That’s one thing I’ve done a lot of. When I started out, fishing was free for anyone under 16 years old, and when I started to buy my fishing license, it was about 10 dollars, but like everything else, it’s not the same as it used to be. It kicks the hell out of a 100 bill. They’ve got a fee for everything you do these days. You can’t even park at a fishing hole anymore without paying a fee. It used to be, when you turned 70 you got to fish for free, and by God you should, but not anymore. Hell, I always figured, if I made it to 70, I’d be damn lucky. I’d deserve to get something for free.
But not in Washington.
If you have not been fishing, I suggest you try it. You can sit and fish and slow things down and just relax. Best therapy I know. If more people went fishing these days, they wouldn’t need psychologists. Even if you don’t catch a fish, it doesn’t really matter, because you got to relax and get away from it all.
I’ve fished just about everywhere in the Pacific Northwest and for just about everything.
I’ve been on a charter boat in the ocean and caught salmon and even a shark, a sand shark, and let it go. I’ve fished from shore and caught sea perch, sea crappie, and fished from a jetty and caught sea bass and pogie, crabs and clams, and oysters and butter clams. I especially like sea perch and crappie. It’s white meat. You can fillet it out and fry it up. It’s delicious.
I caught crawdads and even ate kelp and seaweed. I’ve fished for salmon and steel-head and sturgeon and walleye, and they’re all good eating, too. I’ve ate frog legs, and yes, they taste like chicken, but don’t watch them cook in a frying pan because they do jump around. Another good eating fish is catfish, but they’re harder to clean. You have to nail the head to a board and cut the skin behind the head, and with a pair of pliers, peel the skin back, then fillet the meat. It’s white meat, too.
When cooking fish, the fresher the better. I’ve caught a lot of other kinds of fish, too. Trout and land lock salmon. Kokanee put up a heck of a fight and are fun to fish for. Make sure, if you ever go fishing for tuna, research it a little because when cleaning tuna you need to cut the blood line out of the fish or it will taint the fish, but I’ve never had a better flavored smoked fish. I’ve even ate smoked smelt, years ago, and those you would smoke and eat the whole fish, head and all.
I’ve fished for crappie along log rafts with white jigs and caught gunnysacks full. White fillets that melt in your mouth. East of the mountains, in the high mountain lakes, the trout are bigger and broader because they been fattening up through the winter. I’ve fished for tiger muskie with steel leader, but never caught any. And, yes, I’ve fished for white for selling to the state but, personally, never caught enough to make any money.
Years ago, every once in a while, I would catch carp. Never ate it myself, but I had an aunt and uncle that just loved carp. They were from back east, so whenever I caught any carp, you know where it would go. I knew a guy that caught one over 6 feet long.
I think my favorite style, personally, is bobber fishing for trout and land lock salmon, cooking kokanee over an open fire or wrapped in tin foil. It’s time for you to go out and go fishing now!
—Randy Long
https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com
http://readadamnbookwithrfy.blogspot.com
https://schoolofmadnessastruth.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/richard.f.yates/
No comments:
Post a Comment