This is a continuation of the series of experiences with odd food.
I found myself living in a popup trailer in a rather scummy trailer park. Barely enough money to cover gas and serious essentials like beer, and not much left over for food. There was a small pond next to the park, and one afternoon I decided to try for a couple of brim for supper, having eaten the last hotdog for breakfast. I threw out a white popper and almost at once got a hit. Smallish brim. Keep or let go? Hmmm. Well, “he’s a fish ain’t he” as an old fisherman once told me, so I kept him (or her). After several more casts another hit. More fight. Silvery. I landed the thing, looked at it and thought “I don’t know what you are, but you are a fish.” More casts, no more fish.
After the usual beheading, gutting and scaling I got ready for supper. Yummm. Fresh fried fish and beans. The fish fried to a nice brown while the beans heated. I ate the brim first. Good but small. On to the mystery fish. Boney. Very boney. Geeze! Bifurcated bones all throughout the meat. Take a small forkful and debone it with tongue and lips. What a pain. But it tasted good and “He’s a fish, ain’t he?”
Later in describing the critter I learned it was probably a large shiner, normally used for bait, but this time the meal itself. Now the lesson here is this: unless you are very hungry and poor, never eat a shiner. While they taste OK, the bones make the effort hardly worth it. Should have hooked the shiner on a weedless hook and gone for a bass. Now that would have been a meal. Oh well. Sometime you have to fish or cut bait, and sometimes you have to fish and eat bait. And sometimes you ARE the bait. Life is funny that way.
I found myself living in a popup trailer in a rather scummy trailer park. Barely enough money to cover gas and serious essentials like beer, and not much left over for food. There was a small pond next to the park, and one afternoon I decided to try for a couple of brim for supper, having eaten the last hotdog for breakfast. I threw out a white popper and almost at once got a hit. Smallish brim. Keep or let go? Hmmm. Well, “he’s a fish ain’t he” as an old fisherman once told me, so I kept him (or her). After several more casts another hit. More fight. Silvery. I landed the thing, looked at it and thought “I don’t know what you are, but you are a fish.” More casts, no more fish.
After the usual beheading, gutting and scaling I got ready for supper. Yummm. Fresh fried fish and beans. The fish fried to a nice brown while the beans heated. I ate the brim first. Good but small. On to the mystery fish. Boney. Very boney. Geeze! Bifurcated bones all throughout the meat. Take a small forkful and debone it with tongue and lips. What a pain. But it tasted good and “He’s a fish, ain’t he?”
Later in describing the critter I learned it was probably a large shiner, normally used for bait, but this time the meal itself. Now the lesson here is this: unless you are very hungry and poor, never eat a shiner. While they taste OK, the bones make the effort hardly worth it. Should have hooked the shiner on a weedless hook and gone for a bass. Now that would have been a meal. Oh well. Sometime you have to fish or cut bait, and sometimes you have to fish and eat bait. And sometimes you ARE the bait. Life is funny that way.
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