Back on shore, Russ again gathered up the knives. "Today you are going to learn how to scale and gut a fish. Think you can manage that?"
"As long as worms aren't involved." Knowing she was going to be fishing, Melanie had worn a pair of faded denims and an older T-shirt. As the lesson began, she was thankful she hadn't worn white.
"Since we're smoking the fish today, we'll leave them whole. We'll do the Speckles first. Less messy and a bit easier. Grab the fish tightly below the head with its back into your palm. Take the knife and starting at the tail end of the fish, make an incision up the belly to just below the head. Then you slice around below the fins to the back of the head, first on one side, then on the other, and then around the back, cutting through the spine. Put the knife down, grab the head of the fish and pull down on it towards the belly. The entrails will all come away with the head, and you just toss that part into the lake for the turtles and minnows. Run your thumb down the inside of the fish to remove any lingering bits, and you are finished. Easy, huh?" Russ was showing her step by step as he explained the process, helping where needed.
Once she was used to the feel of the slippery fish in her hand, and told herself this was just another surgical procedure, Melanie was able to follow along with his demonstration and instructions, although she found the skin to be much tougher than expected.
"Okay. Next lesson. Time to learn how to scale a fish." Handing her a Rainbow trout which he had quickly dispatched with a sharp whack to the back of the head, he gave her a different knife. "We're going to scrape against the scales and pop them off. They tend to be sticky, so you'll have to scrape your knife blade on the edge of the board occasionally. The most difficult part is keeping a grip on the fish, so I'll let you use the clamp on yours."
As Melanie worked on the scales, she had to agree with him. The scales were sticky and the fish was wiggly, but she soon got the hang of it, and was finished with hers shortly after Russ put his own down. They worked together quickly, cleaning up the knives, boards and table.
"Okay. Let's get the smoker going." Russ led her over to what looked a bit like a barbeque, but had a charcoal chamber on one side and a chimney with a vent cover on the other. Gathering some small twigs, Russ arranged them in the chamber and added some charcoal chunks, then struck a match and lit the twigs. "We have to get the heat up to the recommended low temperature, so that the fish are smoked slowly. Meanwhile we'll marinate the fish in some lemon juice until the smoker is ready. When the charcoal is hot and white, and the temperature is right, we'll place the fish on the grill, the smoke will flow across them to the chimney, where we can control the heat a bit with the vent. We'll also add some maple chips I've had soaking overnight to the charcoal chamber for smoke and flavor. All that's left then is to keep an eye on the charcoal and chips, and add some when needed. So let's go get the fish marinating while the charcoal heats up."