Frying Crappie!

Like those big Fish Dinners?

You know, the kind that you see on TV. They have enticing commercials advertising onion rings, fries, catfish, and hush puppies for only $99 down $99 a month for the next twelve years! You know how inexpensive onions are. How about potatoes?Is it the batter or special oil they use that make each meal cost an arm and a leg? NO! They are just greedy. They could sell the same meal for $3.50 but instead they rob five or eight bucks out of you. How many hours did you work to make that money? YOu can spend that time having fun while fishing and get a meal two or three times that size for half the price AND still have left overs! You can't buy Crappie. You can catch plenty of Crappie.

Think that it's too much work to catch, clean, and cook some fish?
It isn't. If it were, it would still be worth it.

It is a bit hard to describe the cleaning process acurately and you can probaly find out somewhere else if you look, so I am going to focus on cooking a nice fried fish dinner WAY BETTER than ANYTHING you can get from a fast food or dine-in place. I like Crappie and this recipe fits it well, however you don't have to use Crappie, could use all kinds of fish, including Catfish.

Your Crappie fillets should be clean and in a bowl of clean water. You can also make this recipe with all kinds fish fillets you get at the store(But it isn't anywhere near as cheapor delicious!). In fact, one day my father caught a 8lb. Catfish and since we didn't want to clean it, we GAVE IT AWAY. The person we gave it to knew his fish. He said: "A fish like that will set you back $15 at the market!" and he was right(He was also afraid we wanted something in return for this awesome FREE fish!).

Start by getting a resealable plastic bag and put your batter in. This can be simply flour or cornmeal with a little pepper or whatever desired spices you would like the most. Put a Crappie fillet or two in the bag and close it up and shake well until the Crappie pieces are thouroughly coated.

Next, put the Crappie in some hot oil to fry it up. When they are golden brown you know they are ready. I enjoy an entirely fried meal, this way you can use the same skillet, oil, etc. and there is a bit less to clean up. If you are watching your fat intake you may want to substitute fried stuffs with other things you like, or you can pay a little extra and fry with one of the healthier oils such as Grapeseed Oil or you can use Canola Oil.

If you are frying your meal mostly or entirely, you can slice some onions and reuse your fish fry mix to make onion rings. You can also get some mushrooms and fry those the same way. Of course, you can't forget about the fries(Chips to you Brits!). If you do this you can get a very good(And usually expensive!) meal very cheaply, especially if you live close to a lake. If you want to save time and effort and have a few extra bucks, you can buy frozen onion rings or pre-battered mushrooms and other "fry-ables". This all goes well with a little Ketchup or Ranch Dressing.

BTW, it would be easier to go fishing too, if gasoline wasn't so freaking expensive. That makes it a lot more inconvienient to go to the lake, and for some it might even be cheaper to buy your fish. :-(
But The Crappie, ah... the Crappie.

Feel free to add your comments/recipes/tips.

Thank You for Reading!FissionMan

Worms, Worms, Worms!

If you want to catch a fish in a hurry, you might want to start with the right bait. "What do you mean?" You say? "Just go buy some "Night Crawlers" from the local bait store." You say?

You might actually want to give it some thought. "Night Crawlers", or "Canadian Night Crawlers" are BIG, FAT, JUICY, worms. They are from Canada(Naturally.) This may not be of concern to you, but then again... you might want to think about it for a second.

Do you always lose your worm?, Do you live or fish in a warm climate?

These worms are huge! This makes them easier to get on the hook, making them perfect for kids or anyone that is impatient or impaired, or maybe drunk. Unfortunately this means they also come right off and the fish can nibble it away without getting hooked. This means that you have to put on another worm every ten minutes and the fish get a full belly while you stand around hoping to catch dinner.

If you go fishing on a hot(or warm) day and you set your "Night Crawlers" out(especially in the Sun), then in only a few short hours your worms will be cooked. Yes, even in the polystyrene container, even if they were refrigerated, even if you set them in the shade. They "melt". They die quickly and then you are much less likely to catch anything seeing as they are not that lively to start with.

I live in Texas, so it gets really hot down here. These huge worms originated in CANADA. They are not native to this part of the country and are imported all the way to Texas so that you can pay extra to NOT catch a fish. Fish down here aren't very keen on eating these worms. Why? Because(I think) caterpillars fall into the lake from the trees, grasshoppers fall in, bugs of all kinds find thier way into the water... things from another country obviously are inherently foreign. It is my experience that they are more likely to bite on a native variety of worm or other bait rather than something they or their ancestors have never seen.

Here you can find earthworms in your garden, under rocks(watch for snakes etc.!) and the fish bite on them without fail. However, I think that they are still a little fat and easy to get off(and on) the hook. You can find "Red Wrigglers" in some places here(you may know other names for this worm variety). They often can be "farmed" simply by having a "compost pile" with rotting fruit scraps. They love the fruit so they could thrive easily. They enrich the soil and they have a deep red color.

The Pros about "Red Wrigglers"

1)- Lively as can be! They call them "wrigglers" for a reason!

2)- They can withstand the heat so much better and longer. You could fish dawn to dusk.

3)- You can get them free if you make a compost pile. No hunting for bait, its in your back yard!

4)- They are thinner so the fish have to bite down to strip them off the hook and are therefore, more likely to stay on the hook and enable you to catch many fish on one worm instead of one fish per five or ten worms.

5)- They don't smell as bad as the big ones(mainly because they don't die so easily- they're really tough!).

You can also find grub worms or meal worms. I think that is what I got from a bait store years ago. They were labelled "Wax Worms" I believe, but they were very much alive(stayed that way for a while too!) and were small and fit on a small hook perfectly. I used to catch a lot of nice fish with those. Maybe they weren't meal worms, correct me if you know what I'm talking about.

This just might be the wormest summer ever!

FissionMan:~)

Caught a few Crappie recently.

My father has gone fishing a few times in the last few weeks. He caught four pretty nice Crappie the first time, and one big one the second. If he/we had gone more often or stayed longer then he/we surley would catch many more. We usually use cheap Crappie jigs. We make sure we get the ones with small hooks so that it is easier to keep 'em hooked. If the weather gets better then we would certainly catch enough fish to fry and have a nice meal with fries and maybe some onion rings.

BTW, it would be easier to go fishing too, if gas wasn't so freaking high and still on the rise. That makes it a lot more inconvienient to go to the lake. :-(

FissionMan

No Fancy Equipment Here.

I don't need a "fish finder". I don't need a $5 lure. I don't need a $50,000 boat. I can and do, however, catch lots of big pretty fish on a shoestring budget. I can get worms out of the ground, catch a baitfish and use it to get the "big one". If you are a lousy fisherman and you buy a hundred bucks worth of fishing tackle, you are still a lousy fisherman.

Feel free to post a comment, preferably on how you bring in a good catch.

FissureMan

Bad Weather For Most Fishing

Texas has had some crazy weather lately. Eighty degrees in January, wildfires, ten inches of rain in March, and even lows near freezing just days after those very floods. This weather, unfortunately, is not particularly conducive to good fishing. Well, maybe if you have your gear on the porch and don't mind fishing in the floodwaters, but I don't think that would be such a great idea.

I guess all we can do is hope(And do a Native American "Good Fishing Weather" dance.) and we might get some weather you don't mind staying out all day in. Just be ready, you will be glad you are when the fish start biting.

;~]

J

FissureMan
Happy Angling Folks!

When my father was a kid...

He would go fishing with his family and they could catch 80 Crappie in one morning. Of course they went out every day so they had every opportunity to catch plenty of fish. Grandma is now around 80yrs. herself. She was fishing when she was a little kid. My grandmother has fished for more than seventy years. That is possibly longer than many of you have been around for.

Post a comment on your own stories and tips if you want.

Thank's For Reading
FissureMan

What is the most fish you have caught?

Or what is the fastest you have caught them in? It can be fun to throw your lure or bait in and get a hit right as the lure hits the water. Sometimes you can catch two or three in just a few minutes, if you have a buddie you could give them the fish you just caught and sometimes cast it back in and catch another before your fishin' buddie sits down.

Think Like the Fish
Hook The Fish

FissureMan

Patience is a virtue.

Once when I was fishing with my father this was what happened.

We decided to go at around nine in the morning. We went and got to the lake at around nine forty-five or ten o' clock. We cast our lines and wasted nearly all of our worms. I think that Dad had one or two small baitfish. I hadn't coaught much if anything. We had had a string of bad luck like this the last three or four times we had gone fishing.

It was five eventually and we were out of water and tired as could be. I told my father "I'm tired, thirsty, bored and we haven't cought anything to make it woth it. Let's just go.". He said: "Lets stay for just ten or fifteen minutes. I can catch one, I know it.". I said "okay" despite my boredom, thirst, and exhaustion.

Part of the reason that we decided it was a good time to go is that it had just rained really well and the lakes were high and the weather was nice. About ten or fifteen minutes after he convinced me to stay, he caught a nice one. He wouldn't have been able to get the fish up to the bank without snapping the line if it hadn't rained so much recently. There was usually about three feet between the top of the bank and the surface. He had caught a catfish that must have weighed over five pounds.

We had only gotten home at around six so we had been gone all day. We got home and a friend who was at home waiting, knew that we went fishing. He also knew that we hadn't been getting much luck lately. He sacastically asked if we great fishermen had caught anything, at which point my father pulled out the catfish as we both marveled at the stunned look on the man's face. We had a really good fish fry that night.

These are the kinds of experiences you just don't get by watching reality television.

Please feel free to comment or post your own stories and experiences.
If you have a story about Bass, Crappie, Catfish, Sunfish, or any fish really please share it with us. If anything, teach someone the lost art of catching your own food.

E-man.

A.K.A.:
FissureMan

Hungry? Have a fishin' rod and some line and hooks? Close to a fishin' hole? Low on cash?

Get a little hook and string up your reel. Go to said fishin' hole and dig in the dirt somewhere and find some worms. I personally think that red wrigglers work best because they are livelier, last longer(especially in the heat) and are harder to get off the hook(and on). Fish until you catch a sunfish. You will want to use one for bait. Depending on if you have a ig rod on hand or not, you may or may not want to use a small baitfish(Or you may have thirty pound test line ready for the big one and thus bigger bait!). The bigger and livelier the baitfish the bigger the catch.

Once you catch the right baitfish you will want to perhaps get out a bigger rod and reel for the big ones. Now you just put a BIG hook on your line and hook the baitfish near the back of it below it's spine. If you hit it just right you can run the hook through it twice so it won't get off so easy. The reason for hooking it near the back under the spine is that this is the prime place to get it on good AND this also leaves the float bladder intact so that it can swim and attract your catch.

Now cast that bad boy out where you think the big one is and wait a while. You may get a turtle(especially if the bait dies) so you want to reel it in every half hour to hour or so. Using this technique you can go fishing on a LOW budget and catch a bass or catfish easily and it may weigh 5-7lbs. or more.

Careful, dont let 'em pull you in. Brace your self with rod in hand unless you want to lose it! Make sure you have your drag set right so that it doesn't snap your line but still reels in the big one.

Happy Fishin' Folks!
Good Luck!

What kind of lures work best for you? Is there a specific color anyone recommends? I personally feel that a lure that has a bright color(visible in murky water) is more likely to catch a fish's eye.

It seems like natural movement is neccessary as well. If you have a lure that doesn't have any movement that looks realistic you may not catch much. However, that does not mean that you can't give the same lure a realistic movement by bobbing the rod and reel up and down at the right pace while reeling it in. This technique often works better than a "lively" lure alone. There are a type of lure which you can probably find easily that has a flap on either side of the lure which collects water and makes the lure seem to swim naturally as you reel it in.

Sometimes the right lure can make all the difference. I have been fishing at times when I would catch two or three Crappie in only a few minutes(sometimes this spike in activity can go on for an hour or more if you are lucky) because of a very good lure that worked well with my equipment.

On the other hand, I have also been fishing in the past with a generic, cheap, small jig and catch nothing until someone(My father :~] ) told me WHERE they were at. Once you hit a close group of active fish you can have a lot of fun. To find a group of active fish often requires you to explore an area thoroughly to find the right vegetation and things that the fish(you are looking for) like to spend time around.

If you think that having fun, getting a good meal, and being a good fisherman is difficult or expensive then let me tell you that is totally FALSE!

Have a nice Day!
Thanks for Reading!

When is is the last time you enjoyed a good fish fry?

There is nothing quite like eating a lot of fish that you caugh only hours ago! What kind of fish do you prefer to eat? Do you like Catfish? How about Trout? I would enjoy a good bit of Blue Gill with fries and ketchup and onion rings. ;-)

Tell us what you like!
Have you caught any good fish lately?

Post a comment and tell us all about it!

We got 2 bucks worth of crappie jigs today(20 small-headed jigs 10 White/Pink/White and 10 Red/Blue/White ). One of these days we will go fishing and tell you how we do. What colors(if any) do you have luck with?

Tell us if you have any luck on minnows too. I have been told that smaller ones work well for Crappie. If you have any Crappie recipes please feel free to add them.

Please let us know about your fishing experiences and I will share some with you soon.

I am not sure if the crappie are spawning, I have not been fishing lately. It should be that time of year soon when crappie spawn and you can catch them on a jig easily. When Crappie spawn they fast - they dont eat so they can protect the eggs. When they notice a jig(or anything they think could be a predator) they try to kill it. This is why they bite very quickly making it easier to catch them. They are very good to eat especially with fries and ketchup. This way of catching Crappie costs very little; you don't need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to catch some fish! The jigs usually cost mere pennies. You can go fishing frequently this time of year at different times of the day until you find out when the Crappie bite and then go out on the dock or in a boat, or even from the bank and catch enough fish to feed you for a day or two (maybe your family too!). There is nothing like having a fish fry- and leftovers!

Please post a comment if you think that the Crappie are spawning in your area. Or just post and tell us what you like to fish for and how. Tell us about any good fishin' stories too! I'll have one for you the next time I post.

Thanks For Reading!