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| Stuey has a fish on! |
Yesterday on the lawn the kids learned how to use the fishing reels that require you to flip a bail when casting. In the past they have always used the reels where you push the button to release line and cast. So yesterday with hookless lures on the ends of their lines they practiced casting in the yard. I was constantly untangling lines from trees etc and I am surprised that they did not ding the paint on Zoya's car. But they did get the hang of the new reels and they did learn to cast (and to even aim somewhat while doing so).
So today I took them to White Sands beach to catch real fish. We learned that it is pretty hard to catch pink salmon on small rods. They only have 4 pound test line on their reels so I had the drags set pretty light. They would be cranking away and the line would be zipping out just as fast. I tried to teach them to keep their rod tips up and to pump their rods and reel in the slack. They also learned to walk back with the rod tip up and then to walk forward and quickly reel in.
They even caught fish. All of Stuey's had been snagged (foul hooked) and we could not keep them. But Nora actually caught one all on her own that bit the lure. It was even fairly bright. Salmon are bright in the ocean but change color and their flesh gets soft once in the fresh water.
We took Nora's fish home and canned it in the small pressure cooker we use for making risotto. The cooker could have canned 5 tall half pint jars, but I managed to fit Nora's fish into just 2 jars. One fillet per jar. This is good to know because next time we will keep 2 fish. I added some salt and olive oil to each jar and then pressure cooked them at 10 pounds for 1 1/2 hours. Viola! A pound (2 half pints) of tasty canned salmon. Patrick
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| But it is not all that easy to get them in |
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| Stuey strikes the classic 'fish on' pose |
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| He actually still has a fish on only now he wants me to reel it in |
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| Nora and her epic 'battle royal' with a pink salmon |
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| Mission accomplished - now it's time to can the catch |
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| One pink equals 2 half pint jars of canned salmon and a 'pint's a pound the world round' |
3 comments:
Nice job kids! I can a lot of salmon, and we always eat it all.
Warms my heart to see kids fishing.
I love to see my kids fishing too! And Jessy, the best thing about canned salmon is that you do not have to cook a half spawned humpy. And canned it is VERY palatable - almost like tuna fish (especially after the added olive oil). Patrick
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