Is it just me... ?

[Stan Wright]

Is it just me, or do some of our favorite memories of fishing trips have to do with food?
Over the years I've been blessed to go on many a fishing adventure. Each time I recall a trip, suddenly something to do with food pops into my head.

On the first Let's Go Fishing show that Hari and I went to Alaska, our guide did a "Shore Lunch" of fresh caught salmon.
He wrapped fillets in tinfoil and cooked them over a campfire right beside the river.

My first "Fish Tacos" were on the shore of Lake Guerrero in Mexico. My brother and I returned to the ramp after a mornings bass fishing where we met 3 Mexican fishermen cooking bass fillets over a campfire. They invited us to join them. Heat a tortilla and then use it to pick up a piece of cooked fish off the grill... sprinkle on a few tiny red and green chili peppers and wash it down with a cold beer.

Shelter Island Lodge in Alaska is a food lovers dream. Chuck, do you remember us cooking fresh caught Dungeness Crabs on the beach... then sitting on huge driftwood logs eating crab till you can't take one more bite? The leftover crab was used in their famous "baked halibut" dish the next evening.

My son Chris and brother Lynn are both skilled cooks. On our last trip together they held a contest to see who had the best recipes for salmon and halibut... steak & crab... Being the judge was tough, but someone had to do it.

Senator Kats Yamada arranged an LGF fishing trip many years ago to North Kohala. They roasted a whole pig over the fire, and had a huge wok of beef stew going all weekend... you just helped yourself. Kids, parents, grandparents, neighbors...Talk about a wonderful "family" get together. I won't mention eating raw black crab, opihi, sashimi, sea cucumber, sea urchin, kukui nut... was not too friendly to my tender hau'oli stomach. LOL... (Not funny at the time)

On the Haines, Alaska show with Ben Wong, we ate like kings. Ben loves to try out his many recipes on friends and family. We ate shrimp, salmon, halibut, trout, (even moose) that he prepared in so many wonderful ways... The eating was so great on that trip that I don't even remember the fishing part.

Our guides home made beef jerky on Lake Mead in Las Vegas... Any Hilo Casting Club Trip... Sakamoto cooking opihi in their shell on a piece of chicken wire on the beach in Volcano NP... Maui Casting Club's "campfire pie irons"... The Navy EOD guys on our visit to Kahoolawe smoking a goat they caught... spam musubi every time I went mempachi fishing with my Father-in-law in Hilo... So many wonderful memories of fishing trips over the years.

I still remember the lunches Mom fixed when Dad took me along on a bass fishing trip. A big shoe box filled with fried chicken, hard boiled eggs, saltine crackers, and cans of vienna sausages... with an ice cold bottle of coca-cola out of a metal ice chest. What a treat. Can that really be 60 years ago? Seems like only yesterday.

[shanai]

Stan,

I have those same kinds of experiences as well. I think the part of fishing that makes it standout in our memories are the times that you spend doing it with family and friends. If you notice, it's not really about the actual fishing ( although that's fun as well ) but rather at the end of the day when you get to share time and exchange fish stories with the company you're with, over good food and a cold brew.

[blast from the past]

how about those evenings on the beach in the early 70's. It's a saturday, and the sun is setting on the north shore. the hibachi is glowing. the 9" manini caught by spear are put on. the aweoweo and menpachi are going onto the hibachi too, next to the manini. the shoyu/sesame oil bowl with the small, very hot red chili peppers is set out. the cold juice cans are brought out of the cooler (remember the pineapple juice cans - da kind you punch the hole in with the can-opener punch - the one with the triangle punch on one end and the bottle cap opener on the other). then we bring out the store-bought bag of frozen shrimp and throw them on too. then we add some portugee sausage, and some zucchini. the sun falls below the horizon and the stars come out. we sit in the folding lawn chairs (the kine cheap ones that have the webbing). those were the most comfortable - in the sand. the dry, warm sand under the feet, in-between the toes. the trade winds breeze through our hair. we eat, talk story about the fish, how the fishing and spearfishing was that day, the water, what we saw, etc. we eat the fresh hibachi fish and nibble the jerky-like sausage. ahhhh, the cold pineapple juice is so refreshing. we bask in the glow of the hibachi coals. we are at ease. we treasure the company of each other without thinking or saying it. happiness prevails. all is well.

[Ken]

Definitely!

Fishing at Ke'ehi Lagoon and grabbing a lunch at that tiki bar that you could just dock at...

Fishing at Lake Wilson and grabbing a lunch at that restaurant that you can tie the boat to...

Waiting for the next time, Stan.

A little birdie tells me I'm due for another trip...and maybe around Christmas time 2013...if I can find tickets in advance...if not...maybe fall 2013 after I graduate.