While I haven’t fished lately, just don’t have the time, I think the key to catching fish is being able to think like a fish. Sometimes you also need to think like the bait. My biggest catch was made in a small pond outside Miller Grove. I remember telling myself to “be the sluggo.” I concentrated on guiding the lure to mimic the movements I imagined that creature would make in the water. It worked!

Cleaning fish doesn’t bother me. That is with the exception of catfish – one of God’s more bizarre-looking creatures. I am more than happy to leave that chore to others. So I was really pleased when a friend brought over two gallon-sized freezer bags of catfish fillets. One went into the freezer and the other was that night’s dinner.

Catfish Fillets with Sweet Potatoes and Fresh Greens
Catfish fillets
1 small onion, sliced
2 Tbsp. dill weed, roughly chopped
1⁄2 cup fat-free yogurt
1⁄2 cup fat-free cottage cheese, puréed
1 Tbsp. chives, finely chopped
Small sweet potatoes, peeled
Garlic cloves, slivered
Salad greens
Fresh baby sweet peas
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut across the sweet potatoes without slicing all the way through. Place potatoes on a baking sheet. Insert a sliver of garlic in each cut, lightly mist with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Bake for 40 minutes.

Prepare a pouch with a large piece of foil. Spray olive oil on the bottom and place fillets in a single layer with onion and dill on top. Lightly add salt and pepper and seal the foil pouch. Place in a baking dish and bake with the potatoes for the last 20 minutes.

Mix yogurt and puréed cottage cheese with a little salt, pepper and chives. That can be used like tarter sauce with the fish as well as a dip for the potatoes.

Sweet peas are still producing in my garden. I like to pick them early and we eat them raw in salads. Prepare a simple salad with micro-greens and peas.

Each serving consists of a 4-oz. catfish fillet, a small sweet potato, yogurt-cottage cheese sauce, fresh greens and peas. Garnish with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Each serving is about 259 calories with 6 grams of fat.