Goldeye. Goldeye, Goldeye

I went fishing this morning to Lockport. I got there early (for me anyway) at 9:30 am. There were already quite a few guys there. I found a place and threw out my bait. I used pieces of Nightcrawlers. I bought a dozen a couple of weeks ago and didn't use up all of them. You only need a small piece which you cut off with a knife. I use a small scissor. Less messy. I kept the ones I didn't use in the fridge, but today they were all dead. By all I mean the three remaining ones. So I used the dead pieces. They worked. When I ran out I used frozen minnows. They also did the trick.

I didn't catch anything at first, but I got stuck among the rocks at the bottom of the river a few times and lost the hook and the sinker. I managed to retrieve my float though every time. Getting discouraged, I tried  fishing with a jig. My first cast was successful and I caught a nice Sauger (a relative of the Walleye). I got stuck again with my second cast. Lost the jig. The same thing happened the third time and the fourth time. I didn't even get a chance to actually fish. After I lost six jigs in a row I switched back to the small hook with a piece of worm, a small sinker and a float about 4 ft above the hook. I threw the whole thing into the water and let it drift with the current. I didn't have much room to play because of all the other anglers. It is easy to get tangled up with another line.

Well, I finally hooked into my first Goldeye. A nice fat one. The rest is history as the saying goes. I left 11:45 am with 9 Goldeye and 2 descent Saugers. I was happy.

At home I scaled the Goldeye, gutted them, and then we put them into the freezer until I'm ready to smoke them. Apparently, they taste better after they've been frozen for a couple of months. The last four which I sort of smoked on the Bbq didn't really turn out. Now, with all these Goldeye in the freezer I am practically forced to buy a smoker.

The two Sauger I caught have supplied us with a nice meal tonight, together with the two smaller ones I caught the other day. Sauger don't get very big. One fish is usually barely enough for one person. Sauger, like Walleye, have white, flaky meat and taste delicious when lightly dusted with flour and fried in butter. My wife and I we don't care much for breading fish. Walleye are quite pricey to buy in the store. They usually sell for about $27.00 a kg in Manitoba. I've seen them even for around $37.00.  Smoked Goldeye are also considered a delicacy and not cheap to buy. Goldeye are only good when they are smoked. The meat is greasy, soft and too mushy to be used for anything else.

Anyway, it was a good day, especially since I tried to catch some fish yesterday on the other side of the river since the strong north wind made fishing on the side I usually fish difficult. Yesterday I caught only one small Sauger which I released again.

Here is the proof I actually caught some today: