Trashfish are a class of fish deemed undesirable by fishermen. In this first part of a two-part epic devoted to these undesirable aquatic species, Jack and Jamie set out to figure out why local fishermen despise trashfish and go fishing with a local restaurateur who specializes in serving them in his NYC restaurant. They get to the bottom of the deep questions; Are trashfish tasty? Is pulling the dead carcass of a dogfish from a trashcan a good idea? Or not?
We, well a great many of us, start with so-called trashfish (we love them, dream about them, want to catch more of them and much much bigger), only to end up extremely blinkered and “Spotty-centric” and looking down our newly Patrician noses at the things that once pleased us and all those lesser being who still fish for them; in our darker, extremely superior, private moments even wanting to disappear both the most cartoon-like, dastardly way possible.
You know the guys, the sort who started with ballcap-and-sneakers suckers and ended up with breathable, heavily branded everything and One True Way Wild Trout and Salmon.
Very human trait – “trading up” and moving on and ever upward – but one that, in the multi-departmented field that interests us, generally does fish and fishing no favo(u)rs at all: we end up wanting to spin against and kill anything – fish, fur or feather – that might so much as look at our New Glittering Fishy Prize in a non-Platonic predatory manner, even set up some fancy “Conservation” Trusts and Organizations to legitimize the hatreds we feel, the ones that we dare not speak their name except among like-minded “Believers” in private. I’m busily broad-brush alluding here, so might not make a lot of sense to some, though believe others will get the direction of my drift.
Anglers, eh…? We’re only human, and so, very often, our very worst enemy. You north Americans might know a similar old saying to one we Brits have, I don’t know; the saying is “Throwing the baby out with the bathwater” (throwing out a good thing in your efforts to rid yourself of the designated dirty and unwanted).
As with human infants, so with trashfish and other on-my-hitlist fishy enemies, maybe………..