Cleaning the fish we caught in the Golf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico.

The time was right. Following tough times the family had finally come together for Christmas. This was a long awaited trip, not only for me but for my mother and three brothers. At the time I was working for All American Heavyweights producing nutritional food for athletes six days a week. When mid December came I couldn't wait to rendezvous with the fam. Work had been tough and my thoughts on life in general needed to be re-arranged. This vacation did just that. We were able to relax and re-load before starting a new year. For me it was a time to evaluate my path to success and re-establish my love for food, music and family.

The Little cabin my mother had set up for us to stay in was fantastic. The humble abode was nestled right on the beach giving us a spectacular view! With everyone unpacking and coming together we started discussing each others accomplished goals, new found loves and past adventures. It had been some time since we had all gotten together. For those of you who do not know.....all of us live in different cities covering the us. For one...I stay in Los Angles which is far considering my brother Robert lives in Boston, Matt and the lovely Su reside in Washington DC and Nick stays at our campground in Northern Indiana with my mother Hope. After the hugs, a few laughs and a solemn moment of silence for loved lost ones we began planning our days to come....food, games, site seeing and some fishing....fun check, knives check, no stress.....straight crossed out and forgotten!!!!! The next day we wiped away our exhaustion from traveling in the sand, walking barefoot along the beach dodging random washed up fish.

This was quite a sight to see. As avid fishermen and lovers of seafood we all loved stopping for a second to check out each specimen.

The sight of these lost creatures was saddening. Yet this moment of sadness wouldn't last long.... my brothers and i began discussing how awesome it would be to fish the gulf, trying our hand at pulling out a beast of our own. That was all it took for us to set in motion a plan to fish during one of the days to come. We were cruising on cloud nine........at this point nothing could bring us down!!

Love the fam!!!!! Our week was set on cruise control. Things were going very well...that is except for the change in weather! Thankfully the days prior were sunny and warm. We had done the whole beach and site seeing stuff already, so the time to fish was at hand. With the sun hiding behind dark clouds a cold wind was able to sneak in but it couldn't slow down a handful of rugged Bostonians on a mission! It would have to snow a couple of feet accompanied by thirty foot swells to keep us from voyaging out into the golf...seeing as though that wasn't occurring any time soon we made our way to the docks. With our mise en place in order...

we walked towards the BAY KING!!!

As the Boat began casting out a flock of birds decided it was time to roll as well. This would end up being one of my favorite moments captured by film of my brother nick. Such a great in the moment sign of excitement!! Love it Nick!

With a huge grin and an overwhelming sense of anxiousness we awaited the moment to drop lines into the grey choppy ocean. What could we possibly catch here in the gulf. None of us had ever fished this far south so dreams of the big one began rolling through our thoughts.... as we all visualized snagging the biggest fish anyone has ever seen!

The fishing rods were ready and the bait was set. All we had to do was kill a few hours, pull in some fish and make dinner happen. The trip to the first spot came quickly but the fish didn't so the captain pushed onward to another location. This would carry on a couple times until we started seeing some results. The bites were few and far between, so when we started landing fish size became an after thought...the action alone was exciting and was received, however small, with open arms. After several hours we had caught a couple of little white fish and lost far too much bait...it was time to head a shore and begin prepping our catch. If you have not had the satisfaction of catching and preparing your own food you do not know the sense of accomplishment that was pouring out of our souls. It is a great feeling getting down to the basics of life, catching, preparing and devouring ones own food. It should be on everyone's bucket list!!....that is unless you find that same feeling walking down the frozen food isle of your local super market....I fortunately do not get a sense of satisfaction doing that therefore an adventure awaits around every bend! Keep it fresh and always use what you have. Early that day we had picked up some vegetables and herbs....with the shopping done and the fish in the cooler we began preparing our family style dinner!

We prepped up beef, chicken and the catch we had brought home. The vegetables were kept simple using zucchini, spinach, onions and mushrooms. The biggest task of that day was butchering our small catch.

The length of time it takes to properly scale, draw and filet the fish can be overwhelming to beginners. If you are not proficient at it and are a bit intimidated, feel free to use the local marinas butcher...there is usually a boat or two with some fisherman ready to assist. Talk to them, tell a story, listen to there's and learn a little bit about what they do. Ask questions and you might even walk away with your fish cleaned and a lesson given to you by an expert...priceless!!!!!

Sitting down with the brothers grubbing out....one of my favorite past times!!!....the other is Baseball!!....go red sox!...ohhh wait a minute???..ya lets not talk about that #@$%...we should be keeping our manager, wasn't his fault just my opinion Theo......you are a dingleberry!!

Family Meal Status!!!! The following are videos of me demonstrating the process of butchering small fish...if you have any questions or comments fire away...... if you need advice or a step by step break down for a fish you need to prepare, feel free to ask for help.....sometimes you will receive it.