Have you ever caught lake trout or salmon on a charter and took the fish home, or back to your hotel and wished you had a way to cook and eat it when it’s still fresh? After all, that’s the best time to consume any fish. Or have you tried to cook your small-mouth bass or walleye yourself and had less than stellar results?
Recently, the Michigan Charter Boaters Association worked with the DNR, Michigan State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan Sea Grant, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Michigan Restaurant Association…to set up the Michigan Catch and Cook Program. It enables fishing charter boat operators to have local restaurants that are registered on their website to legally cook fish brought in by the charter. So now you can have the professionals of the local registered eateries cook your fish for you. They have the experience, recipes and facilities to serve up a fresh meal of your catch while you are still in the area and enjoying your fishing vacation.
There are some requirements of course that the charter captain and restaurant need to abide by. There is a waiver,(click here for waiver) provided on the micatchandcook.com website, that each patron will sign, releasing the facility from liability. There are also sanitary requirements and other guidelines for the captain and crew and the restaurant to insure that the fish are kept cold (below 41F) from the time of catch until passing it on to the cook.
The next time you book a Michigan fishing charter, make sure your captain is registered with micatchandcook.com and has some good restaurant affiliations.
Brian Helminen
