Shore Lunch

[Mobasser]

My dad told me about a trip he made back in the late 1940s. He went with a couple of army buddies up to Minnesota on a two day guided fishing trip.                    One of the highlights of the trip was a shore lunch, prepared by the guide. The guide offered two choices. Fresh caught fish, or ham and eggs. Both were served with fried potatoes and biscuits, which were cooked in a large cast iron dutch oven. Dad and his friends chose fresh fish.                                      He told me that the fish, along with the beautiful scenery,

made this a special meal, and was the perfect way to finish up a good fishing trip.  He mentioned it a few times over the years. To me, this sounds like an awesome thing to do. If given a choice, I'd have to go with fresh fish also.                                I'm wondering, is a shore lunch still popular with guides up north? I've seen old pictures, calenders, etc, but, these were from years ago.                                        If you've ever had a real shore lunch, please describe it for me. What food did you have? How was it cooked? Was it prepared by a guide, or someone else? I'm interested in this because I hope to do this myself one of these days.                    

 

[gim]

17 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

I'm wondering, is a shore lunch still popular with guides up north?

 

Yes, its still a thing.  Its not as popular as it used to be.  Primarily because there are more restrictions with the traditional fish that is used for it, the walleye.  There are keeper slot restrictions on certain lakes, plus statewide restrictions for fish that can be kept.  A lot of people go camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) and do a shore or campsite lunch of fresh walleye.  Last year there was a burning/fire restriction because it was so dry.  There was a couple forest fires too.  So a lot of people didn't go.  Needless to say its hard to cook or have a campfire when you aren't allowed to make a fire.  The Forestry Service has also reduced the number of entry permits because too many people were going in there and leaving trash behind.  I foresee more burning restrictions this upcoming camping season unless we receive a monsoon of rain.

 

Most walleye guides now will clean and package filets for you after a day of fishing, provided that you catch some fish that are legal to keep.  As for preparing shore lunch, that is more of a remote camping thing.  There are some resorts/restaurants that will prepare your fish at a cost after a day of fishing and they still exist on Lake of the Woods and Upper Red Lake in northern Minnesota.

 

Its probably still more popular in Canada too.  There's more walleyes there and less anglers so the fish are much easier to catch.

[Dwight Hottle]

Almost all Canadian & American camps that supply guides as part of their package offer a shore lunch daily. They have to feed you anyway & the fish are free to them. It breaks up the day if you need a break and often other boats meet up at a given place to share the duties of gathering wood, cleaning the fish & cooking. Common fare is fried fish, can of beans & corn & onions with potatoes. Always hits the spot.   

[king fisher]

Shore lunch is still very popular in Alaska.  I have cooked shore lunch with fresh salmon for 30 years.  Many day's I tried my best to get the guests to skip the shore lunch and eat sandwiches, because of the time cooking takes time away from fishing.  Most of the time my pleas fell on deaf ears. People didn't care about catching more fish, they wanted the shore lunch.  I always thought it was was a stupid choice.  A person can eat any time.  You can only catch fish  when your line is in the water.  I guess that attitude is why I was the guide and they were the client.  They spent their time making money, while I was out fishing.  When it came time to spend their money, fishing was only part of what they wanted in an Alaska experience.  It made no sense to me, but they couldn't understand why I drove a $500 car, lived in a cabin with no electricity, but had the Bait Monkey for a room mate. 

 

[TnRiver46]

I do it all the time but I’m not in Minnesota

[Sphynx]

I cook shore lunches all the time, but I definitely don't have a guide or anyone else do it for me, there are about a million pack stoves burning everything from denatured alcohol to natural wood and mess kits that can be used for pan frying, bush pot and a wire rack can make a convection type oven in a fireplace, and your imagination is the limit to how creative you want to get, if your in a boat you can afford much more luxurious cooking appointments, ziplock type bags are great for premixed seasonings and breading materials, I could probably pack everything needed in a bank bag fir 2-3 pounds, and very likely less, canned vegetables get around a freezer nicely too if you want those.

[Deephaven]

Not a shore lunch pic, but the same setup I use.  Can't say I classically take pictures of me cooking outside, but when it is my son after foraging a bunch of wild blueberries & raspberries I do.

Same trip we had shore lunch a few times.  BWCA walleye cooked in that pan.  It is a must for up North adventures for me.  The pic was outside Grand Marais on the way in.

[Bigassbass]

I've had shore lunch which I cooked many times, grill fresh caught fish on a small grill cook what other veggies you like in a pan or put a bag of redi-made salad in the cooler take some bread! Yum

[TnRiver46]

Usually we eat fish and bullfrogs but when we bring the wives, they church it up and make us paddle steaks down the river 

[WRB]

Being from SoCal I wasn’t familiar with the traditional northern shore lunch until marrying a Minnesota gal who spent summers at Lake of the Woods.

Everyone should experience a real remote Canadian shore lunch. My thinking was a sandwich woofed down while setting the boat, my wife was shocked.

A real shore lunch is well planned with everything needed in the boat. A grill on open hard wood fire. The lunch spots are on large flat granite rock, with a stone fire ring for the grill to sit on. Bacon with potato’s cooking in the grease followed by fresh caught breaded walleye with all the fixings and wild blueberries.

Beer is the tradition drink or coffee if it’s cold weather. Blanket and boat cushions to sit on. Eagles and Loons.

The shore lunch isn’t a shore picnic.

Tom 

[FryDog62]

Northern Minnesota/Ontario shore lunches are a must - although I wouldn’t recommend the “Shore Lunch” brand. Stuffed with MSG and causes heartburn on a level higher than most people I know have encountered before. There are other brands out there like Watkins - same flavors, no MSG ?

[Bluebasser86]

They did it for us when my dad and I went several years ago. 

[Derek1]

When I was a kid we used to camp up in the white mountains in NH. Right next to our campsite there were several brooks and streams. We would catch native brook trout out of the pools. We would wrap them in tinfoil and cook them on a rock next to the fire. Also in a cast iron pan with that morning’s bacon grease. They where so tasty. Really bringing back memories. Everything was cooked on a grate over the open fire. Good times. 
you’re not allowed to camp there anymore. As usual few ruin it for many. It’s a shame. 
great thread. 

[Deephaven]

4 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Usually we eat fish and bullfrogs but when we bring the wives, they church it up and make us paddle steaks down the river 

Don't post pics of the steak, but do share the bullfrogs!

3 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Northern Minnesota/Ontario shore lunches are a must - although I wouldn’t recommend the “Shore Lunch” brand. Stuffed with MSG and causes heartburn on a level higher than most people I know have encountered before. There are other brands out there like Watkins - same flavors, no MSG ?

Shore lunch isn't good, easy to make your own.  Bummer you can't eat MSG, it is really a great salt.  I have at least 5 lbs of it here.

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

Don't post pics of the steak, but do share the bullfrogs!

Shore lunch isn't good, easy to make your own.  Bummer you can't eat MSG, it is really a great salt.  I have at least 5 lbs of it here.

The pics I found aren’t cooked, still want to see them? 

[Deephaven]

Ha, I've never cleaned & cooked a frog.  Vicariously was living through you on that one.

 

[TnRiver46]

37 minutes ago, Deephaven said:

Ha, I've never cleaned & cooked a frog.  Vicariously was living through you on that one.

 

You should! They are quite tasty. Like a chicken wing made out of fish but with more meat 

 

before the fish police get me, this was like a 16 person camping trip, 5 fish per person limit. Frogs in the middle (20 frogs per person limit)

 

[gim]

11 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Frogs in the middle

I had frog legs at a casino seafood buffet once years ago. I actually had never seen it before and wondered what it was. The server told me “frog legs.”  I tried it. Honestly, it was pretty good.

[TcRoc]

Sounds yummy.. only shore lunch I’ve had I guess is my peanut butter and jelly sandwich while I’m anchored taking a break on my Yak?

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, Deephaven said:

Bummer you can't eat MSG, it is really a great salt.  I have at least 5 lbs of it here.

I know its a bummer. On that Canadian trip we had 7 guys that all ate the Shore Lunch. Two were unaffected, two (including me) had heartburn for 2 days... the other 3 guys ended up doing their best re-creation of the Blazing Saddles camp fire scene... Oh my 

[slonezp]

We always had pan fried walleye with potatoes and onions and plenty of beer.

Went fishing in Canada in the early 80's, multiple summers, with my father and grandfather. Always on Eagle Lake in Ontario. My grandfather lands a 9lb walleye first thing in the morning one day and we don't get as much as a nibble the next 3 hours. My dad starts messing with my grandfather. Telling him we're having his trophy for lunch. My grandfather says he's going to drown my father if he lays a hand on the fish. We finally found a school of eater size walleye and had lunch. Grandpa got the walleye mounted.

[scaleface]

I  have never had a guide but I have had shoreline lunches .

[Fishin Dad]

19 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Northern Minnesota/Ontario shore lunches are a must - although I wouldn’t recommend the “Shore Lunch” brand. Stuffed with MSG and causes heartburn on a level higher than most people I know have encountered before. There are other brands out there like Watkins - same flavors, no MSG ?

Dang it FryDog.  I love my Shore Lunch, but I may have to try this Watkins you speak of!!!

[Darth-Baiter]

The correct answer would have been Fresh Fish AND ham and eggs please.

 

hungry!  

[TOXIC]

My one and only trip to Canada with my grandfather on his annual trip before he passed, we had an Indian guide (same one he used every year) that would cook shore lunch.  I’m 64 and it was when I was 13 so a few years ago.  We also did a fly in to another lake and I remember packing multiple coolers of walleye fillets to bring home.  Back then there was a processing operation right at the place we stayed which was Lindy’s on Lac Le Ronge.  We also came across a moose swimming across the lake and the guide wanted to lasso it with the boat rope and drown it for food for his family (he had 13 children) but my grandfather talked him out of it because I was along.