Helpful hints for building coops

[NewBoots]

We were expected to bait our hooks and clean our fish from a young age and since I was always a tomboy and liked "icky stuff" I was fascinated by their innards and wanted to see what they had been eating. A minority of the perch have been eating little snails and this last trout had been eating the sparkling crappy bites we normally use as bait. He was sparkles all the way through .

 

[aart]

Not opposed to 'icky'...but the smell of gutting a fish just tripped my trigger.
I only fished for about 3-4 years as a young adult.

 

[jvls1942]

I tried the electric knife. I don't think our knife had the right kind of blade. I stayed with my filet knife.
If you want to scale those fish, try using a spoon. my dad had a fish scaler with two rows of saw like teeth. it worked great.
He used to go fishing and bring a pail of small perch and gills. size meant nothing to him, since it was my brother's and I who had to clean them.
He also worked building tunnels under the city for storm sewer pipes. a man can stand upright in these pipes. they used 6x8" hard wood ties to shore up the walls and ceiling.
he would bring hole a trunk full of cut-off ends every night for my brother and I to split .. all we had was a single bit, and a double bit axes. we were only about 10 years old when we started that chore.. We got really good at reading the grain in those gnarly chunks.
We 3 boys had the job of mowing the grass.
we lived on 3 city lots and it was on a side hill. my two younger brothers pulled on the rope in front of the mower, and I pushed. No gas mower back then, . Oh wait !! as soon as all of us grew up and left, guess what pa bought ..
yeppers, a self propelled whirley bird..
I don't think we ever completely did the whole lawn at one time. we preferred the prairie look. LOL

 

[NewBoots]

Not opposed to 'icky'...but the smell of gutting a fish just tripped my trigger.
I only fished for about 3-4 years as a young adult.

I caught a 7 lb carp once and decided to try eating it. We took it home and I started by gutting it...a mistake. It instantly smelled like a garbage can left in the sun. Disgusting. Finally last year I read that you NEVER "clean" a carp. Leave it whole and just cut off the fillets and cook those. So that's what I did and those fillets were delicious!

If you want to scale those fish, try using a spoon. my dad had a fish scaler with two rows of saw like teeth. it worked great.

I have a great scaler (I use it for the trout), but it's far simpler to skin the fillets and the skin adds an off flavor otherwise.

 

[jvls1942]

I caught a 7 lb carp once and decided to try eating it. We took it home and I started by gutting it...a mistake. It instantly smelled like a garbage can left in the sun. Disgusting. Finally last year I read that you NEVER "clean" a carp. Leave it whole and just cut off the fillets and cook those. So that's what I did and those fillets were delicious!

I have a great scaler (I use it for the trout), but it's far simpler to skin the fillets and the skin adds an off flavor otherwise.

I agree with that.
Annie bought some fish from Fla. Red snapper. I cooked a batch. left the skin on, something I never do otherwise. It made for difficult eating.
We do Northern Pike quite a bit.
If you want a boney fish, there ya go.
My brother is a pro at de-boning when he cleans them. I , not so much..
I leave the bones in and fry the fish with onions and a little garlic. as it fries, I pick out the bones while I chop up the meat with a spatula. when it is finished, it is hash. but makes the greatest sandwiches
red and black suckers get cut into bite sized pieces and pickled like herring.
......jiminwisc....

 

[aart]

I hated scaling, what a mess, scales all over the kitchen for weeks.
Filleting then skinning with scales on was soooo slick!
Our buddy who was the fishing 'pro' showed me how then was mad as hell when I could fillet and skin a fish faster and cleaner than he could
That guy...SMH...his last name was Cash and he always owed me some, still does in fact.

My favorite fishing story is when we lived on a lake, the ice fishing holes were very close to shore and our place(could go home to pee!). I used to take my ~6mo son out on the ice on sunny windless days, feed him his lunch, bundle him up, and stick him in his standable backpack carrier. I'd rock him until he conked out, then stand the carrier up on the ice and fish. Enamored me to all the old retired coots out there fishing, they'd give me their fish in addition to mine cause all their freezers were full.

Took that same boy out ice fishing when he was about 5, first thing he did was step in an open hole and soak his moon boot.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Boots, my rocket launching was more than ten years ago. I mentioned to Annie that I am glad that it was not aimed at me when it launched.
Art, finding a sewing needle around here is like looking for one in a haystack .
today I fixed one electric extension cord.
it is about 15 feet long.
It snowed off and on this afternoon. got about 1/4" .
...jiminwisc...

Idk, mostly any extension cords under 50 feet seem to be too short around here.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Ha I keep a couple needles in the medicine cabinet and the first aid kit.
They get used on animals more than me... lancing wounds mainly

I generally use a scalpel to lance boils.

 

[NewBoots]

Idk, mostly any extension cords under 50 feet seem to be too short around here.

That was my first thought too! Seldom has anyone said to me, "get me a smaller extension cord please, this one is too long."

 

[CapricornFarm]

The best way I have tried to get rid of bones in bony fish is to gut them, then wrap in aluminum foil and bbq on a very low heat. Bones dissolve!