I don’t think that I can express in words the difference that fish being fresh can make. It is not ‘fishy’, in fact I would say sweet. The texture is firm but not rubbery or even flaky. It is moist and mild. We ate the fish I caught on Saturday and even that was not straight out of the lake fresh, it was on ice for two days.

I heard an interview with Josh Niland who is an Australian and fish chef. He has some radical ideas about aging and taste. I am very intrigued and would like to get his book ‘The Whole Fish Cookbook: New Ways to Cook, Eat and Think’. But before I change my paradigm, I have to say that it has probably been 20 years since I ate fish this fresh and, wow what a difference. That is not to say that I haven’t caught fish and eaten it, but sometimes they have been frozen first or sat in the cooler for longer than optimum, but it is also rare.

The prevailing theory on Salmonids (salmon/trout species) is less is more. I have experimented some with different flavors and one that I like is onion, dill and lemon. Another combination that I have found I like is curry on salmon. Yesterday I tried a something a little different.

To begin the preparation, I scraped the scales and rinsed the slime off of the fish. Usually, trout is cooked whole, but I wanted to make sure the portions were equitable so I decided to filet the fish. I have never filleted a trout before. In many ways, I think that it leads to waste. I am planning to make some fish broth with pho soon so I saved the heads and the rest of the carcass in the freezer. But if you do, trout have the same pin bones as a salmon would, so you can pick them out or eat around them.

I added plenty of salt and pepper with a dash of cajun seasoning. On top of that was four cloves of garlic and rubbed the seasonings with olive oil. I sliced some lemon because they were there, not because I needed to and sprinkled with fresh thyme. The fillets were baked at 400 degrees for fifteen minutes.

End Your Programming Routine: It was said that the original pilgrims got tired of eating lobster every single day because it was abundant and easy to obtain. I am sure this could be the same thing, but I sure wish that I had a few more fish. It is definitely enough to make me want to go back out there and fish again. I think it was the perfect cap to a great trip.