A different coarse of action

Victorian gentlemen turned their noses up at coarse fish. But there is much excitement to be had fishing for pike, chub and dace on the fly

- MIKE DAUNT

The description of some fish as ‘coarse’ was thought up by those archetypal snobs, the Victorians, and applies to any species that wasn’t gamefish. But what a misnomer it is. There is nothing coarse about the freshwater fish in our rivers. Pike, perch, roach, rudd, chub, dace, barbel and carp (of which there are three different sorts) are in no way coarse, and perch and pike are particularly beautiful. The former has a huge dorsal fin and black stripes running down a silvery bronze body and the latter is the shark of fresh water, with a body built for speed and a head full of needle-sharp teeth. I hope, but do not believe, that the Victorians described them as ‘coarse’ because they are mostly inedible. There are recipes for pike and I have tried them but, without exception, they all taste of mud. Catch all the coarse fish you like then, but always return them gently to the water. It’s a lesson I learned young, when I caught my first ever fish – a very small roach – at the age of eight. When I had it on the bank, I jumped up and down with over excitement and insisted that I wanted to eat it for my supper. My uncle tried to dissuade me but I was adamant. He then looked me hard in the eye and taught me a great fishing maxim: “If you kill a fish you must eat it. You never waste it.”

Thus, one of the smallest and certainly unluckiest freshwater fish in Britain was hit on the head and taken to the kitchen. My uncle then showed me how to gut it and prepare it for cooking and it was duly fried in butter. I will never forget it. The first mouthful was so disgusting that I spat it out. “Oh no, you don’t,” said my uncle. “You are going to eat every single tiny bit and that will teach you never to kill a fish and not eat it.” I have never made that mistake again.