Fish On!
To say my family loves to fish is an understatement. Weddings and other special celebrations must be planned to avoid walleye opener in May, and don’t even think of interfering with the guys’ annual fishing trip to Canada each June.
My brothers, Chris and Jered, estimate they log 300-400 hours in their respective boats each summer. During winter, when temps are below zero, they prefer to spend their free time huddled over their ice holes in their fish houses or on the frozen lake. Brrr!
They can’t help it, fishing is in their blood. Our dad Gerry, who ironically is allergic to fish, is a lifelong fisherman.
Our late grandpas were also avid fishermen.
The women in our family fish too. My mom Carol grew up fishing the lakes of northern Minnesota near her hometown of Bemidji.
Her own parents, Hilma and Joe, loved to fish for walleyes at Red Lake, and Hilma is responsible for the walleye breading recipe that my brother Jered still swears by today whenever he has a fish fry.
Through the 70’s-80’s, fishing was a regular pastime for our own family of five with frequent day trips to nearby lakes, or as the main event whenever we’d go on our many camping trips each summer.
We didn’t keep many fish on those trips, we were always more of a “catch-and-release” family: land the fish, use the net if it’s a big one, take a picture and throw it back. However, on the rare occasion when we did keep fish such as crappies and perch for a fish fry, my mom used an awesome lemon batter that would puff up nicely and seemed like such a delicacy at the time for my brothers who still love to eat fresh fish more than anyone I know.
Looking back, I was less enthusiastic about fishing than the rest of the family. Spending a whole day in the boat with my parents and brothers in the middle of nowhere, those quiet days seemed to stretch for eternity. All the mindless staring at the end of a fishing pole waiting for “the big one” while trolling around and around and around. It was a little too mundane for me.
Now, I really miss the calm and peacefulness of being on a lake “up north” and this is the very thing I look forward to doing with my husband and kids in the months to come.
Happy fishing!
I hope you will check out some of our family’s favorite fish batter recipes, including Hilma’s Walleye Breading and the recipe for Lemon Batter Fish (great for perch, crappies and more).
