In the last century around the 60's and 70's our summers were spent going camping at Spirit Lake, Iowa. Sometimes we would venture up to one of the 10,000 lakes in Minnesota The lakes seemed to have muddy bottoms, a floating system was always a must. My brother and I would sunburn to a crisp while floating around on our inter tubes. Yes, the kind that came out of a car. After we were flaming red and hot to the touch, we would head back to the tent, load up in the sedan and head to the fishing area. Sunscreen wasn't invented, we would just put a t-shirt on to keep the sun off while fishing. With bamboo poles and slimy worms on hooks, we would swing and plop the line in the water. Where we fished, you could just say the word FISH and the bullheads would jump on the hook. Bullheads were my introduction to the culinary world of eating fish. My dad would say after they were cleaned and ready to fry up...."If you are hungry enough, you will eat it!"
If you are hungry enough, you will eat it! |
Why in the world would God create a Bullhead? He surely had a sense of humor. That fish is black and slimy with tentacles that barb you. My dad would use a pliers to skin it with bleeding hands from touching the "whiskers". As an observer, I did not lick my lips and shout," Oh goody, let's eat Bullheads!"
There was something about frying them in beer batter over the camp stove that made it tolerable. I was hungry enough, I ate it. We even ate them for breakfast!
Halibut. Now that is a great tasting fish. I wouldn't even think of cooking it in beer batter. Oh, and let's pair it with a fantastic Pinot Grigio. I can't wait until I can go fishing in Alaska. I promise to wear sunscreen and a hat. I hope I do get to blog about a trip to Alaska, however, it would be hard to be away from Hope for 10 days. Stay tuned!!!
Do you like fish????