Fish Fry

I mentioned in the last post that I looooove to fish for gar.    So far, I have caught exactly ONE.    The best methods are illegal, and I figure that if anyone is goin' to get popped by Game and Fish, it will be me.    I try my luck legally, and get skunked every time.    The one I caught I caught by accident because I was set up for bream, and it was amazing that the fish didn't snap the line-----lots of sharp teeth in that snout!
     This is my son-in-law with a gar that he caught.    This is a big fish, but gar can grow to a huge size:

Some people eat these, but they are too boney for me to fool with.    You can slice 'em into steaks (fried or grilled) and pick bones all night long, or you can grind it up in a food processor, bones and all, and make gar patties.    But not in my kitchen.


Now, THIS is probably my favorite fishing in The Whole Wide World!    Call 'em bowfin, grindle, or mudfish, this fish will fight like you won't believe!    Ex and I caught one on a jug hook that pulled us and a six foot boat all over the pond we were in.

We ran across an older lady who was fishing on the bank one day at a local lake and asked her if they were good to eat, and if so, how do you prepare them?
     Yes, they are tasty, but you have to clean them like other fish and soak them in ice water and vinegar FOR THREE DAYS so they can bleed out.    Then you grind 'em up, make patties, and fry 'em.     Oh Hell no.     This is another bones-and-all meal deal that I cannot abide.   I don't eat salmon patties for the same reason.     Makes me queasy and if I crunch bones supper is OVER.    Captain D.'s does a good fish sandwich should a hankerin' overcome me.
     We gave her the bowfin we caught and she was tickled to death to have the thing.    She crammed that thing----over two foot long----into a five gallon bucket, dropped the lid on the bucket, sat down on the bucket, and went back to fishin'.     We did not have fish for supper.

This is a bream/panfish/stump-knocker/bluegill:

Fun to catch and the main ingredient in a bream sandwich as mentioned in the last post.   
    We lived way out in the country for a few years, and we had a pond to fish, and it was full of these.    We fed 'em and they became more like pets than groceries.    Throw a handful of dog chow into the water and the water would boil like it was full of piranhas.They say that piranha is considered good eatin' in some parts of the world.    I will never know.   

I know about softshell turtles and that won't happen again.   They say that there are seven different flavors in a softshell turtle.   All of them are bad but I know people who grew up with that delicacy and will fight over one.

Lampus eels:   damn anything that still bleeds after you fry it crisp.   The cooler it gets, the more it bleeds.    Again, I know folks who love 'em.

Alligator tail tastes like a porkchop fried in fish grease, but tryin' it for the first time at a county fair was probably not the best way to experience it. 

Just pass the grits my way and I'll take a pass on the rest.    Where's the sweet tea?