[Capri] Here on Lake Erie... [man] Oh, we've got two.

We've got three fish on right now.

Oh my gosh.

That is a very beautiful fish.

[Capri] ...where walleye fishing isn't just a fun pastime.

[man] Forget buffalo, this is a Lake Erie wing.

[Capri] It's the pride of my home state of Ohio.

-Wow.

-Look at that.

[Capri] Whether wild caught, or raised, using a fresh take on an ancient practice... these fresh water fish deserve our attention.

I'm Capri Cafaro and I'm on a mission to uncover the incredible stories of the foods we grow... ...harvest, create... ...and celebrate.

Beautiful, amazing meal.

So, I'm traveling America's backroads to learn our cherished food traditions from those who make them possible... Look at that.

...and are helping keep them alive.

There is so much more to learn.

Whoa!

[Capri] On "America the Bountiful."

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.

[Capri] A fresh water fish native to North America, prized for it's firm and mild tasting flesh.

Walleye is a favorite among anglers and diners alike.

As of 2024, Lake Erie is home to an estimated 90 million of them after nearly 50 years of fishery management by the Ohio DNR, which has helped bring the population to record numbers.

Today, Port Clinton is referred to as the walleye capital of the world, and is the epicenter of charter fishing in Ohio where roughly 700,000 guided trips take place each year.

One of the most sought-after guides in the region, Captain Ross Robertson, has been working as a professional angler for 20 years after catching the walleye bug young at age 7.

Lake Erie, smallest of the Great Lakes, but maybe the mightiest.

The most fish, and that's what I care about.

It's shallower, much shallower, and it's more fertile.

So, we have more fresh water catchable game fish here than the rest of the Great Lakes put together.

Absolutely.

We have a lot to offer here in Ohio's north coast.

But walleye is a big draw, how do you plan this out?

I mean, you've done this once or twice, but for people that are new to it, coming out on the lake with you, what is the best way to find the best walleye out here on Lake Erie?

No doubt, the sonar.

It's like a bunch of giant phones and they really are computers.

We got one going right now.

All right.

So, what I'm going to have you do Capri, I'm going to walk you through this.

I'm going to have you come up this way.

Okay.

So just a slow, steady reel.

Got it.

You've got it?

I'm going to have you kind of just work your way.

Just keep reeling.

Keep her tight.

Yeah.

Keep reeling, keep reeling.

Just keep her tight there, yeah.

I'm starting to feel that tug.

Yep.

And doing this way it's kind of uneventful if I'm being honest.

Yep, there it is.

I feel him flopping around.

You definitely need control.

And I find that, you know-- [Ross] Really slow when it starts bucking you like that, we're just barely turning when that happens.

Oh, yeah.

This is what we came for.

[Capri] Oh yeah, he's flopping.

Okay, okay.

I think that this is going to make a beautiful sandwich later.

I don't know about you-- [Capri] That is a very beautiful fish.

We call that the Crisco disco in that box right there.

The next thing that thing sees is going to be some hot grease.

Is going to be some frying action.

One-hundred percent.

[Capri] How'd you get your start?

[Ross] So, we had a really small tackle store, but back then it was a big deal because you didn't have all the other outlets.

[Capri] Right, right.

And I used to go in there and buy parts and pieces and make my own lures.

And finally, the guy said, "Man, you're in here all the time.

Why don't you just work here after school?"

And so, literally just kind of fortunate on some things falling into place.

I used to walk there after school and work, and then all of a sudden literally met some of the biggest names in the game.

The guy that I fished tournaments with early on, and then some of these guys are still not only great friends but were mentors for the early part of my career.

And look where you are now.

You're like, running your whole operation and going from that small bait and tackle store to having your own guide company.

[Capri] Yep, I feel him flopping.

[Ross] Just barely turning.

No more turning.

No more turning.

Big net handle.

[Capri] Oh, boy.

I feel like we can invite another person to this fish fry now.

And I hope your arms are good because we have another one on right now.

Oh, gosh.

Oh, we got two.

We have three fish on right now.

Oh my gosh.

Can this be any better?

Slow, slow, slow.

Hey.

[Capri] Hey, look at that guy?

[Ross] We reel in fish non-stop.

You don't ever like to say for sure, but I'm pretty sure this is going in the fish fry.

We're inviting people today we don't even know now.

That's good.

I guess I didn't anticipate it being such a workout.

Here's to what you got.

You got fish that you're having for a fish fry.

Right.

And then you fish to feed a whole family and you do a Kodak moment with right here.

I guess that would be this guy right here, yeah.

[Ross] How about--- [Capri] Wow!

[Ross] --this gigando?

This is what's known as a massive picture taker.

I feel like this is your biggest walleye ever.

That's a professional grab right there.

So, you are not only becoming a Lake Erie walleye guru now, you have to post them.

I'm trying.

I need this photographic evidence, yes.

Ah, all right.

[Capri] While plenty of Lake Erie walleye are destined for the fryer at local institutions, Ken Frye of the Ohio DNR loves showing anglers the fish's culinary versatility and how to utilize the whole thing, from cheek to fin.

He's offered to help us cook our catch on Kelly's Island, part of a series of islands in Lake Erie referred to as the Keys of the North.

Ken begins by removing the cheeks.

From there he begins removing the filets from the walleye by slicing the flesh away from the bone, cutting lengthwise along each side of the fish, parallel to the back bone.

He then removes what's referred to as the wings.

This is the meat behind the head and at the top of the belly which is removed along with the pectoral or pelvic fins which function in the same way as a wing bone does with the chicken wing.

Ken and Ross remove the rest of the wings and prep the area to cook walleye three ways.

What we're going to serve with is the walleye wings and we're going to pat them dry.

We're going to throw them in the dredge that we have here.

You know, you can use anything.

Like, we've done cornmeal with flour mix, seasonings.

We're going to throw our shaker top on.

And these things are really good if you're cooking in volume.

I bet.

So, once we get them breaded, we're going to flip them over and strain all the breading out.

I love that.

We'll have these beautiful, perfectly breaded walleye wings.

So, we're going to set these aside for now and we're going to start prepping.

We'll go ahead and we'll get our fillets out.

There's a couple keys to making a great blackened fish.

And this can translate to other things than walleye, but obviously this is the star of the show today.

You need a hot grill.

It should be setting off fire alarms if you're doing it inside.

It should be that warm.

So, what I recommend is doing it outside if you have a grill.

Cast iron is kind of number one.

You need those seasonings to char.

So, this has a high smoke point so you can really crank the heat without burning the flavor.

So, go ahead and just do a real light coat brushed on each one of those pieces.

[Capri] Very good pro tips there as well.

Gee, you can make it and you can also get it at a store.

Yeah, all it is is clarified butter.

You take butter, warm it up.

The stuff that kind of floats to the top, you skim that off, and its shelf stable so it's really nice for camping and backpacking.

[Capri] Absolutely.

Okay, these ready to go?

Now we're going to generously apply the blackening seasoning.

Blackening season has a good mix of oregano, paprikas, some cayenne.

You can buy commercially.

You can make your own.

[Capri] Okay.

And it's shake time.

These blend well to meat.

Just keep it simple.

Let the fish shine.

And we're going to do salt pepper, olive oil, little qi.

All this looks like it's ready to go on the grill, on the pan.

Yeah.

We'll get things going here.

So, we'll take a little bit of this qi.

[Capri] All right.

We're just going to do a very light coat and brush on here.

You can see when you get that white smoke, you know that grill is ready.

It's hot enough?

[Ken] All right.

The other key to this is when you're blackening, you don't want to move the fish.

You want to let it sit there.

Every time you move that you're potentially removing some of that char that you're trying to accomplish.

So, what I'm looking for as I'm cooking these is I'm kind of watching, you'll see it has a translucent color, and as it cooks it kind of becomes white on the edge.

White.

So, once I get about half way, now that side, first side is going to keep cooking so you don't have to go all the way through.

-So, flip it.

-Yep.

I see that char.

We got the char we wanted.

These are going to need a little bit longer in here.

Okay, so in the meantime-- We can drop the wings.

--we're going to drop the wings.

Look at that.

Walleye wings.

We can actually get the cheeks on back here if you want.

Okay.

[Ken] These cook really quick.

[Capri] It smells fantastic.

What a treat.

Ken serves the wings with a siracha lime aioli sauce, and the blackened walleye with white cheddar grits and a creole sauce.

Oh, boy.

This is exciting.

Blackened walleye.

Fresh from Lake Erie.

Mmm.

Flaky and fresh.

All those flavors come through.

I'm sold.

I mean, I already loved walleye, but I am sold on this.

Doing something that is so ubiquitous here in Ohio, but doing it in a different and unique way, can't beat it.

This is fantastic.

And now we've got to dig into the rest of the stuff.

Yep, we still got wings and the cheeks.

I'm going to just grab a cheek.

Is that cool like this?

Absolutely.

All right.

That's good.

So good.

These are a sleeper, I think.

Hmm huh.

Now, it does have a firmer consistency.

It is, I would say, very similar to a scallop.

But you didn't dress it up and it didn't need it.

No, no.

I mean, you can go as simple or as fancy as you want with those.

All right, so now, here it is, the moment that I've been waiting for, the walleye wings.

All right, here you go.

Thank you.

I cannot believe that this basically tastes like a chicken wing, but it's fish.

Is that the best chicken wing you've ever had?

It is.

Even though it's just a walleye, right?

Forget buffalo, this is a Lake Erie wing.

You are on to something.

You've done it today.

You've done from cheek all the way to the tail.

And thanks to you and your innovation and your talent.

This could not get any better.

I have all the best people around me to make a perfect day out with walleye in the walleye capitol of the world.

While walleye is certainly the big fish here in Ohio's ponds, the state has also been historically known as an excellent place to catch and sample walleye's cousin, the yellow perch.

In just the last few years however, perch populations have been rapidly declining in Lake Erie, which has led aquatic researchers like Dr. Kevin Nevis and his student, Maria DeMico, at Bowling Green State University to pioneer new ways to raise perch.

They're modernizing an ancient technique known as aquaponics which is first believed to be practiced by the Mayans over a thousand years ago into a modern system that could help fish producers become better environmental stewards in a variety of ways.

This looks like a lot of technology for fish and for growing plants and vegetables.

There's water involved.

What's going on here?

What is aquaponics?

So, aquaponics is simply the cultivation of an aquatic product like fish along with what you would consider terrestrial crop.

In this case, we've got lettuce and tomatoes.

And it's a coupled system where the nutrients produced from the fish end up being the nutrients that the plants use.

And so, it acts as kind of a natural biofilter.

Okay.

And so-- Nutrients is a nice word for-- Fish poop.

Yes.

Okay.

So mostly the nitrogen and phosphorous that are left over, that's what the plants are taking up, again, acting as that natural biofilter.

Sure, I mean, that does make a lot of sense.

I mean, this is-- it's really that cycle of life.

Trying to mimic that as well and just trying to keep it flowing and sustainable.

And sustainability is so incredibly important.

You know, we have perch.

I grew up eating perch.

But we don't think about farm raised so to speak perch.

We just think about it coming from the lake.

Why decide to raise perch in this kind of environment?

The idea being that, you know, perch is that quintessential like Friday fish fry especially along the lake in Ohio.

And, you know, there's the cultural aspect which is really important for the species.

But if we're being honest, food production also has to be profitable.

And so, yellow perch has a really high market price.

And so, that is more enticing than something like tilapia, for example, which is your more common aquaponics fish.

You know, tilapia is not a high market fish.

It doesn't have a great reputation, if you will.

And so, that's why we chose yellow perch to sort of combine the importance of the cultural, and potentially that financial aspect.

[Capri] Yeah.

So, walk me through it.

[Kevin] We've got two tanks.

They're both 250 gallons.

We've got about 40 or so fish in each tank.

The food, that gets collected and fed out here.

And here, we've got a bunch of crayfish.

And the crayfish are a unique wrinkle on this, and it's what sets it apart from other aquaponics systems because they're doing all of the dirty work literally.

They're the ones eating all the uneaten food and feces-- Interesting.

--so we don't have to deal with it.

I see.

Now in theory, we could say set up a crayfish boil.

We could use them for bait.

They do have a market.

We've just not investigated that.

They're basically-- You're cleanup crew.

Exactly.

And then this pipe right here ends up going into the raceway behind us and the tomatoes and lettuce-- [Capri] Which they are thriving.

[Kevin] They look amazing.

We have better boy tomatoes on this side and a type husky cherry red on that side.

And then our butter crunch lettuce which we'll be trying.

[Capri] How many pounds of tomatoes and produce do you produce?

A lot.

We calculated one year that we were able to produce 225 pounds of tomatoes from this one system in a 12-month period.

Incredible.

My goodness.

Well, those nutrients are really-- They're doing their job.

They're doing their job.

Well, I can't wait to taste all of this.

And understand and compare what aquaponics grown food taste like comparatively to the stuff we catch in the wild.

Kevin and Maria weigh and measure fish monthly and have found they can grow perch to be market ready at about 18 months; half the time it takes in Lake Erie.

They also use less water than traditional vegetable or fish farms and produce no phosphorous runoff which can harm lakes and streams.

They hope to send their products to chefs alongside wild perch to see if they can taste the difference between wild and aquaponics grown fish.

Okay, so is this a blind taste test?

It is a blind taste test.

Okay, goodie.

I know which ones they are.

It's actually really good.

So good.

You know I love a good fish fry.

I mean it's tender, it's flaky.

I'll do a little bit of-- Palette cleanser.

Middle bite.

Palette cleanser.

There you go.

Fresh.

You cannot get more fresh than that, right?

It does not.

I'm standing next to the plant that I'm eating.

You get the satisfaction of knowing you picked it yourself.

I love it.

I mean, there's-- There's no pesticides or anything like that on it, too.

Right.

Now, this is the other one.

They're very similar.

Right, so if you were served that, that second one that you just ate, you would not be able to tell-- No way.

--that there was anything different in it.

That's what we're aiming for.

[Maria] No, they're both really good.

Yeah.

It is almost impossible to tell the difference.

I mean, it is so similar, and the textures are pretty much exactly the same.

And that's the goal because there is this stigma that aqua culture and aquaponics, the products are of a lower quality.

The idea that if you get salmon at a restaurant, you're supposed to ask for wild salmon.

You're not supposed to get farmed Atlantic salmon.

And honestly, as with this, most people cannot tell a difference unless maybe you looked at it before cooking or you knew inherently that one was different than the other.

And that's the message that we really want to also instill is that, you know, aquaponics products are healthy, they're safe, they're nutritious, and they taste good.

Because we could do all of the technology or all of the different growing systems, but unless people like eating it, they're not going to.

Well, I certainly like eating this for sure.

Both of them tasted fantastic.

You're doing incredible work here.

Innovation, sustainability-- And that's our ultimate goal is that anyone could design a system like this whether it's at back yard scale or if it's at commercial scale.

Our goal is to make these kinds of technologies more approachable, more accessible.

And for people to adopt those practices, I think it says a lot for the way that we can continue to produce high quality fish that people like.

Well, maybe I'll have to get with some of my neighbors on the other side of Ohio and put one of these in our backyard.

Let me know.

I'd be happy to help.

We'll call you.

Sounds good.

[Capri] While the tradition of frying fresh water fish like perch and walleye is a long held around Ohio, Chef Jeremy Amanski is keeping another historic way of cooking fish alive in his James Beard nominated Lauder Delicatessen.

This is a lot of fish.

But this is next level, and it has history.

It does.

So, tell me about the history of this thing right here.

So, well let's start.

This is gefilte fish, right.

And a lot of people, I get so many questions all the time.

People are like, well, "What kind of fish is the gefilte?"

What kind of fish is the gefilte?

I'm going to ask the question.

Right, so it is not a type of fish.

Gefilte is the Yiddish word for "stuffed."

Okay.

It brings us to this.

Because this-- [Capri] It's a literal stuffed fish.

[Kevin] It's a literal stuffed fish.

I mean, let's go back to the 1800's and this is what the dish looked like.

Okay.

And the interesting thing is, this was born out of kind of like the edict of kosher food because on the Sabbath, you are not supposed to do any work.

Like, you're really supposed to rest and relax on that day off.

So, even taking the bones out of your food is like-- Too much work.

That's too much work.

You're supposed to take it so easy.

So, what happened is people would take the whole fish and they would bone it out in a way where the head, the tail and the skin was all intact and they would take the meat, pick out all the bones-- And this would obviously be before the Sabbath because-- --before, exactly.

You're doing this Friday during the day, before sundown.

And then you put everything back.

You poach it off and you cook it and you have this stuffed fish.

So now when it's served, you have slices of it cut.

Nobody has to work to pick bones out and do all these-- So, there are no bones in this?

This is completely boneless.

You know we take it a little step further.

I mean, I have a love for high end French food.

Its not what we make here, but I really love the theater of it.

So, this is going to-- You're going to see we've got asparagus in here.

I put some morel mushrooms.

[Capri] Oh.

my goodness.

[Kevin] Oh.

yeah.

Wow.

[Kevin] Oh, look at that.

Is that awesome?

[Capri] That again, this is not at all what I had in my mind.

When you think of a gefilte fish, this is not it.

[Kevin] So, you've got to taste this.

[Capri] I do have to taste this.

[Kevin] Got a plate here all ready for you.

[Capri] Fantastic.

You're prepared.

[Kevin] This is so delicious.

And we do something really unique here that I haven't seen in a lot of other gefilte fish recipes where the egg sacs, the soft row which is the sperm sacs, the livers, the hearts, we butcher all those parts out of the fish.

We kind of get rid of the intestines and some of the stomach, but all those other things we work back into this too.

No waste.

It's about using the whole fish.

It's about doing it.

But I'll tell you, you know as people moved around over time this transformed into what we have here.

This is just the insides.

So, this is like what I grew up eating, just like this.

This would be at Passover, this is how it would look.

I serve it here-- Is this made with matzah?

Yeah, oh yeah, there's matzah meal in here.

There's chicken eggs.

This is the recipe I grew up making with my grandmother.

She was a kosher caterer.

She put me to work when I was like 11.

We grind the fish.

We mix it with matzah meal which is like crushed up matzah.

We put the salt, the onion, there's pepper in there.

I put fresh herbs in there.

It's mixed like scallion and dill.

And then you eat it with something pungent.

I love it.

It gets up in your nose.

This will make you cry just as much as fresh horseradish.

You were right, it tastes like horseradish.

Yeah, oh yeah.

Oh, yeah.

It collects the fish.

It goes well.

So, you see these preparations like, these are chilled out and that sort of thing.

And with the carrots on there.

This is what the dish evolved into.

And this is what you see now.

And the extension of this too, is the jarred industrial processed stuff that we see that-- I think that most people are-- Destroying gefilte fish for us.

Like, this is cool as hell.

This looks beautiful and it tastes delicious.

Like I said, I am definitely, I think more-- When I think about gefilte fish, I think about that jarred stuff that you see on the shelves in the grocery store.

Yeah.

Around Passover time.

That's what you think it is.

And I think that maybe that's why people ask, "What kind of fish is gefilte fish," right?

All the time.

You know, that makes total sense.

I mean, you're welcoming people to the Great Lakes with the great fish that we have here.

Well, I want you to keep in mind, too, in an ecosystem like this, does it make sense for me to fly salmon and tuna in from an ocean somewhere.

Like, they're great foods and I want to eat those things, but I get lake trout that has pink flesh and it's a relative of salmon.

And it's produced right here.

I get the beautiful walleye.

In my mind, you know, aside from that desire to maybe eat some shrimp and octopus and stuff once in a while, if you're going to eat fish and you live here, we have such a cool, cool variety.

I love how you're thinking because there is so much in that terroir of the Great Lakes.

Food tells the story of the place.

This walleye is telling the story both of Ohio and the Jewish community that lives here.

It definitely speaks for a lot of people.

And that's how we can relate to one another and understand one another is through good food.

[Kevin] You bet.

[Capri] Here on the north coast, the fresh water fish of Lake Erie offer a true taste of the Midwest.

Your fueling of growing industry of angling tourism and inspiring taste makers and home cooks alike to rediscover the potential of what's right here in their own back yard.

But why take my word for it, when you can come experience it for yourself.

America The Bountiful... ...is waiting for you and me.

For more information visit Americathebountifulshow.com.

[announcer] America's farmers have nourished us for generations, but today they face unprecedented challenges.

American Farmland Trust works with farmers to help save the land that sustains us.

Together we can work to keep America bountiful.