A Crappie Trade

[StantheMan2567]

2017, what a wonderful year! I have been blessed with the equipment and knowledge to catch, clean, and freeze far more fish than I will ever eat in a season. We eat fish at least once a week and a bounty still remains in my freezers. My wife questioned "Have you caught enough fish yet"? I have shared over 200 Crappie and Bluegill fillets this year with family and friends that do not fish or have the means to fish. Bartering frozen fillets for fresh eggs and grass fed locally slaughtered beef has put a panfish on the plate of many families in my extended circle of friends. However, an early summer transaction has been one of the best "Crappie" trades I have made to date. My daughter who lives in VA is fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom to my two wonderful granddaughters. She requested some deer meat to supplement her family's meals. Both my children were raised eating most of Natures wild creatures so this requisition was not out of the ordinary. Deer chili, deer spaghetti, deer tacos, deer burgers etc. are staples in our household and she wants to start working these meals into her family's menu. Having very little deer meat left from the previous season I asked an old friend if he wanted to make a "Crappie" trade. He is a far more successful deer hunter than I and possesses all the equipment to process his own harvest. I proposed a trade of 120 Crappie fillets for 12 packs of deer burger. He jumped all over it and here are the pics.

?Mission accomplished! I took the deer meat up to my daughter and she was elated. The story doesn't end there, my buddy called me later on and said he had used the traded fillets for a fish fry for his family and grandkids. My fortunate catch fed two more extended families. I thanked him for sharing that information with me but what my daughter did was an even greater blessing. The first meal she cooked with the deer meat was a couple of lasagnas for a church mission to help feed local families in need. Awesome, the fish I caught led to an act of charity and indirectly fed families 300 miles away! I do not take credit for her philanthropy but do hope her instilled values resulted from her childhood upbringing. Catching, cleaning then trading or giving away any extra fish is by no means "Crappy", and I hope the wonderful fishermen and women stewards of this site will do the same in 2017, as I know they probably do!


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