 Eelgrass with seed-bearing shoots. Photo © Ken Schultz By Ken Schultz
I’d like to think that anglers, whether on their own or through clubs they belong to, do something to give back to the resources that they so clearly enjoy. Things like helping clean up trash on a lake, recycle fishing line and soft plastic lures, habitat improvement projects. There are many ways that anglers can do something to help. One fascinating way to help is by getting in the water and working with groups that are restoring habitat in areas that critically need such. Stream restoration projects, for example, are commonly undertaken by some anglers, particularly those belonging to local Trout Unlimited chapters. Building oyster castles and reefs is another one undertaken in coastal estuaries, where oyster recovery is necessary to help with water quality improvement as well as forming habitat that attracts forage and predator species. This past week I got in the water on the Eastern Shore of Virginia with  The author with a huge Brazilian peacock bass. Photo © Ken Schultz By Ken Schultz
Someone recently asked me what I thought was the most exciting freshwater sportfish. I said it may be peacock bass. I had to say “may be” instead of “is” because I haven’t caught all of the world’s top freshwater gamefish. My life list does not include the (Argentinian) dorado, Niugini bass, mahseer, or taimen, for example, the first two of which I’ve heard great things about. But from what I’ve seen, the peacock bass is in a class of its own, especially when caught in its native flooded rain forests of South America. How good is it? If you tied identical-size peacock bass and largemouth bass tail-to-tail, the peacock would quickly drown the largemouth. As it happens neither of these sportfish are actually “bass.” And, as it happens,  Fresh walleye fillets make an outstanding shore lunch. Photo © Ken Schultz By Ken Schultz
Have you had an opportunity to eat your catch for lunch? It’s the best food you’ll ever have. The last time I fishing in Mexico, on two successive days we ate our catch for lunch. Well, just part of our catch. One 3- or 4-pound bonito in fact. The captain I was fishing with pulled the skin off the fish, cut out fillets, rinsed them in the ocean (while we continued fishing), trimmed them into strips, added slices of onion and finely diced chilies, then sprinkled this all with the juice of several limes. It’s a variation of seviche (marinated fish) common to the Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo region of Mexico called chiritas. Boy was it good. Four of us ate the whole thing. I’ve had chiritas or seviche before with other species, including dolphin (mahi-mahi), yellowtail jack, and yellowfin tuna, while fishing in the ocean. Sure beats a couple of pieces of ham and a slice of cheese tucked between two pieces of hi-carb white bread. And, by the way, nothing defines the meaning of “fresh” fish better than By Ken Schultz
Editors note: This is a re-publication of a blog post originally published on ESPNOutdoors.com in April 2005. The November 2004 issue of Bassmaster magazine reported that angler Bill Alexander won second place in last summer's BASS tournament on the Hudson River. The article mentioned that Alexander was applying a "finesse approach" for the river's finicky bass. It noted that Alexander sprayed his plastic worms with – pay attention, now – "garlic-flavored Pam Cooking Spray." My first reaction was that this was ingenious. And economical. So I went to my local supermarket, where a 5-ounce can of Original PAM was By Ken Schultz
Much has been made about the fact that the newest Supreme Court justice, Neil Gorsuch, is an avid angler. Likewise, the Fonz, actor Henry Winkler, has been profiled for his angling enthusiasm, most recently on the CBS Sunday Morning show in January. Both Gorsuch and Winkler are trout and fly fishing devotees, and pretty serious about the sport. I thought about those two personalities when By Ken Schultz
Recently a friend asked me if the U.S. had a national fish, like we have a national symbol in the bald eagle. We don't. And probably shouldn't, in my opinion. In 2015, Rep. Tom MacArthur, then a freshman Congressman from New Jersey, introduced the Striped Bass American Heritage Act, which proposed to make the striped bass our country's national fish. It didn't gain any traction. If you'd like to read more about the life and behavior of the striper, you can find it at this link: http://fishing.about.com/…/fl/Species-Profile-Striped-Bass.… I love the striper, but I'm not sure that this or any other species warrants such designation. What, exactly, are the benefits? Will it change anything with respect to management or commercial fishing activities? How would the striper as a national fish have related to the people in Minnesota or Ohio, or other places with no native striped bass population? What about the cod, which, as Mark Kurlansky noted in his book of the same name, was responsible for explorers discovering North America? What about the salmon species of the Northwest, which were of equal importance to natives and settlers of that region as the striper was to the Northeast? What about the largemouth bass, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has noted in its regular surveys of sportfishing, is the most popular sportfish in America? Maybe it is best left to each state to determine its own "state" fish. Many of them do. Btw, the state saltwater fish of Congressman MacArthur's New Jersey is the striped bass. |
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