Fishing With Teachers or The Post in Which I Use the Word Fillet As Often As Possible

Steve and I have lived in Alaska for going on seven years, and we went fishing for the first time today. This was a massive act of love on Steve's part because he doesn't even like fish.

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Last night a few of the teachers put a net in the water. The net is attached to the white buoys you can see in the pictures above.

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We pulled the net to shore looking for fish.
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Okay, so the use of the word "we" was a little generous. Steve was the only Alston that did any of the actual pulling of the net.
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The fish get tangled as they try to swim through the net.
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Steve was a pro at untangling the fish.

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The lineup. Notice the sanitary conditions. 🙂

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Me with the future fillet.
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Steve humored me and posed for a fish picture too.
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The beginning of the fillet. A nice slice below the head.

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Hard at work in the filleting process.

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The other filleting stations.

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This is what was left after I was done filleting. The leftovers were donated to one of the local dogsled teams.

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The fillets were reserved for human consumption. I took a couple and cooked them in a bit of hot vegetable oil. After a couple of minutes, I put them in the oven.

Note to readers: the pictured fillet was not filleted by me. It was filleted by another teacher earlier in the day.

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While the fillet baked, I gathered some of this beautiful lemon zest.

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I added the zest to some butter, shallots, and lemon juice, inspired by this.

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The finished fillet with the sauce. It was delicious. Even Steve agreed. Maybe there's something to this fishing thing after all...