A Minnesota Quickie (Day 3)

It was early in the morning on day three, so I opted to go fishing again in nearby Bass Lake to see if I could catch some more crappies and pike before we left later in the morning to go to a family friend's house for lunch. Fishing was slow, the crappies weren't biting, and all I caught of note was a big(er) pike. Still very small, but much nicer than the previous two fish. The stinger hook worked exceptionally, hooking both of the pike. 

Unfortunately, my aunt and uncle had an emergency back home in China, so they left immediately after lunch at the friend's house. That was a real bummer, because I only got to see them for a short while before they left. I continued my plan, which was to fish with Kyle to see if I could get a lifer carp, and maybe some other species. We stopped by the Rum river in search of greater redhorse, but all that but were black bullheads. Me and Kyle both got our contest blacks here, for the Roughfish.com Spring Species Contest, of which I am a contender.

 My bullhead was an old battler: He was missing an eye!

I turned my attention tho the micros swimming in the shallows. After a bit of coaxing, up came this shiner which I thought was a lifer, but the consensus was that this is a juvenile spotfin shiner, a species I already had.

However, a little more digging resulted in this fish, which I was sure was a lifer. That's a bluntnose minnow, species #64! Overall, I didn't do too much micro-fishing, I was more focused on standard species on this quick trip, but the fishing was slow here and I saw an opportunity.

We made some stops by the Mississippi River, but I got skunked and Kyle got a diminutive yellow perch. Also, it poured. Hard.

Slow day of fishing, but I got a lifer and a nicer specimen of a pike.

I returned to Esther's house (the family friend), and proceeded to frying up the crappies. I cleaned and scaled the fish, leaving the skin, head and fins on. A little corn flour, salt and pepper breaded the fish, and into the pan they went! It was my first time frying whole fish, and it was delicious! The fins were crispy like potato chips, and the meat was white and succulent. Plus, one of the fish had a little roe, so that was fried, too, to make some fried crappie caviar, which was delicious as well.