YOU ATE WHAT? Missouri River Snacks

Huck Finnita?

The Missouri River is a hard mistress. At times, she delivers adventure and wonder, and an occasional wild treat. At other times, she smells and eats up all your fishing tackle.

Here you're getting two days worth of the Great Muddy.

Day One: Morels

Laura and I got out of the house ALONE for the first time since having little Hadassah. It was wonderful and weird and sad all at once. I think the separation is harder for mom than dad since I don't have a physical connection almost 24/7 via breastfeeding. Regardless, we were hard set on finding morels.

I also didn't think we'd succeed.

ye ol' morel

But alas! Dear, readers, twas a short jaunt until we discovered our first morel. Laura spotted it a little off the trail in a patch of woods that I wasn't planning on searching. It was next to a small tree (that I couldn't identify) and was past its prime, but dangit Debra, it was a morel! The morel is one of the few Missouri native mushrooms I had yet to find, so it was truly wonderful to see it for the first time.

I think these might be Tulip Poplars. If you know, please comment!

They are unique and beautiful. Few mushrooms combine a stalk with such an oddly shaped cone. I think the only mushrooms that get close to it in weird factor are some of the very oddly colored ones, like indigo milky and lobster, and maybe the flowerlike shape of the chanterelle.

Anyways, we noticed that someone had already been there and harvested a large pod of them. So, we started looking around at all the large, old trees. We ended up finding five or six more, a few of which were too old to keep. I think the trees I found them under were Tulip Poplar trees, but I'm not sure. I saw buds on the ground that are similar to the ones described in guide books, but the bark patterns are so similar between the trees morels congregate around, I couldn't get a clear identification. If you know, please comment below!

Someone was here already!

Our method was, look for places with less undergrowth and more leaf litter, go to the biggest trees you can find (the dead or sick looking ones) and look around the base of said trees. It worked pretty well. Next year, we have a spot to find them, provided we beat other people to it.

So, the taste. I'm not going to lie, I don't think they were that much different than chanterelles. They were yummy, though, and I'm not complaining. They definitely rank high on the culinary chart for me and they are very distinctive. Next spring, I'll be more diligent to look for them.

Day Two: Freshwater Drum

Giant dredging ship. It's hard to tell, but it was like a football field in length!

This day started out on the wrong foot. I was planning on taking a serious hike to a spot where I know there are fish. Well, the department decided to close the park where I was wanting to fish. I won't lie, I was tempted to ignore the signs, to just hike it anyways, but...I know there are some weird things that happen up there, so I didn't want to push the boundaries. I did, after all, report a burnt out car someone had dumped in the river to the local police earlier in the winter during a scouting trip.

Good white meat if I ever saw some

I also heard a number of gun shots and encountered four policemen on the walk back to my car. I told them where I thought they came from. I was also accompanied during my fishing time by the never-ending racket of a dredging boat. Imagine a floating rock quarry that's a football field long. Ahhh, the Missouri never ceases to provide adventure.

So, I was forced to fish other spots that weren't as good. Long story short, the fishing sucked. I caught an eight inch catfish, saw a quill back jump out of the water, and kept a baby drum to eat. I've been intending to try freshwater drum and have devoted entire fishing trips to catching them this year, but without much luck. I think I need to wait a little longer for the water to warm up in the reservoirs.

ye ol' drum

Drum is an oft maligned fish, called gross or too bony. Whenever I tell another fisherman that I'm trying to catch drum, they usually laugh and shake their heads. Yet, I've always wondered why people didn't like them. They were plentiful, fought pretty hard, particularly in rivers, and were interesting. I suppose it's their association with buffalo and carp. They have similar shapes. Your average boat owning, bass fisherman loves anything that resembles a bass, so the logic is at least sound, if not silly. Bass mouth=good. Sucker mouth=bad.

Well, I'm here to tell you that I filleted the gosh darn thing. It only had one tiny bone in each fillet and it was D-to the Licious. In fact, it was better than bass. It was white, mild, flaky, and tender. Granted, the one I ate was just off the tit, but hey, we eat lots of things young. I'll do another blog where I catch and cook some bigger boys, but seriously, I caught it out of one of the grossest rivers in Missouri (don't tell her I said that), and it was still great! I liked it more than white bass!