Spur of the moment " cooking by the water".

by Sue
learnt through many years of camping off the beaten track in Africa
"keep it simple"
Enjoy your fishing, enjoy your fish.

To catch your fish and cook it by the waterside is not as difficult as it sounds and is one of the most memorable times of your life a feeling of reason comes over one.

You have to plan to cook before you go fishing, (even if you don't catch). Have a back up tin of beans, open, throw in some butter and cook in the tin.

Now-a-days you can find very reasonable priced, portable, throw away after use, instant fires they come in a box plus their own grid, big enough to cook one pan size fish at a time, the coals do last a long time. We always carry them in the boot of the car plus a plastic container big enough to hold salt, pepper, and any other spice you fancy, I never go out without a fresh lemon somewhere in the car, a must is a good sharp knife to gut the fish, never trust anyone else's knife.

I gut the fish in the water it came out of and the waste goes back into the life cycle of the river/dam or sea. I don't bother with tin foil because the scales do not stick to the grid, but that is up to the individual, when I first left England I always carried tinfoil in the car plus the loo paper which has many multi functions, use you own imagination.

Take the gutted fish, leave head, tail and scales on (if using tinfoil remove the head and scales). Season the fish flesh with salt, pepper or your favorite spice. Put the fish on the hot grid cook 10 minutes or until the flesh is firm and white. Then cook the other side, if cooking with the scales on (no tinfoil) to cook the other side turn the fish over by rolling over the Dorsal fin side. If you have stuffed the fish with tomatoes and onions rolling the fish this way stops anything from falling out onto the grid, then cook for a further 10 minutes or until the stuffing is cooked. If you are using tomatoes and onions, these ingredients must be chopped very small to help speed up the cooking.

Butter a slice of bread and with a fork flake the cooked flesh on to the bread, squeeze on some lemon juice, season again to taste. Enjoy! you will eat the lot so take a large loaf of bread or make your own see bush bread recipies.

If cooking in tinfoil then wrap up the fish and make two little handles so that you can pick up the fish this way you can also use the tinfoil as a plate.

Never forget to carry an old plastic bag to put your rubbish in.

The Wise Owls Says: "When you leave the water side only leave your foot prints."