COPPERAS COVE — Although it was cold and windy, the fish were still biting Saturday in Copperas Cove. Dozens of people braved the cold and wind to catch some blue gill and rainbow trout.
It was a family affair for a couple of Copperas Cove families.
Chris Hart said he learned everything he knows about fishing from his father, Bennie, an Army veteran. He is passing his knowledge along to his son, Jordin, as well.
Hart said he plans to prepare the fish they caught by frying them up as they are, for the most part.
“Those little tiny scales will fry up crispy,” he said. “… a fish like this size, just split them up the middle, pull the guts out, clean them good, take the head off. Coat them and fry them, man.”
Hart said sometimes he butterflies the fish, depending on the kind.
“You can pretty easily take the skeletal bones, the rib bones and the vertebrae out pretty easily and have just a flat piece of whole meat.”
Coating them and frying them as is was the preferred method for Mikell Savala and his family as well.
Mikell was out there with three of his children: Samantha, James and Helen.
Samantha Savala said she was learning different tips for catching trout, such as being calm, staying patient and staying quiet.
She learned some of those tips from a fishing clinic in Mexia, her father said.
“About two weeks ago, the state parks put on a free fishing clinic. You fish with a ranger, and then you get a free pole at the end of it,” Mikell said, showing off one of the free poles.
The Savalas caught a couple of blue gill and a rainbow trout. The Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife has put a limit of five trout per person.
Officials with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife stocked the pond with the trout Friday afternoon, according to Ashley Wilson, the special events coordinator for the Copperas Cove Parks and Rec Department.
“We order about 800 to 1,000 fish — of the rainbow trout — and they come out and they stock the pond,” Wilson said.
