These two words have always meant two things to me: opening duck season and opening fishing season. Both held equal excitement for me when I was a kid, and I still get a little excited when I think about opening fishing season. But these days, I get excited if I even have a chance to get out duck hunting anytime during the season, let alone on opening day.
I have many fond memories of fishing with my Dad on opening day of the Wisconsin fishing season. One of my first memories is fishing at a trout pond at the Central Wisconsin Sportsman’s Club just east of the city of Marshfield. The pond was stocked yearly with legal-size trout, and was right on the property and was only a couple of acres in size.
We got up before dawn, in order to get out there and get a spot before there was any light in the sky. We walked to the edge of the pond with the aid of our silver Ray-o-Vac flashlight. Of course we had the minnow bucket–for keeping the fish we caught, along with lead split shot, small red and white bobbers, and small gold hooks. The perfect equipment to accessorize my Zebco rod and reel. Dad had a fancy fly rod. For bait we used canned corn. For those who might wonder, “Why corn,?,” it is because the fish were fed pellets, and corn was close to getting what they were used to eating. And besides, it is nearly impossible to get a fish pellet on a hook. Ironically, to this day anytime I open a can of corn I get the urge to go fishing.
Once we were in a good spot, we stood there and waited for it to get light. There were other people there lining the edge of the pond, but no one was on top of anyone else. We could tell they were there by the sound of an occasional throat clearing or a muffled chuckle. The flicker of a cigarette being lit was not uncommon around there either. When it did begin to get a little light you could start to make out the silhouettes of all the folks standing around the pond waiting to make the season’s first cast at daylight when the season officially opened. It seemed like there were hundreds of Dads and kids trying to catch some corn-fed trout.
Everyone was catching fish and it didn’t take long to catch our limit. We carefully put each fish in the blue minnow bucket and were back home in time for breakfast. I have no memory of how those trout were cooked–or even of eating them–but I do have a few ideas of how I like to cook trout these days. Below is a recipe that pays a little homage to the memory of the corn-fed trout of my youth. Enjoy!
Pan-Seared Trout with Creamy Corn Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 small shallot, minced
½ cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ cup frozen white corn. (or canned corn for memory sake)
1 tablespoon minced parsley
2 rainbow trout, butterflied, head removed, and cut into filets
1 tablespoon olive oil
Method: Cook the butter and shallots in a sauce pot over medium low heat until the shallots have sweated (gotten soft). Add the white wine and reduce the wine until nearly dry. Add the cream and cook until it coats the spoon. Season with salt and pepper. Add the corn and heat through. Hold. Rub the oil on the trout filets and season with salt and pepper. Heat a heavy skillet to hot. When smoking hot, add the filets cut side down. Cook several minutes then turn over and cook another couple of minutes. Warm the corn sauce and place some on warm plates or a platter. Place the fish skin- side down on the sauce. Drizzle a little more sauce on the filets and garnish with parsley.
Chef Joel