Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Fellowship of the Traveling Lure-Stories & photos

So, here is the story of some sane table fare prepared by our friend, Catmandoo. Let me just say, Ken and his wife are wonderful hosts and we had an absolutely great day hanging out yesterday. Ken is managing a property right now with several ponds on it, so we visited there and caught a mess of BG and a few LMB for a fish fry last night.

After filleting all of those we had caught, Ken set them to soak in brine for a little while, so we ventured down to his pond to see what real BG look like. Here is Ken with a nice example of his management efforts:



Ken has done an amazing job of growing big BG - these two were very average for his population and were an absolutely blast to catch! The one Ken caught was deep hooked and wasn't going to make it, so it went into the mix with the other fillets. Here it is just before going under the knife:



And here is our pan full of fillets:



Then the process of prepping began! First, the host of our show prepped some flour and a secret ingredient to dust the fillets prior to mixing up the batter. I'd tell you what the batter was made of, but I've been sworn to silence so it'll have to remain a closely guarded secret:



Then it was final prep of the beautifully seasoned cast iron pan with some canola oil, and then the whole shebang was moved outside to the grill. Once grillside, with the oil heating, we put the fillets into a dusting container to coat them with the flour mix.



I was even entrusted with this responsibility at one point as part of my apprenticeship (notice the professional shaking action I am employing in this shot!):



Next came the battering, then the management of the cooking process (And you all thought that pond management stopped with the fish still in the water!):





My apprenticeship was eventually found to be complete, and I was bestowed with an appropriate emblem of my graduation - a genuine Pond Boss apron - to go along with my new skill of tending the fillets.



In the end, we sat down to what my grandfather would have called a "mess of fish" to eat and we feasted like kings on our hard won spoils! (Well, really they weren't so hard won, but it sounds good in the context of the story! And, hey, I did have to brush a couple of ticks off of my legs, so there was some adversity out there yesterday!) Here, my mentor and I proudly display the fruits of our days' labor:



All in all, it was a great day and one that exemplified what Pond Boss has come to be about for me, and probably for most of us. It was a fantastic time for friends with some common interests brought together by this forum. This is the sort of thing that reminds us that we truly are a family here.

Cheers to Catmandoo!