The summer catch

Fishing has always been a fun and relaxing way to spend summer with my family. From bass, blue gill and catfish me my grandpa and dad would catch a stringer full of fish from the pond behind my parent's house. I have great childhood memories of my grandpa teaching me how to catch and fillet the fish. My grandpa also had great skills of cooking our catch he shared with me. One of my favorite moments was when he taught me how to lay the catfish fillets in the pan to fry them. When my grandma and parents came back he hurried to his chair in the living room and acted like I was cooking on my own. We had a laugh about it I was only seven but learning how to cook great food. Another family favorite was his hush puppy recipe that is slightly sweet with a hint of onion. The dining room table had a large bowl filled with the fried catfish along with the hush puppies and fresh tomatoes and other vegetables from my grandpa's garden. Me and my older sister helped set the plates and silverware for everyone while my grandma made coleslaw to go with the catfish. We always had a great diner and the satisfying feeling of helping catch the fish we ate made me proud of our catch. To this day every time I think of summer I think of frying catfish even if I only caught one I would fry it for myself. Even if the fish wasn't biting I enjoy fried catfish at the restaurant me and my family go to with all you can eat catfish fresh from the fryer with coleslaw and baked beans. The restaurant also had a big pond with catfish in it. Me and my sister would ask our parents to buy fish food from the counter and we watched in amazement as the huge catfish came up to eat the food we threw for them. Even as an adult now feeding the catfish brings me great joy to watch them race to the kibble on top of the water like a group of vacuums they ate the food. Another great time was when I had some how lassoed a big catfish buy the tail with my fishing line while fishing with my dad at the pond. We still laugh at that story and how much I wanted to keep at least one fish to eat when I was a kid. I have lots of great childhood memories about catching and cooking fish and having fresh tomatoes and yellow squash with great food. That is why fried catfish will all ways be one of my favorite summer foods. And the sound of nature around the pond with a chorus of frogs and whippoorwills behind my parent's house as I fish is a good way to relax after a long day at work. Sometimes I bring a coffee can full of fish food and just watch the catfish eat just like at the restaurant. I keep the catfish well fed in hopes that they will grow big by the time I catch them. And just siting in a lawn chair and listening the fish peck the food from the top of the water is very calming sometimes I will even see a deer or two in the field on the other side of the pond. Even just a sandwich with a fillet and tartar sauce in it along with a few hush puppies or even a home grown tomato is enough to bring me back to eating our catch at my grandparent's house. That is how fried catfish became my favorite summer time food.