Trout Prep

Stocker rainbow fillets plenty.  If you don't like cutting down and around the curve of the rib cage, cut right through it.  And then lay the splayed/connected fillets out and cut underneath the rib cage to remove.  Either way pretty easy.  There are some floating/pin bones in these fillets but they are so fine, we just eat them and to be honest no one really notices.  Step one: coat in olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Step two: bake for about ten minutes.

The sauce poured over the fillets is butter, lemon juice and capers (4:1:1 ratio).  This is a very big hit in our home.  Simple, elegant, high protein and outstanding taste.

Through the Ice

Entirely different deal here.  No walking, no hunting, no sight-fishing.  Just stopping five minutes from the house and treating it like a grocery store.  The strategy is founded on timing and patience.  There is very little gear involved and very little time needed.  A creel of 5-6 rainbows is approximately $50 worth of protein, at current cost per pound.

Often prepare fish whole but lately have been filleting them.  A year into the new knife and it is appreciated.

Extra aquarium aerator hanging around so we can keep minnows going between visits.  I think we've been out approximately seven times and have captured 1-6 (limit) on each occasion.  Average is 3.x.

Pretty much zero waste deal, as are all fish takings.  Not only can one catch a fish on a fly tied at home but one can catch a fish using a fly tied with a feather that has actual cells aligned and built by way of birds eating fish caught with a fly (or minnow in this case; here referring generally to trout capture which is more often salmo trutta taken with flies) composed of feather grown at home and palmered at the desk and so on, somewhat like the infinity reflection diagrams.  And I suppose you'd also work in the transformation of fish castoffs to eggs and nitrogen fertilizer both of which are cast about the household and yard.  And then there is the really interesting geographical coincidence in that the main waste stream leaving our home works through a number of confluences and then joins the Zumbro river approximately two hundred yards from the place we stand on the ice to catch the trout.

Nymph Restocking

Been riding for a number of years the approach of use what's in the box and fish them well.  The SE MN fly swap inspired me though to do some tying.  These are basic baetis-looking nymphs.  They look a lot like many of the bugs that hang in the interstices of our streams.  Time-saving step is to use the vinyl rib instead of dubbing and wire for the abdomen.  I really like the segmented look and the fact that it's a lot narrower than the thorax.  Wing cases of turkey or krystal flash.  Tail is the same turkey feather.  Dubbing is a mix of peacock ice and black.  Hooks are 14-16; probably good to do some 18s too.  No head cement necessary because when fished well they should be lost to the benthos before they come apart.  A wingcase will pop now and then if a fly grants you a longer-than-average-life-of-service. After setting the materials straight on the table and getting into it, this is pretty much a 3-4 minute pattern.