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Cooking Walleye in Northwestern Ontario
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September 19, 2011
Cooking Walleye in Northwestern Ontario
by John Merwin
There seems to have been a lot of outdoor fish cookery around the F&S website of late, most recently at The Wild Chef blog last Friday. Just so the likes of David Draper and Colin Kearns don’t get to hog it all, I’ll use this photo to point out that we here at The Honest Angler blog are holding up our end, too. Yes, that’s a pan of sizzling, fresh walleye fillets, flanked by a pan of potatoes and onions.
The location was a remote walleye lake in northwestern Ontario, where F&S Deputy Editor Dave Hurteau and I formulated a delightfully self-indulgent daily fishing plan. Fish in the morning with jigs tipped by live minnows or Gulp! baits. By late morning, we inevitably had enough fillet-size walleyes for a generous lunch. So then we’d head back to camp to make up that day’s main meal.
Walleyes, potatoes, and onions were the staples, along with sundry sides from cans in the cabin cupboard. And there was, of course, ample cold beer. Having a big meal at mid-day instead of in the evening meant there was no late evening clean-up, which otherwise might have dragged on until midnight.
All of the foregoing required--obviously--an early afternoon nap. So it usually wasn’t until 3 o’clock or so that we got ourselves together again to fish through the late afternoon into darkness. So we had the best fishing--early and late--combined with the best eating times day after day.
As a result, by the end of the week I felt refreshed rather than beaten up by long days spent only on the water. The pacing, it turns out, was everything.
And of all that, what I remember most fondly is the snap, crackle, and popping noise of a walleye fillet hitting the hot cooking oil. It reminds me of a favorite quote from a favorite author, Thoreau, who once wrote while preparing some brook trout, “The fat sizzles and calls for fish.”
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Comments (14)
That looks so good. I love fried walleye. Wish I was there...
John, do you bother to cook the cheeks?
Koldkut: I have cooked the cheeks from both codfish and bluefish, but never walleyes. Almost certainly a good idea, though...
When I read Friday's food challange the first thing to come to mind was why would Deeter cook pike while in walleye country? Sort of like buying a loaf of bread and saving the heel for a special occasion.
Taking a nap after a shore lunch? This little peice of advice may pass by many unnoticed or with little regard but in terms of quality advice, it's priceless.
Walleye cheeks are great--sort of chewy, like a shrimp, and delicious! Buckhunter, I have run into several people who actually prefer pike to walleyes. I think they are nuts, but it is a free country. The only fish species I have eaten that approaches a properly prepared walleye fillet is Alaskan halibut.
Dear God that picture just made my mouth water and I'm not even hungry! Sounds like an AWESOME trip!
This is how it's done. Excellent work. Good eats, better schedule.
Did the Gulp! baits keep pace with the live minnows?
shane, we had a good supply of live minnows from the outfitter, so used mostly those. I did try jigging some Gulp! baits to see if they worked, which they did. But I didn't fish the two back and forth enough to say whether or not Gulp! kept pace.
John, it is good to see you enjoying one of my favorite food groups, "Fried food". I personally list only two food groups, fried and non-fried. My cardiologist has been trying to make me cut back to only one for years, but he is still loosing. Long live peanut oil and fried fish!!!!!!
I wouldn't say that northern pike is better than walleye but it is certainly as good. The key is to fillet out the "y" bones and only eat the pike that are 22 - 26 inches long. In my opinion the larger and older pike aren't quite as good as the young ones. I had northern pike Saturday night after catching them on the Mississippi River that day. They were excellent!
If you want info on fishing in Northwestern Ontario, I found this informative website www.northwestontario.ca
Living in Northern Ontario, I count myself lucky that I'm able to do this stuff on a weekly basis. There has to be about a hundered remote lakes within an hours drive from my house. Most are difficult to access, but that means little fishing pressure and big fish! I have to agree with DSM, once you get the Y-bone technique, pike is damn near as good as a walleye fillet in the pan. I would also argue that, an agressive, mid-summer 30" pike is more fun to catch. I'll be heading to one of my top secret Walleye lakes this Friday for a weekend of walleye, pike, and lakers, along with some wingshooting and bear hunting!
I can taste that fish and tators & onions now, it always looks and taste better when someone else cooks it.
Can't wait for our last of the season mess of Walleye.
Thanks for the picture, brings in memories.
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That looks so good. I love fried walleye. Wish I was there...
John, do you bother to cook the cheeks?
Koldkut: I have cooked the cheeks from both codfish and bluefish, but never walleyes. Almost certainly a good idea, though...
When I read Friday's food challange the first thing to come to mind was why would Deeter cook pike while in walleye country? Sort of like buying a loaf of bread and saving the heel for a special occasion.
Taking a nap after a shore lunch? This little peice of advice may pass by many unnoticed or with little regard but in terms of quality advice, it's priceless.
Walleye cheeks are great--sort of chewy, like a shrimp, and delicious! Buckhunter, I have run into several people who actually prefer pike to walleyes. I think they are nuts, but it is a free country. The only fish species I have eaten that approaches a properly prepared walleye fillet is Alaskan halibut.
shane, we had a good supply of live minnows from the outfitter, so used mostly those. I did try jigging some Gulp! baits to see if they worked, which they did. But I didn't fish the two back and forth enough to say whether or not Gulp! kept pace.
John, it is good to see you enjoying one of my favorite food groups, "Fried food". I personally list only two food groups, fried and non-fried. My cardiologist has been trying to make me cut back to only one for years, but he is still loosing. Long live peanut oil and fried fish!!!!!!
I can taste that fish and tators & onions now, it always looks and taste better when someone else cooks it.
Can't wait for our last of the season mess of Walleye.
Thanks for the picture, brings in memories.
Dear God that picture just made my mouth water and I'm not even hungry! Sounds like an AWESOME trip!
This is how it's done. Excellent work. Good eats, better schedule.
Did the Gulp! baits keep pace with the live minnows?
I wouldn't say that northern pike is better than walleye but it is certainly as good. The key is to fillet out the "y" bones and only eat the pike that are 22 - 26 inches long. In my opinion the larger and older pike aren't quite as good as the young ones. I had northern pike Saturday night after catching them on the Mississippi River that day. They were excellent!
If you want info on fishing in Northwestern Ontario, I found this informative website www.northwestontario.ca
Living in Northern Ontario, I count myself lucky that I'm able to do this stuff on a weekly basis. There has to be about a hundered remote lakes within an hours drive from my house. Most are difficult to access, but that means little fishing pressure and big fish! I have to agree with DSM, once you get the Y-bone technique, pike is damn near as good as a walleye fillet in the pan. I would also argue that, an agressive, mid-summer 30" pike is more fun to catch. I'll be heading to one of my top secret Walleye lakes this Friday for a weekend of walleye, pike, and lakers, along with some wingshooting and bear hunting!
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2011 Doudoune Moncler Femme Pas Cher
2012 Doudoune Moncler Femme Alpes
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Post a Comment