Dreaming of a Canadian Shore Lunch
After a successful morning of fishing, take a break for one of the tastiest delicacies found anywhere, fresh walleye for shore lunch.
by Erin Rody
If you are headed out on the lake without a guide, don't worry, it's not all that hard to do it yourself. Just remember to bring everything with you that you think you'll need like oil or lard, frying pan and utensils and all the trimmings. You'll often find the traditional shore lunch includes fried potatoes and a can of beans. If you're staying at an American Plan resort, a Shore lunch kit is often included. Many lodges have placed a fish cleaning table where guests often stop for a shore lunch. Remember to try and cook on rock rather than a beach or you'll end up with sand on everything!
Here's one of my favourite recipes
I crush up some Rice Crispies cereal and add parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. Then I drag the filets through an egg, flip it in the breading and fry for a few minutes on each side. Delicious! You can find more recipes from some of the lodges at www.ontariowalleyefishing.ca/blog/best-walleye-recipes.cfm.
Catch and Release the Large Fish
You'll enjoy catching the fish that you will eat but we want to encourage you to do it with this in mind. The best eating fish regardless of species are the smaller ones, generally walleye between 14 and 17 inches in length. For larger fish like the one pictured above on the English River System at Halley's Camps, it is important that you release them back into the lake. These bigger fish are the prime breeders and instead of eating them, release them so they can produce the ones you'll eat a few years down the road. Dan Baughman from Bow Narrows Camp has a great article on his blog called the Stunning Reality of Keeping Big Fish. In the article, Dan breaks it down mathematically and in more detail, but basically if you take two anglers with one taking two 17 inchers and the other taking one 17" walleye and one 26" walleye the loss of eggs and potential fish are about 1,037,270 less over a 10 year period! So, please take a picture and put them back, it is a conservation principle that has worked for years to ensure a quality shore lunch experience.If it's been a while since you've had a shore lunch or if you've never had one before, head up to Ontario's Sunset Country and experience one for yourself. Order a free Vacation Guide and Map to start to plan which lakes you should have a Canadian shore lunch this year. Bon appetit!
Visit northwest-ontario.com for more information.