Big bite good for fish bites

Anglers can recite an encyclopedia of excuses when the fish don’t bite. It’s too sunny. Wind’s blowing the wrong way. Fishing buddy yaks too much.

In these health-conscious times, I’ll wager there’s a bigger reason for getting skunked: Not eating a proper fisherman’s breakfast.

Half a grapefruit and some yogurt isn’t even going to get you to the dock. Every fisherman needs to head for the water well nourished and fortified with a rib-sticking breakfast.

Health experts tell us breakfast is the most important meal of the day. So it’s vital for anglers to chow down on sufficient morning fare. Something along the lines of pancakes, maybe an egg or two on the side and couple slices of bacon washed down with a big glass of milk.

Pancakes rank right up there when it comes to a proper fisherman’s breakfast. Here at the shackri-la, we’ve been making the tastiest pancakes using a surprise ingredient not normally used in a stack of flapjacks. Oatmeal is the star of this pancake recipe we’ve been fixing on Sunday mornings and before any fishing trip.

Talk about healthy. There’s oatmeal, along with honey, milk and other goodies in this pancake concoction that’s so easy and quick to make. It’s a great one to get kids cooking in the kitchen or for adults unsure about making pancakes from scratch. Here’s all you do:

Get one-half cup of uncooked oatmeal and chop it in a food processor for a few seconds until it becomes like flour. Or, pour the oatmeal in a bowl and mash it with a fork until it’s like coarse flour. The fork method might take 10 or 15 minutes.

Put this newly-created oatmeal flour into a large bowl. Add one egg, one teaspoon honey, one-half teaspoon baking powder, one teaspoon melted butter, one-half teaspoon vinegar, two tablespoons milk and one teaspoon vanilla. You can substitute pancake syrup or maple syrup in place of the vanilla.

Stir everything together into a batter and cook as you would any other pancakes. This recipe makes one large pancake or two small ones. You may want to double the recipe, though that hasn’t been scientifically tested here in the kitchen at the shackri-la. Fix an egg to go with your pancakes and add some bacon or ham to the plate. Mix some blueberries or walnuts in the batter if you like. Now you’ve got some real nourishment to see you through that big-fish battle.

I like to put an egg on top of our pancakes. That comes from eating breakfast with the late Kings River fishing guide, J.D. Fletcher.

We’d fish together a few times a year and always meet at a café for a proper fisherman’s breakfast before hitting the water. J.D. didn’t want his egg on the side. He liked it on top of his flapjacks. Maybe that’s one thing that made J.D. such a great fisherman, putting that egg on top.

So eat a good breakfast, fishing friends. You’re sure to catch fish, long as it’s not too sunny and the wind is blowing just right.

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