin.


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## Souschef (May 8, 2015)

Kayelle said:


> Aloha! We're back home from Hawaii, and I wanted to tell you about the best fish I *EVER ATE *and the most amazing part is I cooked it!
> 
> We bought a nice thick piece of ONO, and a jar of All Purpose Hawaiian Seasoning Salt (8 oz) - Noh Foods Hawaii
> The condo where we stay has an electric range I hate, and skillets that belong in the trash, but I did have some bacon fat from breakfast so I felt brave.  I was *very *generous with the seasoning salt that contains not only Hawaiian sea salt, but also garlic, vinegar, and chili peppers. I seared the 2" thick ONO on both sides in the bacon fat, and shoved the pan in the 350d. oven for a few minutes. I must have gotten really lucky and hit that "sweet spot" where it was just seconds away from being under done!
> ...


When       we got to the airport we were told our flight was delayed. Making       lemonade out of this,we discovered a Korean lunch truck near our       gate. Souschef had shortrib burrito, and Kayelle had a sweet chili       chicken quesiilla.The next day we had to food shop,hitting         KMart, Costco,and a local market for Koloa pork..Kayelle bought         some Ono, and cooked it for dinner. It was done under adverse         conditions; an electric range,and crappy pans.
       The results were spectacular. We brought a few of our Meyer         lemons,and Kayelle found some Hawaiian seasoning salt.The         combination was delicious.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (May 10, 2015)

Yeh, well let me tell you a fish story, the way fish stories are supposed to be told.  

I was in a small, 12 foot aluminum boat fishing the Niagara river.  I was about two miles upstream of the horseshoe falls, having drifted about 5 miles downstream from my starting point.  So I thought that I'd better fire up the old girl and head upstream.  She wouldn't start.  I started saying some very mean things to her, and she just became more stubborn.  I thought about jumping out, but there were no logs I could swim to so that I could whittle a propeller on one end, so that I could stand on the log and roll it with my feet to propell me back to safety.  I just kept on trying to start old Ruthy (that's what I called my boat),  Suddenly, I saw my rod bend further and faster than I'd ever seen that fishing rod bend.  It was made for catching orcas.  I grabbed the rod and gave a mighty tug.  Whatever was on the other end of that line gave a mighty tug back that almost pulled me out of the boat.  But I hung on.  Well that fish ran straight upstream so hard that I knew I was saved from a horrible death by plunging down the falls.  I braced my feet against the bow and hung onto that pole for dear life.  That fish ran so fast that my boat came instantly on plane.  I'd say we were doing 20 knots or so.

After about ten minutes, the beast began to slow down.  I was plenty far away from the falls.  Another couple of five minute runs, just as fast as that first run, had tired the beast out.  It leaped into the air one time, revealing itself as the biggest steelhead that had ever been seen, anywhere.  That fish was twelve foot long!  

I finally got it to the boat.  It looked at me with those steelhead eyes as if to say; "You know, I just saved your life.  Besides, I'm tough and old, not very good for eaten.  How about you just cut the line.  That little hook will rust away soon enough and I'll be as good as new.  How about it.  Cut the line.

I'm telling you the absolute truth, that's what those eyes said to me.  So, I cut the line.  Yep, I see old Herbert every now and again.  That's what I named him.  He likes the name.

He swims in Lake Superior now.  He'll rise to just under the surface, then snap his jaws to spit water at me.  I furiously wag my finger at him and say; "Keep it up Herbert, and one of these days you'll end up in my frying pan.  We both laugh.  Steelhead look very peculiar when they laugh.  Then, he just swims away, sometimes to chase a school of whitefish to my boat, sometimes, just to enjoy his mighty wet kingdom.  Everybody should have a steelhead for a best friend, dontcha think?

Now that's a fish story!  Can you tell why they call me Chief Longwind of the North?

May your hot things be hot, your cold things be cold, and your cheddar served at room temperature.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## CraigC (May 10, 2015)

Wow, finding the really great fish story is going to be tough. I guess one of my most memorable was finally nailing this one black grouper after trying for eight weeks. The first time I saw this fish, my buddy and I were on a small patch of reef catching lobster. It was sitting out in the sand next to a sea fan watching us. It had lightened up it's color to blend with the sand better. I didn't have my gun and tried to point it out to my buddy. He couldn't see it so I signaled him to give me his gun. I tried to make a circling approach but the fish wasn't having any of it. I knew it was getting ready to bolt so I took a long, desperation shot from about 40'. Of course I missed and it was off for the hills across the sand. After retrieving the shaft, I took off after it, knowing that there had to be some type of structure in the direction the fish took. After about 200 yards, I found a piece of abandoned dredge pipe where this fish had taken up residence. This pipe was about 200' long and laying parallel to the shore, maybe 3/4 of a mile out. There it was, sitting over a split in the pipe about 50' from the southern end. As I approached, into the pipe it went. Over the next 7 weeks, I tried to get this fish, but I never could get closer than 50 to 60 feet before it dove into the pipe. I was on the boat the next week, showing a new Captain some locations and decided to take him to the northern end of the pipe, because it was the perfect depth and location for the class of scuba students and their instructor, that were on board.
Since I was freeloading that day, I decided to have a go at that grouper. This time, I tried a stealth approach by hugging the side of the pipe and holding my breath the last 50' of my approach. When I got to where the split was, I popped up, gun ready and there it was! Pulled the trigger and hit the mark right behind the head. The fish made a dive for the pipe, but with 6' of stainless, spring steel sticking through it isn't gonna happen. Patience payed off. Some good eaten that night. The grouper was about 18#. The boat was located to another spot, that patch reef I mentioned earlier. I hit the water hoping to find some bugs and maybe a hog or mutton. After catching a couple bugs, I looked up and dang if there wasn't another black just watching me at close range, but I already had enough fish. Maybe next time!


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (May 10, 2015)

CraigC said:


> Wow, finding the really great fish story is going to be tough. I guess one of my most memorable was finally nailing this one black grouper after trying for eight weeks. The first time I saw this fish, my buddy and I were on a small patch of reef catching lobster. It was sitting out in the sand next to a sea fan watching us. It had lightened up it's color to blend with the sand better. I didn't have my gun and tried to point it out to my buddy. He couldn't see it so I signaled him to give me his gun. I tried to make a circling approach but the fish wasn't having any of it. I knew it was getting ready to bolt so I took a long, desperation shot from about 40'. Of course I missed and it was off for the hills across the sand. After retrieving the shaft, I took off after it, knowing that there had to be some type of structure in the direction the fish took. After about 200 yards, I found a piece of abandoned dredge pipe where this fish had taken up residence. This pipe was about 200' long and laying parallel to the shore, maybe 3/4 of a mile out. There it was, sitting over a split in the pipe about 50' from the southern end. As I approached, into the pipe it went. Over the next 7 weeks, I tried to get this fish, but I never could get closer than 50 to 60 feet before it dove into the pipe. I was on the boat the next week, showing a new Captain some locations and decided to take him to the northern end of the pipe, because it was the perfect depth and location for the class of scuba students and their instructor, that were on board.
> Since I was freeloading that day, I decided to have a go at that grouper. This time, I tried a stealth approach by hugging the side of the pipe and holding my breath the last 50' of my approach. When I got to where the split was, I popped up, gun ready and there it was! Pulled the trigger and hit the mark right behind the head. The fish made a dive for the pipe, but with 6' of stainless, spring steel sticking through it isn't gonna happen. Patience payed off. Some good eaten that night. The grouper was about 18#. The boat was located to another spot, that patch reef I mentioned earlier. I hit the water hoping to find some bugs and maybe a hog or mutton. After catching a couple bugs, I looked up and dang if there wasn't another black just watching me at close range, but I already had enough fish. Maybe next time!



I likek it.

Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## CraigC (May 10, 2015)

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> I likek it.
> 
> Seeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North



Oh, I got one about a guy who took a beating from a cobia in the Dry Tortugas.


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## RPCookin (May 10, 2015)

When I was a college freshman in Missoula, Montana in 1965, the cafeteria only served breakfast and lunch on Sundays, so we were on our own for supper.  During that fall, often 5 or 6 of us went fishing on the Clark's Fork (of the Columbia River) for our evening meal.  We would fill our pockets with pats of butter from the cafeteria at lunch, "borrow" a couple of salt and pepper shakers from the table, one guy had a huge cast iron frying pan, and we would chip in for flour, and head down to the river, just a short walk from campus.  Someone would start a fire and get the pan hot while the rest of us fished.  There was nothing like fresh caught rainbow and brown trout cleaned, seasoned and dredged, and cooked as fast as they come out of the water.

One of the last days we got to do this before winter took over, we were doing the same as usual.  One of the guys was an avid fly fisherman and fly tier, and he was using a mosquito imitation tied on a #28 hook.  A #28 is almost microscopic, and he usually caught nice 10-14 inch rainbows with flies that size.  This day he got into a real fish, fought it for more than 20 minutes before bringing it close enough to net it.  Turned out to be a 5 pound brown, just hooked through a flap of skin on its lip.  None of us could believe that he could catch a fish that size on such a tiny fly, or that the hook didn't slip out or tear out of the little bit of skin it was hooked into.  It took a good fisherman with a very gentle hand on the rod to play that fish to the net.  

I know it sounds like a fish story, but it really happened, and that trout was filleted on the spot and that was the best Sunday evening meal we had that entire fall quarter.


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## Selkie (May 10, 2015)

*"The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line." - *_William Humphrey_


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## CraigC (May 10, 2015)

Selkie said:


> *"The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line." - *_William Humphrey_



No lines here, we call it free shafting.


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## Farmer Jon (May 10, 2015)

There is nothing better than fresh catfish. The campground we frequent is right on the river. We put out set lines and fish with rod and reel. Any fish caught are immediately cleaned, wrapped in foil, seasoned with some salt and pepper and a little cookies flavor enhancer. Put right on the coals of the camp fire. Roughly 30 minutes from river to belly. It don't get any fresher than that.

Cookies Seasoning Flavor Enhancer and All Purpose 36.0 oz Nutrition Information | ShopWell


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## CWS4322 (May 10, 2015)

Farmer Jon said:


> There is nothing better than fresh catfish. The campground we frequent is right on the river. We put out set lines and fish with rod and reel. Any fish caught are immediately cleaned, wrapped in foil, seasoned with some salt and pepper and a little cookies flavor enhancer. Put right on the coals of the camp fire. Roughly 30 minutes from river to belly. It don't get any fresher than that.
> 
> Cookies Seasoning Flavor Enhancer and All Purpose 36.0 oz Nutrition Information | ShopWell


Disagree! Walleye from Lake of the Woods is much better than fresh catfish.  And a shore lunch...on the rocks...beer batter...pan fry...nothing better. Oh, we fight over the walleye cheeks.


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## Dawgluver (May 10, 2015)

I have to agree with CWS.  There is nothing better than fresh-caught walleye, especially from LOTW.  And I live on the mighty Mississippi, home of the catfish.

Though there's nothing wrong with fresh catfish if you can't get walleye.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (May 10, 2015)

CWS4322 said:


> Disagree! Walleye from Lake of the Woods is much better than fresh catfish.  And a shore lunch...on the rocks...beer batter...pan fry...nothing better. Oh, we fight over the walleye cheeks.



Disagree:  There is nothing better than a mess of freshly caught yellow perch, cleaned and made into fillets on one of the little islands of the St. Mary's river that runs between SSM Mi, and SSM Ont.  You fry them up in a little oil, in a heavy cast iron pan set over a cooking fire.  At the same time, you slice then fry potato slices.  when both are done, you put some ketchup on a slice of bread, place the fish and fried spud slices on top, cover with the second slice, after salting of course, and chow down with your best friend on a warm July day.  

As a teen, I used to do that with my best friend often.  I had the boat (or rather, my stepfather had the boat and let us use it all the time).  We'd pick nightcrawlers the night before, in the cemetary (the richest hunting ground for nightcrawlers I ever saw).  We'd get up with the sun, hop in the boat, and go fishing.  Sometimes we'd take along a large tarp, find sticks on those swampy little islands, and make an impromptu tent and stay a day or two.  That was seriously rustic camping.  The fishing, and the friends made it worth battling all of those pesky mosquitoes though.  Those potato-fish sandwiches were amazing.

My favorite is still brook trout though.  To me, they have the best flavor of all fish, better than walley, better than salmon, better than cod, etc, etc.  And 10 to 15 inch rainbows are just as tasty.

I like those other fish, but really, with those beautiful little Eastern Brookies, the rest are simply 2nd rate, except for maybe swordfish, the other great fish.

That's MHO.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


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## Dawgluver (May 10, 2015)

We'll have to agree to disagree, Chief.  I've had crappy, bluegill, every kind of trout imaginable, and LOTW walleye is still king.

Guess it just depends what you're raised on.


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## CWS4322 (May 10, 2015)

Dawgluver said:


> We'll have to agree to disagree, Chief. I've had crappy, bluegill, every kind of trout imaginable, and LOTW walleye is still king.
> 
> Guess it just depends what you're raised on.


Gotta agree with Dawgluver. We always threw the perch back. Not worth the time to clean and cook when we could bring home walleye.


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## Dawgluver (May 10, 2015)

CWS4322 said:


> Gotta agree with Dawgluver. We always threw the perch back. Not worth the time to clean and cook when we could bring home walleye.




We always threw the perch back too!  And the northerns.  Dad said they were wormy, though they did put up a good fight.


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## CWS4322 (May 10, 2015)

Dawgluver said:


> We always threw the perch back too! And the northerns. Dad said they were wormy, though they did put up a good fight.


We said that about perch-wormy. Don't know about the northerns--we called them snakes, too many bones. Not worth the time to clean them. 

My older brother's first fish he caught was a northern. The tradition was to bring the fish home, have a picture of the kid kissing the fish. Grandma saw that he caught a northern, and told him that we didn't eat snakes, take it to the folks who had the cabin next door. Poor guy. The first fish I caught was a walleye... We also threw back burbuts, (sp), eel pout, catfish, dogfish--basically, any thing that wasn't a walleye. We did keep saugers.


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## Dawgluver (May 10, 2015)

We always pitched the saugers.  When I was a young adult, my little (6'4") brother and I went fishing together with a boat.  He filleted the walleyes we caught, and we ended up having a fish gut fight.  Mom wouldn't let us in the cabin until we hosed off.


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## CWS4322 (May 10, 2015)

Dawgluver said:


> We always pitched the saugers. When I was a young adult, my little (6'4") brother and I went fishing together with a boat. We ended up having a fish gut fight. Mom wouldn't let us in the cabin until we hosed off.


 If the walleye were biting, we pitched the saugers, but if we weren't catching enough walleye to feed us all, we kept the saugers. But, we never kept the perch or northerns. We'd have burgers before we'd eat those.


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## Dawgluver (May 10, 2015)

No offense to anyone, and we didn't mean to hijack the thread.  CWS and I both grew up eating walleye from our beloved Lake of the Woods, and are very passionate about it. It's all good!


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## RPCookin (May 11, 2015)

CWS4322 said:


> Disagree! Walleye from Lake of the Woods is much better than fresh catfish.  And a shore lunch...on the rocks...beer batter...pan fry...nothing better. Oh, we fight over the walleye cheeks.



Walleye is fantastic camp food.


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