FIRST CATCH YOUR FISH

Here is a great recipe for freshly caught trout that I used when fishing years ago. When I say recipe, it wasn't from a book or anything it was just kind of instinctive.

1 trout (any size)
salt
pepper
lemon juice
butter
wine
foil wrap
fire

First catch your trout, clean it, lay it on foil,rub with butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, squeeze a lemon or two over it, add a splash of wine, wrap it up and put on a BBQ or fire. Cook it. When cooked eat it.

Complicated I know but it works. I cooked this somewhere near the Tongariro River back in the mid 70's. I had gone on a fishing trip with Chris and Sue Prowse and I think Robert Prowse (Rob, do you remember?). We went to a spot Chris knew of beside a tributary stream off the Tongariro. It was about 10 minutes from Turangi. One evening I caught a medium sized trout which we cooked. I also caught a large trout, the stuff of legend but had it stolen. When I put it on the bank and went back into the water to try my luck again, I had my back turned to it. Something (a noise or a sense) made me turn around and I saw that my trout had gone and I saw a ferret (stoat or weasel) disappearing into the bushes with it in its mouth. It must have been a strong little animal as the trout was huge (and got bigger with the re-telling).
When I went back to the camp the others didn't believe my story (philistines). They were lucky that I shared my other trout with them. The wine was probably a Penfold's Autumn Riesling which I remember as being delicious.
It was also on this trip that I discovered the benefit of very cold running water. In the morning while boiling water for tea/coffee I managed to spill a boiling pot over on my arm. I immediately plunged it into the nearby stream and kept it in there for ages. The water was so cold that I could that I lost feeling in my arm but when I finally withdrew it I had no pain or blistering.