We interupt this regularly scheduled menu plan

Silly me, when I planned for the week, I forgot that I was going to be taking the boys to a local trout farm, Thistle Springs Trout Farm, to do some fishing with them on Tuesday. The rule at the farm is that you have to keep everything you catch, so fresh caught trout was going to be on the menu for dinner this week!


Boy my boys have been learning to fish from their Uncle B, who is a good fisherman. I'm not, so going to a trout farm, where you are basically guaranteed to catch something, is a good solution. My oldest boy was our fisherman expert, putting his own bobbers on the borrowed lines, helping to teach both myself and my girlfriend how to cast (Or trying, anyways - I caught a tree, the same tree, twice.)


My little guy quickly lost patience and decided to spend some time taking pictures with my DSLR instead. He is a very patient photographer, and a flexible one too, since he managed to take his own picture to show off his lovely new grin.


After no luck at a regular pond, we moved to a tank area where I managed to catch my first ever fish! He may be little, but the rule is, no throwing them back in, so home for dinner this little guy was destined.


When I called a halt to the fishing, my oldest and I had caught 5 between us. While I didn't catch the biggest fish in our bucket, I didn't catch the smallest one either.


And while I wasn't required to clean and gut our fish myself (Thistle Springs will do it for you for a small donation to the local children's hospital), it is a skill that I thought would be good for me to know, so they showed me how to do it and I cleaned the catch, while 3 boys (my two and their friend Bambam) looked on and Bambam's Mom took pictures.

Surprisingly, seeing the insides of the fish, its organs, did not bother the boys. Seeing the piece of corn the fish had eaten off the hook, that bothered them.


For their first trout, I decided to go with simple, pan frying them after coating them in a mixture of flour and cornmeal with some seasonings. Cooked with the heads and tails still on.

The boys were warned: Any fish we catch comes home with us and is dinner. This isn't catch and release like you do with Uncle B. You have to try the fish.

(Their Dad, who is not a fan of fish at all, and didn't come with us, was not held to this rule - he had a pork chop for dinner.)


It isn't a pretty dinner. But it is a tasty one. Both boys ate the fish, with my oldest, the fisherman among us, eating the smallest one, and my youngest, who didn't even catch anything, eating one and a half fish.

Before eating dinner last night, both boys wanted to go back when it was bit cooler and try to catch some larger fish. I think I'll wait a week or so before asking them if they still feel that way.