July 27th

[olhillbilly]

Well Dave, this is all yer fault. ;D Well, partly.....

This is a copy of a post on my site. >>

Took the canoe and again didnt use it. Surprisingly, there wasn't anyone else fishing. Figgered I'd need a way to get out away from the crowd of idiots, so I took the canoe. Took Mike too. He got a lil cat bout 3-4 pounds. I almost got one to the bank fore it got off. Cawt a few gar. One of em I was a lookin intently at after I had got my hook back, and Mike says, " Yer thinkin bout skinnin it aren't ya?"

Yup I was and proceeded to. After I found the tin snips. went perty easy, really. Just snip up the back, then around behind the head. Which I went ahead and just cut off. Then cut along the shell and laid it back. Then along the backbone and cut out the two back straps. Nice white meat. Put em in a ziplock with water and stuck em in the cooler.

I had planned to spend the night on the river fore I called Mike to see if he wanted to go. So I had took along a gallon can with holes punched around with a church key. And a small grate made outta a fridge rack. stack ya some charcoal around in it and light'r up. Boiled some coffee water. Got pan ready and coated fish with some louisiana coating and some cajun seasoning. Oh and sliced fish in little pieces. (hindsight is to get em all more uniform sized) Put in some oil and fried some gar. ;D

Wasn't too bad at all. Wasn't flakey like normal fish. Had more of a consistency to it. Mike compared it to lobster. I dunno bout lobster, but I can definitely eat it again.

Maybe gar will be more scared of me now. Knowing that I'll eat em if they mess with me. ;D

[mastercatter]

That is funny bout the cleaning part.. They are hard to clean..Most people say UGH!!! but the meat is very tasty bout any way it is cooked...I had a grill like yours for a long time befoe I found a small kettle grill that I use. Coffee pot is a small sauce pan to heat water in and I use instant coffee. Been looking for another coffee pot but they just want way too much for them anymore. Us country folks can survive on very little...

[dsmith]

Loved the read

[olhillbilly]

Dave was the first person I ever seen clean one. That's why I partly blamed him. No offense. tis a good thing.

[mastercatter]

Almost impossible to clean one with a sharp knife. Forget trying to remove the scales. Shears are the best way that I have found to get it done..

[olhillbilly]

I think a person could make rattlesnake leggings outta their hide.



Onna side note, everyone I talked to said they limited out friday night. I went sat nite (last night) and it was a dinkfest. And hadda work hard at that. I caught a channel and a blue, maybe totalling four pounds all together. and my friend Mike caught four. A mix of both kinds and none over maybe 3 or 4 pounds. Took us all night to do that. I hooked both of mine at the same time. And..... caught most of em on cut drum. magine that.......

[daveedka]

glad you enjoyed it. the fish here are finally off the rocks and starting to feed good again. fall bite is coming soon.
Dave