Last night Shane and myself headed up to a lake we know about in the mountains. We were there last year and had a pretty good night, so hopes were high as we bounced down the dirt road headed up into the boonies.
We weren’t disappointed.
Suffice it for now to say that the smallest fish of the night was 20 inches. On getting him near the shore, I even said “Ah hell, he isn’t even that big!”, and the realized the utter folly of my words. Easy to get spoiled at [redacted] Lake.
Keep an eye out for more on this trip and some good pictures from last night in the coming days. (Shane left his card reader at his folk’s house, you see. Pictures either today or tomorrow!)
Sure the fishing was great, but the real treasure of the night was finding a bunch of morel mushrooms along the shore. It gave us something to do while resting the hole. We ended up with a couple good sized handfuls. Another nice surprise was the rabbit hanging out in the parking lot when we got back. This being bear central, both of us were packing heat.
Lil Bunny Foo Foo never had a chance.
Two things I have never eaten before are rabbit and morel mushrooms. So, we went home and had at it. Fried rabbit is actually really damn good. Not as good as morels cooked in butter and garlic, but still. Turns out stuff really does taste better when you find it or kill it yourself.
The real question, though, is what do you wash down a meal like this with? Since you’re eating off the land, you need a good beer to go with it. Shane gave me the last Moose Drool in his fridge and contented himself with PBR. Both of those seem to be good fits.
Since the food is local, it only makes sense to wash it down with local beer. The mushrooms, after soaking up the generous helping of butter melted in the pan, were damn rich, so next time I think a lighter, less heavy beer might make a good choice. Hmm, might have to pick up some Madison River Brewing Hopper Pale Ale tonight…
Good beer paired with good food and good company makes for good times.
