Singlebarbed reader and resident correspondent on Ostentatious Luxury and Land Ownership, A.Wannabe.Travelwriter thumbed his nose at me today – citing irrefutable scientific evidence that I hadn’t caught nearly all the species the Little Stinking offers…
For them as are new, I call Cache Creek the “Little Stinking” – mainly because sometimes it is – and does. I dismissed his unprovoked attack premise, assuming it was an attempt at increasing the value of his ancestral estates – or the Winnebago he lives in – but science is science, and I may have overlooked the “good eats.”
Sacramento pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus grandis, native, resident, common
Pikeminnows are politically correct squawfish. Big ones are fish eaters, despite the lack of teeth in their jaws; they have sharp teeth in their throats instead. Pikeminnows are still common in free-flowing streams throughout the watershed. Much abused by anglers, they are in fact both good sport when hooked and good food when properly prepared.
Names like Roach, Hitch, Crappie, and Hardhead aren’t going to evoke much culinary interest even if we omit the off-the-scale Mercury levels, but the Indians set store by these fish – perhaps they’re tastier than we think.
At this late stage all I’m risking is a couple thousand dead brain cells and two days off work.. I’m thinking I’ll try a fillet if he does …
He’s making nice inviting me on the 17 mile Cache Creek walk – but it may be an eco-terrorist trap; three full days in the company of “ologists” and ecology buffs may be more than my patience can handle.
The scientists would be fun to listen to – and likely could answer many of the questions I have, but if Mrs. Winterbotham does the “..oOo, lookit..” one more time – I’d have to point out the diseased bloodsucking leech boring into her ankle, and how amputation was her only hope.
I’m waiting for you guys to double-dog dare me …
Technorati Tags: cache creek, little stinking, river walk, ecology buffs, travel writers, double dog dare
Alert to trends in fly fishing, fish, and tackle – we’re just going to have to 
We’ve seen clothes that can store and generate power, what’s always been in doubt is what we need the power for….
It’s a novel approach, the California Department of Fish and Game drove this year’s salmon smolts to San Pablo Bay bypassing their normal migration. It’s fitting, we take party boats and get seasick, it’s fair they get a little motion sickness compliments of stop and go traffic.
It’s the best advice I’ve seen to date and based on our track record would work swimmingly, the downside is you’d have to develop a taste for Zebra Mussel Meatloaf, or Quagga Milkshake.
One million dollars for the inventor of the next great Fake Meat? I figured they ought to award some posthumously to the inventor of SPAM, and while they’re at it – something like a Nobel Prize for Culinary Bait & Switch for the scientists at Mickey Dees…
We tuned them out once we heard the “lecture” tone, some old SOB wanted to tell us how it’s done, as if he knew anything. Maturity does have value, 
I figured carp and bass would still be plentiful and assumed I could move to Canada before they close the borders. 
Another exotic venue to add to your list as the rarest of all trout will debut next year in Dubai. Genetically engineered to thrive in higher water temperatures, the “Asfar Trout” (Yellow Trout) will be featured on the two community islands of