Fried Halibut, Loquat Salsa, and a Whole lot of Freediving Fun

"Dude, I found three lures!"- Alex
"Dude, I found an anchor!"-me

We got out for an afternoon freediving in the local lake. Alex and I just wanted to get in the water, hang out, and see if there were any fish worth casting a lure to.


Turns out there certainly were! We saw nice sized bass all over the place.

Eventually we just started diving for fun, laughing a lot, and generally enjoying the day. It started with Alex asking me to film him do an "underwater backstroke." It made me laugh so hard...I mean, who does that? Alex is always good for  laugh!

I sat on the bottom trying to blow bubble rings like my buddy Kirby does. Got a few nice ones when the camera was off, but some in the footage aren't too bad either.

Next, Alex swam out away from shore and after calmly breathing up at the surface he dove deep to 30 ft for his first time! He was really happy with that. Now having broken that milestone, he will be spearfishing deeper reefs the next time we get out into the ocean.

We tried a bit of hook an line fishing, but had no luck. I blame our bad bass fishing skill on our lack of visors and wrap-around sunglasses (some bass fishermen dress worse than golfers)!

Dinner was comprised of fried California halibut fillet with a foraged loquat salsa, side of fried plantains, black beans, sour cream and tortillas topped with our homemade sea salt and my brother's girlfriend Karen's homemade hot sauce.
That was one heck of a feast!

After dinner we headed out for another dive and Alex cleaned up the bottom of the lake as he retrieved fishing lure after lure. I contributed a few fishing rigs as well and eventually found an anchor.

It was a heck of a nice day and a great way to unwind. Just wait till I tell you about our recent fun fruit harvesting and jam making!
Keep the old ways alive! 

Hillbilly Fusion Revisited: Turtle Curry

Declaimer— These are invasive turtles, largely responsible for the decimation of our native Western Pond Turtles (Actinemys marmorata or Emys marmorata). In our neighboring states the native turtle is on the endangered species list, here in California it is a “species of concern”. By harvesting a few non-native turtles we hope to open a slot for native species to more easily find vital resources…especially food. I realize that turtle harvesting may be a sensitive subject for some. If this is the case for you… if the subject will offend you… please skip this article.

While out searching the rivers for striped bass and crayfish the other day with my trusty comrades, we came upon turtle after turtle. Unlike some of the local creeks where restoration efforts have successfully removed invasive Red Eared Slider turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans) to allow for the comeback of our native species, here we found that the native Western Pond turtle (Actinemys marmorata or Emys marmorata) was in the extreme minority.

After a lengthy discussion surrounding the decimation of our native species by invasive animals such as striped bass, bullfrogs, and red eared sliders, we decided to “go hillbilly” for the day and attempt to bring home the bacon…turtle bacon that is!

After deciding that we would be willing to try one or two in a soup or curry we split up and began freediving to the depths of the river bottom. There, in and among the vegetation and silt we managed to sneak up and catch a few sizable turtles. However, little did I know that after I put two in the hatch on my boat, Kirby and Sam did the same! By the time we got back to shore, we did the math and I realized I had six turtles in the hatch!

I am a man who lives by the principle “waste not, want not” and today I got to prove it. The shell and bones of one was donated to an archaeological comparative collection (used in teaching undergraduates how to identify specific animal remains in archeological sites). The other shells were cleaned and processed to be fashioned into lightweight bowls, plates, and traditional armguards for archery.

 

The meat was saved, slow-cooked, and eventually simmered alongside foraged lambsquarter and morel mushrooms in a Thai red curry.

If I told you that Red Eared Slider meat was no good, I would be a liar. It tasted somewhat like the dark meat on a wild turkey!

 

I do not know how often I will pursue turtles in the future…but it was a good experience for sure.

Well, I hear Loquats calling me and am dreaming of the fruit salsa they will become.

Keep the old ways alive!

 

Wild Turkey, Wild Greens, Foraged Oyster Mushroom, and Morel Mushroom Sandwich

I got out towards the end of the spring wild turkey season. In a wooded patch I was able to close the gap, stalk in, and successfully bring down a nice Tom the old way.

My buddies Sam, Kirby, and Carter had left me with some of their recent Morel mushroom harvest and that sounded like it would pair nicely with my dried Oyster mushrooms and fresh wild-harvested meat.

I gathered up some mustard greens and sautéed them with another seasonal favorite—Labsquarter (aka Goosefoot)!

The turkey was slow cooked for a few hours in the crock pot with onion, garlic and herbs and the mushrooms and greens were sautéed to perfection. I shredded the meat and mixed in some BBQ sauce and spices to give it a pulled-pork taste.

When all was said and done I was enjoying one of the finest sandwiches I have eaten in years, paired with an incredible home brewed Irish stout (courtesy of Jesse).

This was a dinner to remember!

I enjoyed the sandwich so much I made three more in the following days!

The wing feathers from my bird were retained as well and with a little preparation, they will be transformed into the fletching for a new set of stone-tipped hunting arrows…waste not, want not!

Keep the old ways alive!

Freediving, Foraging, and Feasting with Friends

Our good friends Kirby and Sam came up to visit for the opening weekend of Striped Bass speafishing in the Sacramento River Valley District…and to have a look around the Sierra Nevada mountain range for morel mushrooms (Morchella elata and M. angusticeps).

I had spent the previous evening rigging up my speargun. The bungies needed mending and I had to replace the shooting line. It had been a while since the trusty hunting tool had been in its intended element— Water.

It was good to see the guys again. Both of them, along with my wife and myself were all Humboldt State University Alumn. We had some really good memories from behind the Redwood Curtain to share over a beer or two. 

One of the best things about good foragers is that they also often come bearing gifts… and this crew brought some real gems! They bestowed upon us some sizable chunks of white seabass, yellowtail, California halibut, cabrilla, and even some smoked landlocked salmon. Our freezer was now sufficiently stocked and we were all smiles. It had been over a year since the last time we all got to hang out and so of course we had plenty of foraging stories to swap. Sam told us of adventures fishing on the rough and frigid waters of the Bearing Sea in Alaska and Kirby related his latest battle wrestling his wounded 60lbs white seabass away from a 12 ft. long sevengill shark (Notorynchus cepedianus) as the sun set on their kelp bed over a mile's swim from shore.

About that time my brother-in-law, Jesse, stepped in, also bearing gifts. He had brought a flat of assorted homebrew including Irish stouts, doppelbocks, a Belgian quad, and more. While the dogs played, we hatched our plan for the following day’s adventure and enjoyed Jesse's hand-crafted beer.

We were on the water by 9am. Not one of us had dove this river before but we had heard rumors of productivity and decent visibility. You see, the Sacramento River Valley District has been open to spearfishing for several invasive species for years now. Some divers actually took advantage of that opportunity and hunted these waters for carp and giant goldfish. But last year they opened the river to another invasive species (a very tasty one)—the Striped Bass. 

Even though this was done because striped bass have been decimating native juvenile salmonid (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Oncorhynchus kisutch) and delta smelt populations (Hypomesus transpacificus), opening the river to allow spearos to thin the schools really caused an uproar. It was unfortunate, but some hook and line anglers turned violent and started threatening the safety of divers who dared come after these fish. We are subsistence foragers, we mean no disrespect, but if it is legal, and we can help keep our waters healthy, and help our native species have a fighting chance in the meantime, then we will be there! So now you have some context as to the waters we were jumping into.

When we entered the river it was surreal. It was as if you mixed the scenery from Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn with an old pirate swashbuckler film. The river had the feel of an economically depressed waterway of the Deep South, and yet the ubiquitous half-sunken boats made me think we should all be armed with swards or cannons. I half expected to see a sign painted on the bridge reading “Pirates, Ye be warned!”

We dove hard all day and had a lot of laughs in between. Yet not a striped bass was seen. We heard they were still holding up at the river mouth and would not enter until a little later in the season. We did encounter a huge bull sea lion (Zalophus californianus) though! That was strange as we were miles upstream from any salt water. He seemed to be "happy as a clam" as he was diving over and over likely well-fed on all of the fish we did not see.

After a time we switched our focus. We were headed back downstream and planned to stop at a spot our buddy Carter had found…oh yeah, Carter met us by Kayak mid-way up the river. When we got to the spot we anchored and dropped down to the silt bottom. I couldn’t believe my eyes! There were more signal crawfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) than I have ever seen! We casually snatched up about 100 in a half hour for appetizers for the next two nights and left at least as many still there on the bottom in that little spot.

We shot a little video while we were there as well.

When we got back we had a crawdad boil that night.

The next day I had to grade mid-term exams and papers but Sam and Kirby headed deep into the mountains and found a treasure trove of Morels!

That night we started with crawdad cakes, and then had a main course of white seabass fillets with a morel cream sauce and herb potatoes.

Not too bad at all!

Keep the old ways alive!

Making Orange Marmalade

 

“This is awesome! Yesterday I saw my first orange on a tree and today I get to pick them!”- Anna (visiting from New York).

I got out with some friends the other day and harvested a few Valencia orange trees I had been eyeing. It had become clear that these trees (all in the public right of way) were not being picked and the precious tasty fruit were all going to waste. We were not about to let that happen any longer.

The first stop yielded a couple of dozen ripe sound fruit while the second tree blessed us with even greater abundance.

Anna did the honors and grabbed the first fruit.

 

Nick took over soon after and he and I tag-teamed the highest oranges in the canopy.

 

The Harvest was bountiful to say the least!

Nick and his girlfriend Kate dehydrated some for backpacking snacks and made a small batch of marmalade with the rest…which they celebrated with what appears to be an elaborate interpretive dance.

 

 

 

I followed and made a delicious little batch of marmalade as well.

 

While enjoying some of this years home brewed hard apple cider!

It is so cool to experience the whole process… from early season scouting as you find trees with immature fruit, returning with friends and backpacks to harvest, juicing, cooking, cooling, and eventually eating the seasonal and sweet freshly made preserves.

Makes me wonder what we can do with the abundant local pomegranates when they ripen!

Keep the old ways alive!