Post by macmex on Feb 20, 2024 7:54:24 GMT -6
I want to post and share about the fishing trip I took Jerreth on yesterday but will leave the title of this thread as a plain "fishing," as that makes it easier for others to share their fishing stories here. To be honest, I am about as happy with a good day, filling a stringer with blue gills, as I am about anything else, but sometimes it's nice to catch "lunkers" too. It has been my wife's dream, for years, to go for paddlefish. This is sometimes called a "living fossil," probably because of it's exotic appearance, and the fact that few folk actually see them. They are not endangered in Oklahoma, and in Missouri the limit on them is even higher in number than in Oklahoma, but apparently the largest paddlefish are found in Oklahoma.
Jerreth and I, along with our oldest daughter often take our boat out on Lake Fort Gibson to fish for catfish. There, we've observed paddlefish, almost always from a distance. They are plankton feeders, so when one catches one of these, is by snagging. I have to say if I snagged one of these on my normal rod and reel, that might well be the end of my rod and reel. Fish and Game laws actually allow spear fishing for these. I can't imagine. First of all, I wouldn't want to go down into that murky water looking for them. Secondly, if I got one on the end of a spear, it might take me for a mile or two before I managed to finish it off! Still, our guided trip was well worth it. It cost a pretty penny but success without a guide would have been nothing but a pipe dream.4
Yesterday was sunny. Out on on the lake it was pretty breezy and cool. Billy, our guide. If anyone ever wanted to try fishing for these, I'd highly recommend Billy's Guide Service, LLC. Turns out that it would be a slow day on the lake and Billy guarantees that everyone catches a fish or they get their money back. He came through. I got the impression we might have been fishing by flashlight if necessary. He was DETERMINED that we catch fish. Additionally, he made every effort to educate us on the biology of this species and how we ourselves could fish for them. By the end of the day I was thinking, we might catch one every once in a blue moon on our own but if we really wanted paddlefish, I'd rather pay for Billy's expertise and equipment. I'll focus on catfish!
Here's a picture of my wife with her fish. She caught the first one.
This alone made the trip worth it.
We had invited a young, college age friend to go with us. Hunter caught a somewhat larger one on the next round. Then, at the end, I latched on to a 50 lb fish. Whoa! I have never hooked a 50 pounder before and almost never used a bait casting reel and rod. I really struggled with that rod. It felt as if I had hooked a submarine! In fact, I'm still sore, a day later.
Though they encouraged me to stand while posing with my fish, I preferred to sit down. I couldn't help but think that it would be my luck that I'd pose with it and it would flap, get loose and bounce back into the lake!
Here's a photo of the three of us, as we prepared to clean the fish. (Actually, Billy did that. He has lots of experience. We did learn however.)
As we fished Billy told us of some of his other clients. It turns out he has Russian clients (probably residents of the USA) who come every year. They are DYING to get the roe and make caviar. It's very close to the caviar which comes from sturgeon and hence practically precious. Many Anglo Americans, on the other hand, have no interest in saving the fish roe. They discard it. Billy's comment was that "That's how one gets to see a Russian cry." (If they should see the Anglo American) discard 10 lb of paddlefish roe.) Well, I couldn't remember ever having tried caviar. Jerreth tells me we did, about 45 years ago.) However we hate to waste and are always open to trying something new. I tend to trust other ethnicities. If they eat it and like it, I figure I will too. So, we brought the roe back with us. We stayed up way past bedtime processing caviar and still have more to do. I also had saved a good many scraps from the paddlefish and trimmed some additional flesh from them. Finally, we just had to quit for the night. We were practically seeing double by this time.
This is a mixing bowl of paddlefish roe.
For every pound of roe one can produce about 1/2 pound of caviar.
When the first batch was done, Jerreth wanted me to try it first, to see if it was any good. I joked that if I liked it then... maybe everyone else would too. I'm renowned for not being finicky. We followed the suggestions we found in an article on caviar, and spread it thickly on half of a buttered hard roll. Wow! It was fabulous! It wasn't fishy yet hard to describe... tastes like caviar
We read that caviar is only good, even refrigerated, for a week. Billy, a stickler for the law, also informed us that it is both illegal to sell paddlefish flesh or eggs and to transport any part of the fish across state lines. So, we will be eating a fair amount of caviar in the coming week. I plan on dropping by Ron's with some fish and caviar too. Ron, no doubt, will drop in here and share his story about paddlefish. Ron is a repository of Oklahoma history and culture. It's just the cream on top that he's so good at recounting it!