Brookies for Breakfast

Jim,
I’m right there with you. I miss the fried fish, hash browns and corn on the cob dinners we used to have. As a matter of fact; I’m planning on at least one of those dinners at my “Fishing Rendezvous” on Fathers Day Weekend. They won’t be brookies, but I hear the Cutts are delicious.

JC, Great article. I have to chime on on this one. It is not PC to kill and eat fish anymore, in fly fishing circles that is, and especially trout. All you hear these days is how the fish have to be protected, and how we shouldn’t even remove them from the water to remove the hook.
Well you know what? How many of these “blessed trout, the fish of king’s” are stockers? Plenty. So go ahead and kill them, we will make more. That’s right, trout are manufactured, more so than any other fish. So eat up, more test tube trout are on the way.

Bash me if you want, I really don’t care.

J.

I certainly grew up with a catch and release ethic. That is catch and release into hot grease. I find that where I am there are state wide notices not to eat too many fish due to PCBs and Mercury. I also find that I don’t get the joy out of bringing home the dinner. Its not a moral issue, but rather I say that I don’t like to kill the things I play with.

I also note that while there are circles that distain the killing of fish there are many friends I have that still see it as an opportunity to stock the freezer, just like they do with the game they kill. I think both ethics are still alive and well.

Here is my question, if we don’t kill our catch then are we just torturing these fish for our own pleasure, or torturing then and then letting them die slowly (delayed mortality)?

Now talking about delayed mortality, I stock fish for a discovery center and have done so for years. Probably put over 50 fish in those thanks. I don’t think I lost a single one due to delayed mortality. Is this a real issue or is this something that is infrequent overstated?

I am not PC on this issue, I do think about it and in the end I fish because I like to and that’s that.

Jed, you bring up a good point. Pollutants are a problem in many areas, and eating fish isn’t a good idea. That’s kind of a problem here where I live. We don’t have trout, it’s all warm water. This area was a big part of the steel industry at one time, and the entire Mahoning river system was polluted as a result of that industry (and others).
The steel is mostly gone these days, but the damage these companies (and others) did for so long is still with us in the form of mercury and other contaminates. I won’t eat fish around here due to the warnings put out by the ODNR. I release everything I catch, unless I plan to keep a specimen for the aquarium.
So for me, I release fish more out health concerns than anything. I do like to eat fish from time to time, but only store bought these days. Bluegill, Yellow perch, and walleye are awfully tasty though, and I’d keep some if I didn’t have a fear of being poisoned.

J.

I’ve been into C&R since it was called ‘throwin’ ‘em back’
I’ve never liked killing part and in my mind that’s a major reason why I enjoy fly fishing above other forms of angling and blood sports in general.

However, the wife happens to think that going fishing and never bringing home dinner is a total waste of time. :rolleyes:
That’s why there’s panfish.
Around here, except for maybe bullhead, very few people fish for and keep panfish, and in many locations populations explode to the point where the fish get stunted.
Harvesting them makes sense for the health of the ponds and and for peace in to household.

I made pan fried perch for dinner last night.
The wife’s only comment?
“Mmmm… I’m eating fish!”
:wink:

I mostly C&R but do enjoy a periodic stocker properly bathed in fat. JC’s point about how C&R, if I read correctly, may be contributing to a faster paced experience on the stream is valid in my opinion. FFing’s allure with me is the slow pace and appreciation for each of its elements. An appreciation for and a close examination of each caught fish gets lost in this “gotta catch another” mentality. Crowded streams and the battle to stay in uncluttered water also contributes. The lesson learned from raising that bird dog many years ago now works with me: Take a long hike before starting the game for keeps!
Grassman

I’m not big on being PC, and though I do mostly catch and release, I really enjoy keeping a few as well. You will never find me criticising someone for catching a limit of legal size fish and enjoying a good meal. If C&R ever became an absolute rule in fishing, the end of legal fishing would not be far behind.

I agree with everyone else. I am a C&R guy 95% of the time, but I do enjoy the occasional brookie breakfast. You can’t beat a 8" brook trout cooked in bacon grease for dinner.

The downside to keeping your fish is I would need 3-5 8" brookies for dinner. that being said, I do often keep a trout or two to eat. There really is nothing better than fresh caught fish for breakfast lunch or dinner. Just dont boil them… They arent good boiled…

Cool article J.C. My compliments… Too long and too much I’ve been hearing C&R presented as the only proper fishing moral. I eat fish, and all of us with too much cholesterol are often told by our doctors that we should and eat more of it. True, some are endangered, even worse, but like jkurtz says… some species are manufactured. I say for the whole thing to work there has to be a balance of methods all considered in the end. Some places and some fisheries likely demand C&R to keep the fishery alive. Many don’t. I am rarely politically correct, and then it’s more by chance than design. I learned to fish catching, killing, and eating all I caught which were legal. I still catch, kill and eat some every year. I started the whole C&R thing as a matter of obeying the law, and my fishing methods have evolved to include it much of the time. I use barbless hooks because it is easier on the fish should I release them, and because it’s way less trouble when I get one of 'em in me. I more and more fish for panfish, and more often keep them to eat. My mother-in-law lives next door to me, and often comes along on family get-togethers. She echos the sentiments of Dudley’s wife…thinking catching fish and turning them loose if they’re legal size is a sure sign of mental imbalance.
As I said… the whole issue requires balance…and as responsible fishermen, sportsman, and conservationists all of us here must be proper stewards of our resources…
…ModocDan

My wife also falls into the category of believing that to release a perfectly deliscious piece of protein is certiain indication of mental illness…except for trout. I love to catch trout but try as I might, and my wife also, we cannot acquire a taste for them Therefore they all get released…except for two every 6-8 years that I bring home just to prove we still don’t like them. Now…bluegills, crappie, walleye and largemouth bass, thems some eatin’ fishes! The ponds around here, as other have stated in their areas, are generally overstocked. So, when we want fish to eat we hit the sunfish in ponds.

I won’t keep smallies. They’ve been so beat up in Missouri I believe there should be a 5 year moratorium on keeping any.

Vic

JC, RW here,

Absolutely agree with your article this week. I still do a few streamside lunches with a couple of fresh caught brookies. Usually the first couple catches of the season. I still practice a lot of catch and release too, but I find I’m eating more of the trout I catch like I once did. I still have concern for wild brookies, but there are so many stocked trout here where I live now I have no moral compunctions about eating a few catches. Thirty or forty years ago we kept everything we caught. There is a happy medium. Young folks today don’t know what their missing.

rw

I’m with Sharps. I flyfish (almost) only for trout and I letemallgo. I HATE the taste of most fish and trout in particular. I did have a double fish fillet somethin-or-other at McD’s today that tasted not too bad, BUT, it probably ( most likely) was NOT trout.
I fish for trout because, as Betty states so eloquently, “…are not found in ugly places”.

Mark
PS: Yes, I did eat at McD’s, but I did use my American Express Card.:slight_smile:

i swear my father took me along when i was really young so he could catch a double limit. He loved the taste of brook trout. I ate sooooo many brookies as a child I have a hard time keeping them now a days. We basically lived off of game when I was young. I was taught early how to cook/bake/par boil about everything from the outdoors.

I do smoke some trout nowadays. They are usually medium sized browns.

This thread brings out the differences in thoughts about brook trout in various regions of the US. Here in Oregon a good many streams have no limit on brookies. Catch & eat all you can.

Tim

I think the thrust of JC’s article was “catch and release”, not
the particular species of trout.

rw

C&R is a fisheries management tool for use balancing the delicate (often challenged) stock with recreation hours on the water. I fished in the Au Sable when there was a harvestable surplus but supported the C&R regulation when it was proposed. Although it was great even to be allowed to fish under that, it was more enjoyable when it was open.

I am a catch and release guy myself but thats just me. although I will keep some lake erie perch cause I like it. to each his own tho. as long as you are following state regulations then take your share.

Keep some trout to eat??? You bet I do! My wife and I both love some brookies fresh form the stream into the pan, a little butter, salt, pepper, fried to a crispy crunch and have at it!! We have a seperate limit on brookies, six or more, less than 8" if I’m right. This is to try to control them, the same on some other species of fish. We also have some C&R regs for others to help populations survive. I support them all as they are in placw for a reason.

Oh yea, I love fresh fish, most all kinds!

I think it all comes down to responsible use of the resource.

There are some other sites around that I just stopped going to because catching and killing a limit became an ego thing amongst the members. It starts out with frequent posts of “Got my limit today” soon followed by “Let’s see a picture” soon followed by page after page of dead fish carnage pictures. Each member trying to out do the next with the size of the pile of fish and the frequency which each trip’s pictures are posted.

I don’t think anyone objects to having some one legally keep some fish for a meal, but it really is a waste to “fill the freezer”, particularly if at some point a year later, all those freezer burned fish get thrown away to make room for next year’s harvest.