First Time Herring Fishing!

We heard they were catching herring out in the Lake Huron waterways and the St. Mary's River, so Steve and I thought we would give it a try. Neither one of us had ever caught a herring.

We ended up with five!

We should have had six but one got away just inches away from being in the boat.

We won't talk about the fact we forgot to take our net.

Ahem.

It's relaxing fishing for herring because all you do is stare at your bobber. And I mean stare. Because they're sneaky fish that will steal your wax worm in a heartbeat. If I look away for a split second, Steve yells, "Your bobber just went down!" If Steve looks away for a split second, I yell, "Your bobber just went down!"

Yes, we missed quite a few I will admit.

But once you set the hook, it's a blast winding them in.

"Les Cheneaux Islands are a group of 36 small islands, some inhabited, along 12 miles of Lake Huron shoreline on the southeastern tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States."

I got the above info of where we were from Wikipedia.

Beyond that little island and the sailboat lies Lake Huron - one of the five Great Lakes.

This is Government Island and the whole island is a State Park. Steve and I often stop here and sit a spell while watching all the boats go by. Much history and boathouses abound in this area. For past pictures of some of the boathouses and islands, you can visit this post Finding the Perfect Boathouse for Two Buck Duck.

We made two meals out of our herring catch, and last night we had our first try at it. I've only ever eaten pickled herring (thanks mom!), so this was new to both of us.

And we love, love our grilled veggies: cherry tomatoes, portabella baby mushrooms, green pepper and vadalia onion cut in chunks, and fresh broccoli from my garden. I wash it all, place it in a bowl, then pour garlic infused olive oil and basil infused olive oil over all and mix. Spray a grill pan with cooking spray, place the veggies inside and grill on medium to high. We put the veggies on first. These take almost 20 minutes to a half hour. And occasionally stir the veggies to get them evenly charred if you like charredness.

Simple! And you get to enjoy the warm summer evening outside while also...

...grilling your fish. I sprayed the grill basket with LOTS of cooking spray. Then poured melted butter on one side. The other side of the fillets had skin on. If we grill trout with no skin on either side, I pour butter on both sides, and use a basting brush to get every spot. After the butter comes lemon juice which I squeeze from a fresh lemon over all. Then I liberally sprinkle season salt and smoked paprika. Being summertime, I went to my herb garden and cut out a few sprigs of fresh rosemary. Steve grills the fish on medium heat approximately 12 minutes, flipping every 3 minutes or so. We like ours a little charred.

Have I mentioned that?

We loved our first try at herring. Tomorrow is going to be a great summer day so we are going to try to get a few more for the freezer. We heard they don't stick around long, and neither will they at our house!