Springtime Fishing: Volume 1

It’s actually nice out! And even better, the fish are biting! Here’s an update on what’s been a great first month or so of actual fishing.

Brief aside: I am making sure to get the fish as fast back into the water as possible, so there’ll be a slight dip in the quality of pictures with them. Also, I felt like a conceited dingus holding a photoshoot every time I caught something.

All about that bass, ’bout that bass, no treble.

Hands down, man down, small mouth bass are pound-for-pound the most fun fish to catch. And these basstards are looking to do two things after a long hibernation during the winter:

1) Eat any and everything – which results in your lure getting absolutely smashed

and

2) Meet their significant other, “settle down”, and have some baby bass.

I got a close glimpse at 1) just the other day (I repeat, a close glimpse at ONE, not TWO). I happened to be going on a jog (i.e., walk) over a bridge when I came to a screeching halt after looking down at the creek below:

I have never seen fish in this spot of the creek and I obviously needed to identify what we were dealing with. Thus, a few days later I came back with my fishing gear and tried catching them with a small spinning lure (it’s always better to start small first – small fish will bite and maybe the big fish, whereas small fish will rarely bite a huge lure). After getting closer I quickly realized I was never going to catch these fish with the gear I had. It was some sort of colony of fallfish I believe. Fallfish are just large minnows, not as large as carp which I’ve never caught but they are still very much beefy boys – here’s one I caught a few years back:

The problem is you’re only going to catch these fish if you’re using bait like corn, hotdogs, etc. – things I naturally did not think to bring. Nevertheless, I kept fishing because you really never know what else might be in even a small creek like this. Welp, turned out, an absolute LUNKER bass was waiting patiently for me to try a bigger lure and promptly smashed it:

As always, this fish put up a great fight, even jumping full clear of the water. It’s hard to tell, but I think this is probably the second biggest smallie bass I’ve caught ever – an absolute specimen. I was extremely happy to say the least. While I’d like to say I was surprised to see such a big boy in a small creek, a few weeks earlier I hooked onto a massive momma bass that appeared to be nesting in an equally small creek:

How did I know it was a momma bass? Once the bass have “settled down” with each other, the momma will look to nest down over her eggs for a good chunk of time (though I guess in some northern areas it can be the male – progress!). This essentially means you can have a big bass standing completely still in the water not willing to move. In order to catch one, you really have to place the lure directly on top of them. If you do do this, you’ll notice you’re hooked before you even began reeling in to create any action with the lure.

I should note I have no idea if any of the above is actually the case, but it makes sense and it’s my blog.

Just like the previous bass, this one did not come in quietly and it really is a thrill to fight them in these tiny creeks where you can clearly see all their moves. Here she is:

It’s hard to get a scope of the size but this really is a big girl. An interesting thing to note is the large color differences between these two fish. Apparently (and this I actually did look up), smallies are essentially chameleons – i.e., they have the capacity to change colors depending on location. This bass was in a dark creek with a woodsy bottom, hence the darker overall look and stripes. The other bass was in a super clear, totally sandy creek, thus they had a light “coat” on.

You’ll notice I didn’t take either of those bass back with me to the kitchen. I’ve heard conflicting reports about eating bass and whether they taste good or not. My suspicion is they may not be quite as good as other fish, but also it’s probably way more to do with the type of water they live in (bass can live in low quality water some other fish can’t tolerate). Either way, I generally don’t bring them home because I’d rather catch them again – they really are the best fish to fish.

Now on to something I did opt to cook up…

I’d Rather be Lucky than Hungry

I found myself enjoying a pleasant Saturday afternoon when I heard my stomach rumble. I made a mad dash for the fridge to ward off any imminent malnutrition, but realized I had not purchased anything suitable for dinner. Aghast at this, I immediately decided to take a trip up north to a spot where I suspected there’d be walleye:

Why walleye? Simply put, they are delicous. Another reason is that I’ve been wanting to try a different fry method. Up till now, I’ve used a beer batter which is typically what you’ll find with a good fish-and-chips style meal. But at least for walleye, the more traditional method is to simply fry them using an egg wash with either corn meal or panko bread crumbs (with the former being the more popular). I’ve heard that panko generates the best crunch, so that’s why I went with.

Of course, I’m putting the cart before the horse here – I needed to actually catch the dang thing first. For this, I admittedly got excessively lucky. I was fishing in the middle of the day and walleye are really a lot more active in the evening. After fishing for a while I started to lose hope. Then, out of absolutely nowhere, I had a fish on!

Turns out, I foul-hooked the fish. This just means the fish never actually bit or maybe even saw the lure, but I literally just bumped the hook into it on accident – a lucky situation I happily embraced! Despite not being the biggest fish, walleye really do generate a lot of meat:

I cooked the fish with the following steps:

1) Crack open a beer and take a sip.

2) Season the fillets directly. This ensures the flavor stays on the fillet during the frying process. I used basically every seasoning I had, including a heavy dose of old bay. Take another sip of the beer.

2) Dip the fillets in an eggwash then immediately transfer it into a bowl/plate with the bread crumbs and make sure you get a liberal coating. You’re gonna wanna take a sip of that beer again.

3) Place the fillets directly into oil set to medium-high. The oil should be hot, an easy way to check is to throw some breadcrumbs in and see if they brown quickly (but not too quickly/blacken). You’re currently dealing with piping hot oil, so actually maybe don’t further distract yourself with the beer this step (speaking from experience).

Here’s a visual of the whole process:

Once the fillets are a nice golden brown, you’re good to go! Fish cooks really quickly, most fish are honestly overcooked. A great thing to serve with fried fish is homemade tartar sauce – stupid easy to make and 1000x better than anything store bought (this holds true for barbecue sauce too). Just get some relish or chopped pickles, mix it into some mayo, add in lemon zest and juice, and FRESH dill. It really is great.

And thus, I was able to ward off starvation due to some good old-fashioned luck. Of course, in order to get lucky you have to first…

Cast and pray,

Jon (obligatory photo of Bubz below)