Did I catch them? No. But I got some nonetheless.
Actually, I've been fishing the trout pond every morning for a couple of hours, then using the park's trail to get some exercise. It's been cold and terrific. I miss being outdoors this much, and the exercise and time with nature help me deal with so many of the hectic things assaulting me this month. My pet died. My dog isn't getting enough funds for her surgery (see her site if you can help by any chance). My fiance is states away for the rest of the month. School, the ER, and the physicians group (remember the catfish spine?) aren't returning my freakin' calls. I'm running out of food and money quicker than I can obtain it.
All that, everything, disappears when I'm sitting outside in the chilly morning breeze with a line in the water.
Is it frustrating to skunk out so much on trout? Totally. But it bugs me when I can't get something right, so I'm persistently attempting it every morning instead of switching back to cats. Don't get me wrong, I wanna try out Veronica pretty bad, but these trout are driving me bonkers. Anyhoo.
I'd just given up for the morning and packed up my things, when a fellow came out and threw two lines in the water. Immediately, he had a bite, snatched up his rod and started reeling it in. I watched in disbelief as the man pulled a rainbow trout out of the water, unhooked it, and let it flop around on the cement.
I raced over and asked him how the heck he did that. He showed me his rig and told me how he used to be a guide. I'm pretty sure guides have magical powers. In fact, from now on, I shall capitalize them - Guides - out of immense respect for their godlike powers.
I looked down at the trout that was still flopping around on the sidewalk, and had been for at least 30 seconds. "You gonna kill that?" I asked him.
"No, I was gonna let 'er go, unless you want her."
I thought for a second, not really wanting to take another man's fish, but the thing had been out of the water for so long concussing itself against the ground that I thought it would be really, really stupid to throw it back (especially since the water isn't really cold enough anyways). So I said sure!
He showed me how to tie his rig and even did one for me. He wound up giving me his next trout, too, a much larger one. They measured 11 and 13 inches, but the difference in girth was kinda impressive. Anyways, I fished for a bit longer before giving up and going home (I work nights, after all!).
I took my slowly dying fishies in their pond water home. This is where it gets messy. Literally.
I have NEVER killed and cleaned my own fish before. In fact, I like fish. I like them a lot. I use barbless hooks, circle hooks, I keep them out of the water as little as possible, and I only kill the ones I NEED to eat or that were so injured I was sure they'd die if released. I like C&R, even if it isn't always practical. So this was really sort of a test for me.
I mean, you can stand bya pond with a pole as long as you want and you're still not a fisherman until you're tough enough to do the dirty parts, too. With my guy outta town, I pretty much didn't have a choice. Had to do it myself.
I'd read in several places that trout can be knocked out or even killed by a good knock or two to the head. Unless you're bashing the brain completely in, let me just say right now, that is NOT TRUE. I smashed the poor things on their heads with a wrench and still, they swam and breathed. It tore me apart. Other sources said to put them on ice, but I'm not dumb enough to think that isn't just suffocating them, which is horrible and bad for the meat. Ice in the water wouldn't work (coldwater fish!), ethanol seemed cruel (you ever breathed in everclear? I wouldn't want to drown in it!), and I didn't have the heart to snap their necks or gut them alive, though those two are the obvious best choices. I thought about spiking them in the brain but was too terrified of messing it up, and I wouldn't have been able to saw the head off quickly (all my sharp knives are missing). Yeah...it turns out I'm a wuss.
So what did I wind up doing? In the future - never again, but what I wound up doing was sucking in a deep breath, going back with the wrench, and giving them each one last, good, HARD bash on the back of the head/neck. The hope was that I would either dislocate their necks or finally knock them unconscious. It was horrible, I do NOT recommend it, and I feel like a terrible person for resorting to naive, primitive, careless methods of euthanasia. I feel like the sort of person who insists it's okay to kill a mouse by putting it in a bag and throwing it on the floor and stomping on it. I feel disgusting.
But I did it.
Picture time:
Then came the cleaning. I've never cleaned a fish before, either. This part's actually kinda funny, looking back on it. And honestly, it felt a lot like my 9th grade bio class. I kept thinking it'd be easier if I had a scalpel or pins. XD
It took me four knives to find one sharp enough to do more than anally rape the first dead trout. When I finally found one, I sawed upward toward the neck, doing my best to avoid puncturing the organs. Then I turned the fish over and cut down through the back of the neck, praying I was far enough behind the skull not to go zombie on it, but keeping forward enough that I didn't waste meat. I hacked down throught he spinal cord, trying not to sever the throat, and bravely stuck my finger in its neck and yanked the head downward. Then I realized I hadn't cut deeply enough in the belly. I sied, let the head and organs hang out, and cut the rest of the flesh to pull out the remaining innards.
Ew. It was like a slasher scene in my kitchen.
Then there was the matter of the dark gunk along the spine. I've seen other people scrape it out with their thumbs, but they must have talons because that stuff wasn't going anywhere for me. I got most of it out, rinsed well, and gave up.
Next fish, much larger, much harder to hold while cutting. I need monster hands to handle this. this one went much the same as the last, but I accidentally cut through the throat and consequently only about half the guts came out when I yanked down the head. I may possibly have screamed.
Both fish went into bags in the freezer instead of filleting first. I felt I'd had enough experimentation and I kind of needed to get out of the kitchen for awhile. I'll eat them either today or tomorrow so they're still fresh, but I'm not sure how or what recipe to use. I'll letcha know and share it if it rocks.
So there it is. I passed the test. I killed two fish and cleaned them ALL BY MYSELF.
Hopefully my learning curve will be steep and I'll get better at this by the time I'm catching my very own trout. :p
OH! Also, the winning rig, and my previous one for comparison:
Mine:
 |
| I should mention that on mine, at least, he attached the hook leaders by looping the line and threading that through a hook. Doubled visibility, but he was working with what I had. |
Yes, I drew those.
Okay.
Now I'm a fisherman (fisherwoman?).
-CC
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