My family and I went fishing this weekend.

Don’t be too impressed.

It was at the city pool.

We went because well, my mom is a big fisherwoman (and by that I mean she knows how to fish) and she guilted me into it.  Basically, she said if I didn’t do this one thing for my children I would rot.  And frankly, I don’t want to rot, so I took my kids to the swimming pool to fish.

After our Fishing Extravaganza (that’s what the city called it ~ I don’t make this stuff up), my mom had a lot of questions.  Here are the highlights. As well as a few extra questions thrown in because, I’m a dork.

Are fish supposed to be swimming in the city pool?  I don’t know.

How do the fish even get in the pool?  You got me.

Nicole, I really would like to know how they get all those fish in the pool. You didn’t even ask the man in charge, where all these fish came from? No.

Do the fish like it?  Ummmm. I don’t think so.  They were all swimming in one big heap in the deep end. 
Huge gigantic pool, and they were all huddled in the corner, cowering.

Did the girls like it?  Loved it. Shelbi and Bella caught 5 catfish each, Soledad 1.  Soli didn’t really like the squiggly, wiggly, worm.  She screamed for ummmmm. . . .10 minutes and 26 seconds when she thought it touched her.

Who caught the biggest fish?  Bella.  But Shelbi said she did.  Then Bella had a heart attack and passed out crying because she’s a sore loser and so competitive, but it’s too bad because Shelbi was lying.

Bella passed out?  Metaphorically.  She just lost her mind. Cried a lot, then we took her to Jack in the Box and declared her the winner in our family, and she was happy.

How did you get all the fish out of the pool, off the hook, and into the cooler? Did y’all know what to do?  Well ummm. . .we lost the first fish because Warwick went over to the the baby pool to fish with Soli, and then Shelbi caught her fish, and I was trying to help her, but she got so excited that she started belly screaming, then she started running AWAY from the pool with her pole in her hand and the fish still attached, but in the water, then Warwick noticed all the commotion from over yonder ( i just wanted to say that it sounds like fishing language) and he starts screaming something at me, and I’m trying to make sure that nobody literally swims with the fishes, and then some stranger comes over and takes pity on us, only to tell us to tighten the tension, and I’m all “Huh? What?” and he shows us, Shelbi is still screaming, and then because it’s 20 minutes later, the fish gets off the hook and swims away.  Then Warwick shows up, all . . . . .”Why didn’t you tighten the tension?  That’s what I was screaming at you to do?!!!!! And I was all, “So sorry I couldn’t hear you over Seventy Decibel Shelbi, and why didn’t you just walk the 50 paces it would have taken you to help prevent me from looking like a Dorkus Wad?  What did you ask again?

The fish Nicole!  How did you get them out, off the hook, and into the cooler? Warwick. He just grabbed the fish unhooked them and threw ’em in the cooler. (It was really kinda sexy hot, if you ask me. He just reached down and grabbed the fish with his bare hands. If the fish was really large, he’d put his foot on top to stop it from wiggling so much (kinda like he was conquering some far off land) , then he just reached down and grabbed it.  And just to make the whole event even hotter, he held the fish for prolonged periods of time while the girls ran around in circles deciding whether or not they could get close enough to take the picture.  Who knew Mr. Woo was sooooo. . . .brave? )

FYI : Apparently, chlorine removes itself from the pool within days/hours of application.  Per Mr. Woo. He thought you should know, we aren’t feeding our kids chlorine infested fish. He’s diligent like that.

And of course we came home, cleaned the catfish (tomorrow’s post), and fried it up and ate it like the real fisherwomen/man that we are/is.

The End.

Southern Style Fried Catfish

Ingredients:

Catfish Fillets
Creole Seasoning/Seasoning Salt
Corn Meal
Oil for frying, (I used Canola Oil)

Directions:

1.)  Season catfish on both sides with Creole Seasoning.
2.) Let sit in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3.) Dredge fillets in cornmeal. Make sure the fish is completely coated on both sides.
4.) Heat oil in iron skillet on medium high heat. The oil should go up the side of the skillet to about 1/2 inch. You can tell the oil is ready to fry by sticking the non-spoon end of a wooden spoon down into the grease, and making sure it touches the bottom of the skillet.  If bubbles start to form, then the oil is hot enough.
5.) Fry the fish for about 7-8 minutes, 4 minutes per side, or until fish is golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels. Serve.