Short Story

[Driftless]

We fished another 30 minutes and walked back downstream. We stopped at Mike's hole where he caught the biggest brown he had every caught in 10 years of fishing. There it laid in the center of the hole. It was obviously dead. I motioned to Mike to go out and get it. He looked at me in disbelief. I questioned Mike: "Mike are going to get that trout or not?" Mike told me: "In 10 years of flyfishing he had NEVER kept a trout and it was against his belief system." I waded out to the center of the hole and retrieved the trout. We walked back to the vehicle and as we walked we talked. To my UTTER astonishment Mike had never kept a trout EVER and did not know how to clean a trout.

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[Big Hit]

Yum. Nothing tastes better than a 20" brown with a build up of lactic acid.

[Nate McVey]

MMMMMMM.......delicious!

[Driftless]

6 years ago I was fishing with my buddy Mike. It was May season. Mike was throwing buggers and I was slinging panther martins. I told Mike before we went that I was going to keep three for the frying pan for the night. I caught my three right away and stopped fishing. Mike had driven for a long ways and I thought I would go along to be a net man and take some photos for him.

Just near the end of the day Mike tied in to about an 18 inch brown. It was a battle royal. Mike was obviously very pumped up because he had never landed such a big fish before. It took 9 minutes to land the trout. The trout was spent when it got to the net. Mike admired it and started to revive it. The trout was really tired due to the prolonged battle. I can remember Mike talking to the trout. "Please don't die he said." "You are the biggest trout I have ever landed and I won't be able to live with myself if you die."

Mike released it and it did one swish of the tail and went up on its side. Mike went after it and rowed it in the water for a long time again. I told Mike that the trout was going to die because of the lactic acid build up from the prolonged battle. I suggested Mike to keep it. Mike said he wanted to give it every possibility to live and was going to release it. Mike gave it a little push in to the center of the hole and it swam/floated away.

We fished another 30 minutes and walked back downstream. We stopped at Mike's hole where he caught the biggest brown he had every caught in 10 years of fishing. There it laid in the center of the hole. It was obviously dead. I motioned to Mike to go out and get it. He looked at me in disbelief. I questioned Mike: "Mike are going to get that trout or not?" Mike told me: "In 10 years of flyfishing he had NEVER kept a trout and it was against his belief system." I waded out to the center of the hole and retrieved the trout. We walked back to the vehicle and as we walked we talked. To my UTTER astonishment Mike had never kept a trout EVER and did not know how to clean a trout.

I guilted Mike in to carrying the trout because I had my limit. I told him he could give it to the farmer that land we were fishing on if he was uncomfortable with cleaning a fish or eating it. I guess the guilt trip got to Mike. When we got back to the vehicle Mike decided he wanted a lesson in cleaning trout and maybe a recipe from me for cooking trout on the grill.

I gave Mike a fish cleaning lesson and he was astounded at how easy they were to clean. Mike called me the next day from his deck and thanked me for talking him in to taking that trout home. His wife and he were on their decking eating their first ever grilled brown trout.

[Scudly]

Quote:

I gave Mike a fish cleaning lesson and he was astounded at how easy they were to clean.

So simple. No scales. I just run a knife down the belly, remove guts, and I'm done. Less than 30" to clean a trout.

I'm going to bring a propane stove this summer. have a little fish fry right on the spot. Nothing better than fresh fish!