Not on stick but still close enough.

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Tell them it's a little known "Native American" aphrodisiac. 


I can't remember where I saw it, but some Native tribes used to grill whole NP over the campfire (coals)
by gutting and then impaling a long green stick thru the gill plates. The fish is hanging vertically over the fire.
You prop the ribs apart with a green sick and hold the grilling stick in place with some suitable weight rocks.
Fish is ready to eat when you can insert knife easily from skin side.

Never tried it but I think the next time I catch a small NP I might give it a try, especially if the fish is injured and won't survive.


A few years back my sister gave me this book for Christmas. I heartily recommend it. A wealth of info/ideas/tips/tricks for just about any outdoor/survival situation you can think of.

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when we first did lake trout we would leave the scales/skin on the fillet. after experimenting with salmon back home, i determined the best flavor/texture was achieved by skinning the fillet and squirting a tiny bit of spray butter on the foil under the fish. by skinning you can also remove the mud line(all the brown glands/fat. it takes out all the really fishy gross flavoring.

i dont think ive scaled a trout in my life. they have such tiny fine scales that stay stuck in the skin its not worth the effort.

Thanks you guys.

Like I said I have done Lakers with the skin on and without scaling. Didn't sound like anyone actually tried skin with scales on in foil for walleye, smallies, or pike. But it should work the same as over an open fire.

ST, Not sure the gals would go for fish baked in mud. But it would be fun to tell them I intend too and see their reaction. 

We eat mostly smallmouth and walleye (tho I love pike too). Usually we fry them because our "Captain" is a master with the skillet -- never oily, perfect flakes -- and we eat a lot of fish sandwiches for lunch. On an early September trip to Quetico this year, eight guys had as much fish as they could eat every night except for the longest travel days.

We also poach fish (usually walleyes or pike), or cook the fish, break into chunks and mix with rice.

In all instances, you gut, fillet and skin the fish, of course.

But one thing that's fun to do is to take larger fish and cook them over an open fire while "crucified" on a stick stuck in the ground. I believe it's called panassing, or something like that.

For those who've never seen it:

Prepare the fish by gutting it and taking off the head, tail and fins (if it's a trout, get rid of the mud vein). Then you ease out the spine and ribs with your thumb. Don't scale or skin. Then you "crucify" the fish by 1) cutting two sticks about pencil diameter or a little bigger, sharpening the ends and inserting horizontally through the farthest sides of the now-split-open fish to hold it apart, and 2) cutting a third, much longer and somewhat thicker stick and splitting it down the middle about half of its length. Sharpen the end that's not split (it goes into the ground). Slide the fish and horizontal sticks down between the split ends, and tie it shut at the top with spruce root or a piece of cord. (It looks like a lowercase "t" with two cross beams.) All the sticks should be peeled where they touch the fish.

Sprinkle salt and pepper and any other spices on the fish, then stick it into ground so the flesh side of the fish catches the heat. Watch and smell it bake. When it's done, take off the sticks, spread the fish on a rock and pull off the flaky flesh with forks.

Medium-sized fish are easiest to work with.

-- kypaddler

Jim J Solo wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2013 at 5:02pm:

We would scale trout and skin anything else as well as cut it up into bite sized chunks for backing.

Butter, lemon:
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Before I wrote that we always brought a few lemons so slices work for trout too with some rice in the cavity. I'm drooling again.

I try to avoid spitting out scales and bones. YMMV.

We tried the whole fish trick this summer on McDougall Lake.  We had a nice smallmouth that we wanted for dinner, but didn't have an extra pan to cook it in, so we gutted it, left the head and scales on, and grilled it over the fire.  The skin crisped up and peeled right off with the scales.  We picked the flesh off the carcass, and it was delicious.

Jim J Solo wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2013 at 5:02pm:


I've done it. When I do a Laker and plan to consume the crispy skin, I lightly oil the fish so the foil doesn't stick when I open the packet.
For scaly fish, you don't care if the skin sticks.

I've seen videos of guys grilling whole fish on the beach in Mexico. Just gut, leave head on and roast over fire until skin is blackened then use knife to peel back skin.

Another method I want to try sometime is to coat the whole fish in a clay type of mud and bake over fire until mud is hard.

Crack open and the skin/scales stay with mud shell and intestines have just dried up.
Your left with just the meat.

Saw a guy do it with a grouse, feathers and all.
When I heard you could do it with fish, it made sense.
Apparently it's a trick the Native Peoples used.

Question,
I did the foil cooked fish in the fire this year.

The question is,
Does anyone leave the skin on without scaling?

We had a friend along from Houston that said that's how they do salt water fish and the skin just comes off after it's cooked. No scales in the meat either. We had some smallies. I've done it with lakers, but never walleye, pike, or smallies.

we bring a grill for over the fire, its 12" x 24" and i strap it up under the seat for portages. half the grate has a pretty tight mesh on the grill and the other half is more widely spaced. it has wire legs that fold down (i dont really use them and should probably just remove them).

contrary to MT, i like the heavy duty foil. it tears less, and therefore i feel i use less. i get the extra big roll (i think its 18" wide) and it makes foil cooking lake trout a breeze. early week foil gets thrown in the fire and burns by the end and mid/end week foil gets packed out.

we also bring a small propane 1 burner stove for fish frys (easier to control temp and not burn oil) and if there is a fire ban/high winds.