What do you eat when you’re out fishing for a day? Do you gorge on Beanee Weenees, Vienna sausages and such — or do you try to pack foods that are a little healthier?
There are two extremes of fishing nutrition, and most of us fall somewhere in the middle. We eat well or we eat poorly. The only exception is missing a meal entirely because the fish were biting.
For many years, those aforementioned Beanee Weenees, Vienna sausages, Spam, potted meat and others were considered staples on most fishing boats. Growing up, I can remember fishing with my uncles and eating sardines on saltines with mustard because that’s all there was. They weren’t particularly appealing at first, but after a while, I moved past the smell and developed a taste for them. To my wife’s and my cardiologist’s dismay, one of my favorite boat foods continues to be kipper snacks floating in Texas Pete hot sauce.
An immediate benefit of my early introduction to sardines and mustard was that I realized I could stomach some things I had thought I couldn’t. Those lessons sure made it easier to eat things like spinach and Brussels sprouts when they showed up on the dinner table at home. Mom was happy I ate all my veggies, but it’s probably good she never found out why.
Those kinds of foods are still carried on many boats. Some barbecue-flavored Beanee Weenees, double-wrapped saltines and at least one can of Vienna sausages can be found in my “emergency” food storage at any time.
With fishermen realizing there is some inherent good in what their doctors have been advising for years, a trend of having more “healthy” foods on boats has developed. Fruits are one of the best things to bring along on a trip, but don’t bring bananas. I can’t find the origin for the taboo on bananas, but they are forbidden on almost all boats.
I’ve fished with charterboat skippers who asked their clients if anyone was carrying bananas before allowing them to board the boat. Those that had bananas were politely asked — sometimes it was closer to a demand — to return to their vehicles and leave the bananas there.
The bottom line—Nobody likes bananas on boats. They are considered bad luck.
Let me suggest taking apples, pears, oranges, tangerines, cantaloupes, watermelons and other good snacks while fishing. Not only do they contain natural sugars, which can help keep you energized, but most contain a good amount of liquid and will help keep you hydrated.
Storing your fruit in a cooler helps keep it fresh and makes it a cooling snack when you feel the need. Unfortunately, not all fruits store easily. Oranges and citrus fruits have a tough skin, which makes them pretty easy to handle. Apples are reasonably tough-skinned, but pears and others can bruise easily. I store a couple in an empty peanut butter jar and cove it with ice in the cooler. Chunks of watermelon or cantaloupe store well in just about anything that seals.
For years, we didn’t carry many leftovers as boat food. They needed to be stored in the cooler to avoid spoiling, and they often got wet when the ice melted; they just weren’t good cold. During my years as a teen-aged charterboat mate, I occasionally warmed my leftovers on the manifold of an inboard motor and actually cooked some fish there a few times, but in most cases it’s a little more trouble than most folks are willing to go through.
However, you can consider cold leftovers a thing of the past. Some larger boats have microwaves, but on most days, all boats, regardless of size, have a simple means to warm food. They have a solar oven, powered by the sun. On overcast days it’s slow and takes a while, and on rainy days it doesn’t work at all, but most days, there is enough solar energy to warm lunch.
I didn’t mention cooking. This only works to warm foods that have already been cooked.
The best thing is, your solar oven is already there and doesn’t require much effort on your part. All that is required is a zip-lock bag, a dark, flat, level surface and a way to hold things in place. I usually use the canvas of my T-top and stretch a bungee cord across a corner to hold it down.
How this works is all very basic. The dark surface is exposed to the sun and warms — similar to the way dark leather seats warm when left in direct sunlight. By putting the zip-lock bag with the food on the dark surface, the heat is transferred to the food. The heat gradually builds and warms the food.
This doesn’t generate enough heat to cook, but on numerous occasions it has generated enough heat to blow the zip-lock up until the seal pops. You’re on a boat, so the bungee cord is needed to keep the zip-lock from sliding off and spilling your lunch.
If your T-top is a light color, or you don’t have one, find a flat level spot that is exposed to the sun, cover it with some dark material, tie it down and let Ol’ Sol go to work. I’ve been told it can also be done by putting the zip-lock in a black plastic bag and hanging it in the sun. I haven’t tried that, but the sun heats best on a dark surface, so it seems probable it would work.
Trust me, the sun has a lot of energy and generates a lot of heat. You’ve heard the old saying about the sidewalk being so hot you could fry and egg. Well, this is just a useful extension of that. I believe during July and August you might actually be able to do some light cooking if someone would come out with a black zip-lock bag in gallon size.
Using your solar oven, you can create gourmet boat meals using leftovers. It’s easier when the seas are calm, but so is everything else. My favorite boat meal has become ribs. I take the time to slice any leftover ribs into individual pieces, then put them on the T-top as soon after 11 a.m. as I remember, and around noon they are nice and warm and ready to eat. Just remember to bring extra paper towels.
Other things that warm well in a solar oven are chicken, pizza, and fish. We’ve even had leftover Frogmore Stew — the real name for a Lowcountry dish. It took about an hour to warm to a good-eating temperature. That might be a little longer than on the warm setting in your kitchen oven, but it sure was good. I believe the fish liked it too. They sure bit better after we threw all the shrimp and crab shells into the water.
The sky’s the limit with a little ingenuity. I’m not advocating that you forsake Vienna sausages and Beanee Weanees, you just don’t need to rely on them anymore. They can remain important as a prime hunting meal, but on the boat, they might have to be relegated to becoming emergency rations, like for a rainy day backup menu.
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