OT: Larpin' Gud Chow & Feeshing

[Guest guest]

Oslo Fjord! Monterey!

We was there! You are awakening

the travel genes..., not to mention the

appetite...

 

Ien in the Kootenays

*****************************

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hey Gayla,

 

When I getta tawking about feeshing I can go on forever and bore the

crap outta most folks .. and like some folks can find a springboard for

political discussion from most any post I can do the same for feeshing

or diving with most any post. So those who are easily bored might wanna

zap this post now. ;-)

 

When I left the USA (May 1988) I had a 17 1/2 foot Bass Boat .. a Ranger

371 Deep V Hull (hand made in Flippin, Arkansas) w/175 HP Mariner ..

that had more electronic gadgets and technology .. and cost more than

the 4WD vehicle I hauled it with .. a K5 Chevy Blazer. I was big time

into Largemouth (Black) Bass Tournament Fishing back then .. used to run

the BASS, Redman, Yamaha and other Tourney trails. Never was real good

but was good enough to pay my expenses .. generally. ;-) And for those

who might think Tourney fishing depletes the stock .. wrong it is cause

we had to have live release to get points .. that's why they have Live

Wells on those boats that the average person can climb into.

 

During my two assignments to Monterey we used to take the Headboats out

of Monterey Bay and fish for Cod. Many different Cod there were and an

average outing would result in one having 20-25 pounds of Cod fillet.

Didn't have to know how to fish .. Captain would find a school, tell the

folks to drop their lines (with many lures) and afore they were too deep

there would be 4-5 Cod on the line. Then you just hauled'em up .. and

on the way back the cabin boys would fillet them for 10 cents a pound.

That was definitely meat fishing .. no sport to it.

 

> OK .. lets be fair. We'll add a meal consisting of a .....

>

> Well, fair might be to slide up to Pescadero and have a bowl of Artichoke

> Soup, run a little farther north to Montara to Dan's on Thursday and dine

> on braised rabbit.

 

Good is the Artichoke Soup .. but a Suthran boy like me would never ever

consider paying money for Rabbit .. we's brought up on them critters and

we harvests them our own dang selves. ;-) Most of the Thanksgiving and

Christmas dinners we had when I was a yonker was Quail and Rabbit. I

think I was in the Army afore I tasted a dang Turkey. But when I was

young there were no Wild Turkey in Suthran Kentucky .. now they are so

thick the farmers complain about them. That says much about the success

of the conservation programs in most US states.

 

> You know there hasn't been a real abalone in Monterey since Hector was

> a pup, so it is calamari they are serving, but it's still good.

 

Started reading this and thought you might be gonna say since Steinbeck

roamed the area. ;-) True it is that commercial Abalone fishing was

prohibited (except for areas in the south) in California years ago

because they couldn't reproduce as fast as the commercial folks and sea

otters were taking them. California has some of the strictest laws on

saltwater fishing of any state .. especially for Abalone .. the fines

for violations involving abalone were a minimum of $15,000 and maximum

of $40,000. Enough to keep even dishonest folks honest. ;-) But ..

what I hear from friends still diving the area is that those laws have

resulted in a come back for Red Abalone.

 

Another variable was Sea Urchins .. they were competing with Abalone for

food .. but over the years a big industry developed for those critters,

and good it is cause they are a menace to divers. The Japanese buy a

lotta Sea Urchins and California is the biggest exporter.

 

Last Abalone I ate was from Monterey Bay .. in 1980 .. but we collected

it ourselves .. SCUBA. Best as I can remember the rules back then were

a daily bag limit of 3 Red Abalone .. minimum size 12 inches .. and an

annual bag limit of 24. Had to have a sport fishing license. And .. it

was NOT easy to find 1 .. much less 3 .. 12 inch Abalone in a day.

 

I've dived all of the Oceans and almost all the Seas .. even did a few

Dry Suit Dives in the Oslo Fjord on my 50th birthday .. but the best

around is (no doubt) the Red Sea off'n Elat, Israel and Acaba, Jordan.

Visibility there is so good that some of the Europeans who come down for

vacation often find themselves busting their Dive Tables cause they're

not used to having such great viz at depths. Its tough to dive the US

coasts off the Atlantic and Pacific but folks do it when they have no

other choice and ain't too concerned about viz .. which is really what

recreational/sport diving is about in the first place.

 

Howsomever .. the US seacoasts produce some fine seafood .. even at the

commercial piers in Virginia and Nawth Kacalacky one can catcha heckuva

lotta feesh and crabs .. and whilst you're waiting for them to come to

your poke you can read a book and have a cool one. ;-)

 

> And as long as you are in Monterey, have a basket full of fried calamari

> to top off the calories!

 

Larpin' gud .. we have fried calamari 2-3 times a month here in Turkey

and its finer'n frog hair split three ways. :-) I remember crabbing

off a pier in Norfolk, VA one night .. I was new to the area .. when a

school of calamari came in. The sea was all of a sudden lit up with

lights like a Christmas Tree. First I had seen they were .. the locals

all grabbed a special tackle they used for them and started hauling'em

in .. within 60 seconds or so the school was gone but the locals had a

nice haul.

 

> Then off to San Francisco for scallops, which are skate wings cut with

> a cookie cutter, but again still good.

 

Sorta like the pressed " crab meat " found in the USA .. and here. What I

understand is that it's Whiting and Monkfish. ;-)

 

> Ah the coast calorie tour!

 

Yep .. but sea food is mighty fine. There's a joke on the Black Sea

here .. many of the folks living along there are Laz .. and live off the

sea. http://www.scimitarmusic.com/pontos/laz.html Tis said that a Laz

will eat anything coming out of the sea .. to include his Pappy .. so

folks warn that you gotta be careful when swimming and coming back to

the beach. ;-)

 

> I sure miss really fresh fish, like eaten within an hour of catch!

 

Since I left the USA (where we used to camp and catch fresh water fish

and cook them immediately) the only place I've found fish that fresh was

on the Black Sea .. especially in the fishing village of Cakraz .. one

of the nicest places to visit along that coast.

 

When I lived in Izmir (1982-1984) we would dive the Aegean and catch

octopus and lobsters and cook them fresh .. and in Istanbul we could

find mountains of salt water mussels .. easy to collect and larpin' gud

all of it was. Since I've lived in Ankara I don't get to dive but a

couple of times a year and then its recreation diving and shooting

photos, etc.

 

> Gayla Roberts

> Always Enough Ranch

> Acampo, California

> www.bouncinghoofs.com/alwaysenoughhobbysale.html

> goatclearing

> http://coloredboers.home.att.net/always.html

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-) Butch http://www.AV-AT.com