Stream or Shore lunches make for some fine eating. Fresh fish is the best fish. Trout, walleyes, perch, crappies, and other local fish can be wonderful to eat alongside the watershed.

On one outing, my boat crew was hungry after a morning of fine fishing. We had kept several fish and the “need to feed” was now.

Gear was limited but I had a few things in my Boat Box. My fire making kit went into action. With the fire starting to make coals, I searched for other needs.

For some reason, there was a bottle of Italian salad dressing in the boat. Probably left over from a previous boat campout. Today’s lunch had a bag of potato chips and some sliced cheddar cheese. A couple pads of butter, and some aluminum foil rounded out my fixins. Of course I did have a can of Old Bay seafood seasoning.

I fileted the fish and left the skin on. These filets were then placed skin side down into portion sized foil packs. I added a butter pad, a drizzle of salad dressing, some cheese, and crushed potato chips. The packs were sealed and placed onto the coals of the campfire. I am sure that this recipe would also work in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

After about the same amount of oven/ campfire time, I was ready to feed the crew. I opened the packs and added a bit more crushed potato chips for texture. Needless to say, the crew heartily pigged out on every tasty morsel of fish. They used the foil packs as their plates. There were no leftovers, and everyone wanted the recipe!

Sometimes you just must make do with what you have. I will say that this simple meal was delicious and easy.

It is amazing what you can do with some chips and filets!

Montana Grant