SQ7: GHOTI Spells Fish

[Charles Heath]

That joke is as old as sports writing itself. Given we have had incredibly mixed results when participants were offered the opportunity to catch their own supper, complete with equipment and bait, and pre-event instructions on how to do this without going to jail on public and private lands for both saltwater and freshwater....

If you were issued scant rations, actually needed to find some food, and knew ahead of time that an opportunity to harvest 8" - 10" panfish, primarily bluegills, from a clean millpond, would you attempt to do this, or not? Keep in mind the fellows wearing a different uniform are on the other side of this pond during this informal truce among the rank & file, and are contemplating the same piscatory supplement to their meager rations. Pine nuts and wild onions will be in abundance.

I realize between Cracker Barrel and Waffle House bookending events, that it can be difficult to actually feel hunger on Saturday and Sunday. ;)

(No comments from the Babe Winkelman Mess, please.)

[FlatLandFed]

Well, up on Maggie's Riffle, I once'd hooked a big one on a slightly hackled unzippered fly -- but that's a fishy story for another time.

Hmmm, catching supper in view of an interested contrarian, who might consider competing for said delicacy? Shore, if hungry enough I'd try it regardless of the assumed danger (even during a "truce") as my brain never really is the boss in such matters.

Wish had I'd have arrived a couple hours earlier to Bull Run Creek a couple summers ago, to try my luck with you folks in the local pond. As seen in photos in a slick covered magazine of interest a few months later, we certainly didn't starve on that watch, successful fishing or not! (Well, except maybe for the desecrated vegetables, which however DID mix well with the other foodstuffs ...)

Regards,
Paul Hadley
Can't Teach A Guy To Fish If'n He's Not There Mess

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

Or the infamous cat at an unnamed "Post" event a few years ago... ;)

Curt

[Vuhginyuh]

The Oyster and Hard Crab Guilds register their discontent with being excluded.

Beware low tide Charles Heath...and things that go bump in the mud.

[Abrams]

If you were issued scant rations, actually needed to find some food, and knew ahead of time that an opportunity to harvest 8" - 10" panfish, primarily bluegills, from a clean millpond, would you attempt to do this, or not?

These are the same guys that many exchanged tobacco and coffee with. Why would I not share a pond with them? That way, if I catch none, and they catch "extras" I could maybe exchange a fish for coffee or tobacco, or visa-versa.

[huntdaw]

Ah yes! Perch jerkin' with a cane pole, bobber and some worms. Takes me back to my youth. Good eatin - bluegill but they can be on the boney side unless you're good with a filet knife.

It would be fun to do if the fellows across the pond didn't try to sneak around and toss their line in my spot when they see experience and poetry in motion in slaying those little goobers.

[Curt-Heinrich Schmidt]

Hallo!

Carpe diem. Carp are the fish of the day.

Curt
Catfish Mess

[27thNCdrummer]

I would do it. Being on the coast I've caught a few fish in my day. Never fresh water though.

Curt,
Personally, I think shad are more authentic.:)

[RJSamp]

Hallo!

Carpe diem. Carp are the fish of the day.

Curt
Catfish Mess

The Dutch surely like their smoked carp don't they

[Charles Heath]

I hate to say it, but as attractive as the Des Moines River is in early August, I've yet to try my hand at catching a few catfish, carp, or whatever may lurk in those slow moving waters that time of year. Any of you locals got a hand on what may be out there, and would it be worth eating with the large amount of agricultural run-off due to corn and soybean production? Hmmm. Are the fish on the Iowa side tastier?

[DougCooper]

[QUOTE=Charles Heath;83092]
If you were issued scant rations, actually needed to find some food, and knew ahead of time that an opportunity to harvest 8" - 10" panfish, primarily bluegills, from a clean millpond, would you attempt to do this, or not? Keep in mind the fellows wearing a different uniform are on the other side of this pond during this informal truce among the rank & file, and are contemplating the same piscatory supplement to their meager rations. Pine nuts and wild onions will be in abundance.

[QUOTE]

Bring it on! Fishin' is always fabulous. Its a bonus if you actually catch something. :D

[Cfarrell]

I always enjoy tossing a line in every chance I get. Here is a link to an old thread some what over this topic....http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5936

Regards,

[Charles Heath]

Cody, it's a shame the 2005 fishing thread is all gone up. Darn. So much for General King's pond.

[Cfarrell]

I always enjoy seeing the faces of gents as they watch me scratch around in the brush or along a creek looking for edible goods. Jaw's always drop when people notice me walking the edge of a pond with crawfish in my hand...their jaws hit the dirt when they see me boil them up in a tin can.

I'll never forget teaching a few of the Lazy Jacks how to identify wild onions. It didn't take them long to pick up the idea...and soon every time we stopped the Lazy Jacks were off plucking them from the ground and handing them over to me. By the end of the event my haversack was stuffed with wild onions, so many that I had to take them home with me on Sunday.

Charles,
A few of those small pan fish and some of those onions and pine nuts will make for a nice meal. The trick is catching the fish of course.

Regards,