GREAT OUTDOORS: Local species of fish can provide 'caviar'

Although by legal definition, unspecified "caviar" must be from the eggs of sturgeon, salted "roe" (mature, unfertilized fish eggs) prefaced by the species of fish may be called caviar when sold in the U.S. Long considered a delicacy, eggs are collected from wild and farmed fish operations worldwide and prepared for market by using centuries-old caviar salting and chilling techniques. It takes decades before sturgeons reach sexual maturity, so fish farms raising this product must patiently wait until they can harvest this prized product, a contributing factor for its pricey cost. Stocks of wild sturgeons are also limited worldwide, due to dams, pollution and overfishing of this slow-growing species. The International Union of the Conservation of Nature reports that 100% of the 26 species of sturgeon worldwide are in steep decline and vulnerable to extinction. Wild paddlefish are somewhat more numerous in several of North America's largest rivers and their eggs provide a similar, suitable substitute. Unfortunately, as often happens when prices are high for wildlife parts, demand for their eggs has led to poaching and an extensive black market for this commodity. Like many other imperiled species, paddlefish are also threatened from dams blocking access to ancestral spawning grounds. Altered river flows and competition for their planktonic food with invasive Asian carp species in the Mississippi River watershed also are problematic. A few of the common fish species used for commercially sold caviar are also seasonally available locally for the do-it-yourselfer, including lake whitefish, bowfin and steelhead trout. Recipes and techniques are readily available on line. Sturgeon and paddlefish are on Ohio's Endangered Species List and harvest is prohibited. Although not commonly caught via hook & line here, the Port Clinton Fish Market has lake whitefish in the fall. Egg-laden females are available during November when the majority of this species is landed by local commercial trap netters. Female bowfin, aka "dogfish," carry eggs until they spawn in the late spring locally. They are most often found in coastal marshes. In Louisiana, bowfin are captured for their meat and eggs, which are marketed as "Cajun caviar." Mature steelhead trout return to the streams where they were stocked, from the fall through spring. "Hens" are harvested by some anglers for their eggs to be used as fishing bait or to make homemade caviar, a more buttery-tasting roe than the nuttier flavors found in many of the others. Cooked fish eggs are a different subject. A few old-timers I've met over the years used yellow perch eggs. They had survived during tougher economic times in part by not wasting anything edible. A prime example of this behavior was when my dad's stepfather, who was my first perch fishing mentor, cooked scrambled perch and (chicken) eggs mixed with leftover canned fruit cocktail for breakfast during a fishing trip in his converted school bus R/V. (Grandpa's impromptu recipe wasn't worth saving). However, a trendy newer use that others have discovered is to serve perch eggs during fish fry gatherings. It is a great way to stretch the catch and create more edible "meat" from these prized fish until they spawn in April/May locally. To prepare them, some remove the veins and skin from the outside of the egg sacks, while others leave them intact before dipping into their favorite wet batter, then deep-frying them. Incidentally, gar eggs are known to be toxic, and with all of the other traditional fish species available locally, few people target these primitive fish for the table. However, when I was doing creel surveys for the Ohio Division of Wildlife in the spring on the Sandusky River several years ago, I saw a boy with a longnose gar in his fish basket. He informed me that he was going to eat it after he saw how much Glenn and Mitchell enjoyed gar soup on Discovery Channel's "Swamp People." Bon appetit!