Stewardship By Terry Gibson

By Terry Gibson, Senior Editor

About a year ago, my girlfriend, Teresa and I decided to align our conservation and cooking ethics with health needs. The rules are pretty simple. For protein, we only eat wild fish, fowl and game that we harvested, ethically and legally of course, or serve up what’s shared with us by friends. We try to abide by it as closely as possible, given Teresa’s work schedule at the hospital, and all my traveling. We eat everything we harvest. And we do our best to cook low-fat, low-sodium, low-cholesterol dishes with nature’s bounty. 

Right now, there’s a wild turkey out back taking on the goodness of apple wood smoke. I’m planning on smoking a couple of wild hog hams for some weekend barbeque. And if we can catch some bluefish, I bet that a smoked fish and arugula salad will go great with lean, barbeque wild pork. 

Life is good.

We got serious about abiding by this ethic because of stern talking-to that my doctor gave me. But we quickly realized another great health benefit—a healthier relationship—thanks to the fun times we’re having fishing, hunting and cooking together. Plus, there’s some of that “sticking it to the man” satisfaction. A lot of meats that you buy in the grocery store are mass-produced, cause pollution issues or are imported seafood that’s farm-raised or caught with harmful fishing gear. We aren’t fans of large, corporate anything, and we aspire always towards self-reliance.

Fly & Light Tackle Angler Editor Mike Conner, Creative Director Ron Romano and I have spent many creative years together in the magazine business, in another type of  “kitchen,”  the editorial office. In designing FLTA, we spent a long time thinking about the key “cookware” and ingredients that will make each issue a savory, healthy, five-course-meal, with plenty of tantalizing tapas between issues, made available via the FLTA website. 

We want to help you get on great bites in beautiful places with the most effective tackle and tactics. We promise to keep you up on the latest fishing-related news. And through our blogs, as well as the Lab column reserved for guest scientists, plus the Stewardship column, we want to help you develop informed perspectives on the management issues of our time, and make informed personal conduct decisions on the water. 

Make sure you also check out Cuisine as well. You’ll find some surprising recipes for your favorite species and for species you never thought fit for eating. A lot of other species are really tasty if prepared right, and harvesting them will help spread out the pressure. 

Until next week, tight lines, and Bon appétit.