Carne Asada Omelet, & Brody’ s First Hunt”
Carne Asada Fish Omelet
22 Oct. 27- Nov. 10, 2017
FRESHWATER
VOL. 36 • ISS. 23
GONE FISHING continued from page 1
fish crossed over to the starboard side of the boat. At this point, the fish made an unstoppable run downstream. In all of my years fishing, I’ ve never been worried about being spooled until that very moment. The fish had the reel down to my braided backing line, and it was continuing to run downstream. There wasn’ t much I could do to stop it.
Before I go any further, let me explain the rig I’ ve developed for bait fishing for striped bass. I start with a reel spooled with 25 pound test monofilament line. I’ m using at least 9 foot long parabolic fiberglass noodle rods. This means they bend all the way down to the reel, looking like a letter‘ C’ when they are loaded up. I like these because it allows the fish to grab the bait and run for a few feet before the rod eventually loads up and they are hooked.
Speaking of hooks, I’ m using Gamakatsu 8 / 0 inline octopus circle hooks with a straight eye( 265418 INLINE OCTOPUS CIRCLE SE). I tie these on a 3 foot long 25 pound test monofilament leader. I tie a snell knot so the leader comes out of the eye on the same side as the hook point. This forces the hook point towards the line when you hook a fish.
To complete the rig I run a sliding sinker above the leader, and load the hook with something stripers love like shad, anchovies, sardines, pile worms, or in this case, chicken livers.
The long limber rods do their by job hooking fish, and they are easily up to the task of landing average sized striped bass. However, when really large fish are hooked on these rigs, you are dependent on your line strength and a quality drag to save the day.
I told Andre we might have to drop anchor and chase the fish downstream, but moments later I started gaining on the fish. After about ten minutes, I said,“ This fish doesn’ t feel very sturgeony”. It wasn’ t head shaking, jumping, rubbing in the line, or using any of the normal sturgeon tactics.“ It might be a big striper”, I related.
I finally had my sinker to the surface, but the turbid water made it hard so see any further than a foot deep. Each time we thought we had a chance to net it, the fish would strip about ten feet of line towards the bottom. After repeating this scene for several minutes, we finally got a glimpse of the fish.
Fish Sniffer field editor, Jack Naves landed and released this huge striper while soaking bait in the West Delta on October 8. Photo by JACK NAVES, Fish Sniffer Staff.
“ It’ s a big striper!” I uttered in excitement. In one swoop, Andre had the fish safely in the net. Since the circle hook had the fish cleanly pinned in the side of the mouth, I wanted to release the big breeder to spawn some future stripers.
In the past, I’ ve read that it’ s not good for a fish’ s survival to suspend a large fish from its lower jaw like we’ ve all been accustomed to seeing in bass magazines.
Because of this, I attached my scale to the net and weighed the fish suspended by the cradle of the netting. The final tally was 24 pounds and 39 inches in length. After a few quick photos, I revived the fish in the water using my fish gripper. Once the pectoral fins were extended and the fish started biting, I released the gripper. The huge bass swam slowly back down into the murky waters of the west delta and out of sight.
Andre and I continued to fish until about 3 pm that afternoon in perfect weather. We ended the day with four fish in the 4 to 5 pound range for the grill, while releasing two other keepers. Days like that are what make me continue to believe that autumn fishing in the West Delta is one of my favorite places to be.
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Carne Asada Omelet, & Brody’ s First Hunt”
Brody, Eric’ s Labrador retriever, is on the first official goose / duck hunt of his young life. He’ s now 6 mos and 3 weeks today; with his gangly legs, he should be a funny sight dragging in a big goose. Hopefully, they’ ll get some Specks( tasty and smaller – like a big Mallard.).
A few weeks back, Brody went on the absolute first hunt of his life when Eric took him dove hunting. The first time he went to retrieve a dove, he jumped back, startled by the still quivering body. But, soon, his genes kicked in and he retrieved all of Eric’ s doves as he would’ ve a bumper – like an old pro.
He’ s so different from Deke. Deke was the alpha of the litter and had a more reserved and wise nature to him; while Brody’ s got a sweet and slightly silly nature, making him affable to most anyone and especially to kids. He’ s at his gangling teenager phase right now with his long stilt-like legs and big feet.
I use to think it was slightly sacrilegious to cut fish into unrecognizable chunks. But, as the years have trickled by, I’ ve decided it’ s allright to cut up your meat however you want in order to achieve the desired meal. If I don’ t have a small fish fillet to fit my recipe that calls for a thin piece or smaller chunk of fish, I will try and turn whatever fish I have into something resembling the fish I preferred.
“ Necessity is the mother of invention,” they say. It’ s not as easy to customize fish( especially cutting fillets thinner); but, with a steady hand and a sharp knife, it’ s not that hard. Slightly frozen fish is easier to fashion into the shapes you prefer. I’ ve been more often than not cutting Rockfish into thinner slices so that I can eat crunchier, more flavorful pieces.
This past month, I cut up some of
COOKIN ' YER CATCH by Paulette
the rockfish into really small pieces and tried out a new seasoning that I had found that Lawry’ s makes. Lawry’ s happens to make a lot of the seasonings that I like; and, years ago, they actually put out a cookbook called“ A Fisherman’ s Cookbook,” by Dan Hernandez.
I think I got it complimentary back in the good old days when I actually use to receive free fish cookbooks. It was nice when I got to use a recipe from other people’ s cookbooks now and again. They really came in handy back when the Sniffer had my article twice a month in every issue. I had to keep on my toes thinking“ new recipe” every single time I cooked fish. Eric would say,“ Can we have something other than fish around him someday?” I guess I like fish more than he does.
When I was a kid, we mostly ate only crabmeat from Joe up the street who gave us live crabs from his dad who fished out of the SF Bay. His dad was tragically killed by a very large ship that ran over his fishing boat in the fog out there one night. Eric and I were hoping to get crab this year when he went up to Shelter Cove; but, by time the season up there opened for anglers, the Dungeness had been practically all fished out.
So, this month I’ m sharing with you one of the ways I’ ve enjoyed using this new seasoning that I discovered. I noticed it is part of an entire line of Mexican seasonings; so, I’ m guessing that it could be carried at Mexican grocery stores. I happened to find it online.
FYI: It’ s available online in an 11.25 ounce size at Amazon, Walmart, and Jet. com for under $ 4.00. You can also find the ingredients in it online at their website if you don’ t want to buy the seasoning. It’ s a list of the usual suspects with some cumin, lime, and oregano.
Carne Asada Fish Omelet
INGREDIENTS
• Mild fleshed fish cut into small ½-1” size pieces
• Lawry’ s Carne Asada seasoning
• Shredded Mexican style cheese or cheese slices
• Eggs, beaten 65 strokes with a tablespoon of water
• Green onions, chopped or minced
• Butter
DIRECTIONS
Add a couple of tablespoons of butter to a large non-stick pan, heat to med-high heat, and add in the fish. Stir fry it and allow it to brown. Add in a goodly amount of seasoning to color it and make it tasty. Stir it around until browned and cooked. This should only take a minute or less. Remove to use as filling for your omelet( s).
Heat an 8 inch skillet to medium or medium-low, add in 1 Tbsp. of butter per omelet. Then, add in 2-3 beaten eggs per person. Cover with a lid and let cook for a minute. Check and see if it has cooked through. You want it barely cooked all the way through before you add in the cheese and fish pieces.
Add in 1 / 4-1 / 3 Cup cheese per omelet( shredded Mexican or 1-1 / 2-2 slices of cheese, such as Colby-jack or mild, medium, or sharp cheddar). Then, add in about 1 / 3-1 / 2 Cup of fish, depending on the size of your pan and how many eggs you are using.
Turn down the heat and cover the pan again and after about 30 seconds to a minute, sprinkle in the green onion. By then, the cheese should be melted. When the cheese is melted and the fish and green onions are added, slide the omelet out of the pan and fold the other half over as the first half lands onto the plate. This is my favorite way to make an omelet. You can also use a larger pan and slide it off, folding it from both ends, one overlapping the other.
All ingredients are written as per person measurements. This is good as is or served with salsa or Tabasco sauce.
Avocados are good with this too either inside the omelet or served as a salad on the side. I like to put a scoop of sour cream inside the peeled and halved avocado and a spoonful of salsa over the sour cream.
Yum! This makes a nice brunch or lunch or light dinner. As a dinner, this is also good
with a side of hash browns. Go for it!
If you have any questions, comments, cooking tips or recipes to share, feel free to write me at: Paulette or Cookin’ Yer Catch; c / o The Fish Sniffer; PO Box 776; Colfax, CA 95713-0776.