Post by rockpickerforever on May 31, 2012 17:23:16 GMT -5
Me three!
the reder (sic) the better it is
the reder (sic) the better it is
Okay, here's a story for you. Twenty years ago, my husband and I were traveling up the 395 (in California) somewhere between Bishop and Lake Tahoe. After stops at Calico Ghost Town (along I-15), Dumont Dunes (no, did not find any petrified palm OR Sperry Wash!) and Death Valley, we had wanted to go to Yosemite before heading home. But because it was March, Tioga Pass (SR 120) was still closed due to snow (we don't think of that kind of stuff down here!). So we continued northward until we hit an open pass.
Along the way, we had been seeing signs at people's homes advertising fishing worms, bait, etc. So we stopped in at one to get some bait. The guy that came to the front told us that it wasn't fishing season, so he didn't have any bait at the time. So he walks us back towards the car, and asks us if we like fish. So we said, of course! So then he tells us that he has some fish in the freezer that he had previously caught, and would we like to have one of them. Wow, that would be great, we said. So then he says in a whisper, well, if it were just me, I'd just give it to you. But my wife would kill me if I did that, so I'll sell it to you. How's a dollar sound? So he goes back in the house, and brings out this huge (ten to fifteen pounds, two foot long without the head) fish, wrapped in foil. We give him his dollar, thank him whole-heartedly, and hit the road.
By the time we had driven far enough north to find a pass over the mountains, then drove south a piece, and then back east to Yosemite, the fish had thawed out. There was snow on the ground in the campground, but it was scraped into piles. There were a few other people there, but no one from the Park Service was collecting camping fees. We opened up the packaged fish, it was beautiful! I think it was a steelhead. Whatever it was, the meat was red, like salmon. We cooked it in foil with melted butter on our charcoal grill. It was the best tasting fish that I ever ate, it just melted in your mouth! My husband left the scraps of skin out, and we had half a dozen raccoons fighting over them that night. I have not had a better tasting fish since then! What a pleasant memory. Thanks, Mike, for starting this thread. Jean