We had those when I was growing up too...you could catch them on the line, but when you caught one, whatever you were fishing with got sucked into it's mouth and was pretty much gone. We thought of them as carp, only uglier. Treated them the same. Which means I'll be damned if I'd kiss one.
Later on, I caught on that caviar came out of them, and that caviar (which I've only had once, when my wife's Polish family came to visit right after the wall came down and they brought it, with some really good Vodka called Polmos) was really really good. My wife's family also loves carp too, to my puzzlement, they make fish balls (gefiltefish) out of them, it's really expensive too.
All the trash fish from my childhood turned into delicacies!
And now, caviar costs a workingman's month's salary the kilo, and sturgeon are now a protecting species in the UP (though, if they've sucked up a big hook and you throw it back, do they still live?).
Trash fish no more... Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
Purely trash fish. I wonder, actually, if it would be edible...I bet it would be.
But why would UP caviar be bad? Just curious...you must've had a bad experience.
(You know the first sign of spring? Illinois plates...) Fai de bèn a Bertrand, te lou rendra en cagant
While it is perfectly beautiful in that part of the world, I have issues with the cuisine (except for the baked goods). I've actually only ever been to northern Wisconsin & Door County, not technically the UP. But I assume they are pretty much the same.
And I am convinced all Great Lakes fish are toxic. "Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
