Ice Fishing

By Uncle Hans  

We have the usual two seasons here in the frozen north.  A short one called "Road Construction Season", followed by the LONG one called "Ice Fishing Season"
    Since none of us is qualified to wear a bright orange vest and hold a flag and get $32.00/hour and full health and retirement benefits, we opt for fishing (which pays less).........

............Jake now gives a tutorial on cleaning fish.
                  The little fishy is first.........

  .....the other is a 34 inch northern pike.  A nice fish, but not a monster.  They are not considered good fish to eat, they have too many bones. If you are not skilled at fillet technique, you end up with little edible meat.  The first cut is behind the head, down to the spine, and back out at the dorsal fin.  This results in a usable piece of meat..........

  ....the sides or "fillets" look good at first.............

...........but then they have to be skinned, which reduces them a little...........

  .............the tricky part is cutting out the y-bones, which are so plentiful that they make the stuff nearly impossible to eat safely.................

   .........Jake does this difficult work under the watchful eye of his supervisor.  Tinker is a retired traffic flagger whose pension check makes Jake's income look like beer money/pocket change..........

                ………….. go figure.

By Uncle Hans