5 minute freewrite 2860 prompt beat the drum

This is my post for #freewriters 2860 prompt beat the drum hosted by @mariannewest

After being around a bunch of fishermen yesterday, I want to go back fishing, but I know I can no longer do it on my own. I never would have thought my life would turn out where I could not fish. I fished for over 30 years with a bad back, and it was my hand that put a stop to it.

At my friend's Celebration of Life Service, the fishermen started talking about their favorite fish to eat. The above fish we call Spots, but some call them Butterfish. They are a pan fish that has a sweet, buttery meat.

Even though trout are popular with people in retail markets, I do not know of a fisherman who eats them. To me, they have a mushy meat.

Freshwater catfish are my husband's favorite fish to eat. I do not like freshwater fish, I am a saltwater fish girl.

This is an Amberjack, it has a firm meat, and I have only had it smoked, and it is not one I care for. Amberjacks are caught in the Gulfstream. I have never been that far offshore and do not care to be.

This one is really good, we call them Dolphin fish, but the restaurants call them Maui-maui. When you put one in the boat, it changes colors as it dies, it is sad and beautiful. It is a very good fish to eat.

Pompano is one of my top fish to eat, but we get too much money for them to take home and eat. The only way we keep one is if a shark hits it and we keep the part he left. This was my husband's and my catch, over four hundred pounds. We made 22 hundred dollars in two days, and we were the only two boats there. By the time the other fishermen found out about them, the fish were gone.

Grouper was my Mom's favorite. This was our last time getting to sell them, it is now against the law for us to sell.

Bobby was saying his favorite was the black drum, but one of mine is the red drum, either way, you can not beat the drum to eat. Red drum used to be called Channel Bass, but when blacken redfish became popular, people stopped calling them that, and now everyone calls them redfish. We are no longer allowed to sell or keep one to eat.

I do not have a photo of a mangrove snapper because we can no longer sell them, but they are my favorite, even though they do not taste as good as any of the others. I think I like them because when I was a child, that is what I caught the most of and Dad would cook them for me.
photos are mine