Decide if you want to gut the fish outside or at home in your kitchen. Make sure that you have the following:  Sharp knives Access to water Cutting board Clean the sink thoroughly. Prepare a cutting board for gutting the fish. Consider going outside if you want to keep the fish smell out of the house.  Keep the area clean by using a hose. Use a bench or other flat surface as your cutting board. Make sure to get all of the necessary equipment: a rod, hooks, a fishing line, split shot weights and a net. Find a river with trout by looking at local and state parks. Pick a river where trout naturally appear or a river stocked with trout. Be aware that rivers with naturally reproducing trout populations sometimes have stricter tackle and bait restrictions.  Get fishing bait. Check the bait restrictions wherever you plan to fish. Use one of the following: worms, crickets, grasshoppers, salon roe or corn kernels. Find a spot upstream to increase your chances of catching a trout. Look for an easily accessible clearing on the shoreline. Try to find a spot with slow moving patches of deep water or converging currents. Bait your hook and cast your rod. Find out how to catch a trout here: How to Catch a Brown Trout in the Winter. Set the hook in the trout by quickly jerking the rod tip up. Reel in slowly and keep the rod tip above your head.  Scoop the fish up with your net once you’ve brought the fish to the shore. Keep the trout that you want to eat. Release the other fish back into the river.

Summary: Prepare the necessary equipment and space for gutting a trout. Use the kitchen sink if you want to gut the trout in the kitchen. Prepare a cleaning station if you’re going to gut the trout outside. Catch the trout.


Needle nose pliers or fencing pliers will work for this. Keep the top half of the hanger to use for the piñata’s hook and discard the bottom half. You can also use sturdy craft wire that you cut from a spool yourself and craft the end just like the hook of a hanger. You can cut a thin piece of cardboard from a cereal box or any kind of cardboard box. The cardboard can be any shape, as long as it can be shaped to fit the top part of the piñata. For example, the cardboard from a postal service box will work for this project. Use pliers to bend the tip of the hanger straight to insert it through the cardboard. Then, bend the ends of the hanger over the cardboard. Fold the ends of the wire as flat as possible so they don’t poke out. Arrange the goodies in the shape you want and use masking tape to hold them in place. Then, wrap the taped shape with newspaper to get it ready for the application of papier mâché. Use masking tape to secure the hanger mount to the top of the pinata at the place where it will be suspended. All of the cardboard's edges should be completely secured to the pinata innards with the masking tape. Bend the tip into a complete circle with enough extra wire at the end to twist around itself. Secure the hook in place by bending the wire around the lower part of the hook as tight as possible. The layers of papier mâché you use to create the piñata will secure the cardboard mount inside of the piñata. Make sure not to apply papier mâché over the hook itself so it will be exposed. If you want to use something in your yard, like a sturdy tree branch or a ceiling beam, check out the hanging technique in M1. You can also rent a piñata tripod and use the hanging technique in M2!

Summary: Cut a wire hanger in half lengthwise with pliers. Cut out a thin piece of cardboard to use as a mount and bend it into shape. Poke the hanger through the cardboard and fix it in place with pliers. Assemble the inside of your piñata. Attach the cardboard to the top of the piñata shape. Curl the hanger hook into a closed loop using pliers. Build the piñata with papier mâché around the cardboard mount. Hang your piñata from a secure place with a rope.


Focus on breathing and keeping your cool. Make an active mental effort to calming yourself down. This isn’t always easy, but it prevents you from making a heated mistake and playing into a jerk’s hands. Feelings of resentment and the desire to get even can quickly overthrow your better judgment if you’re not careful.  Breathing helps sooth your autonomic nervous (fight or flight) response and gives you something to fix your mind on other than coming up with something to say or do in retaliation. Draw in a deep breath, hold it to the count of three, then exhale. Do this four or five times. Imagine that the irritation you feel is slipping out with each breath. Pause to mull over what’s going on rather than allowing yourself to be baited. Is the jerk actually saying anything worth listening to? What are you getting worked up over? Once you try to logically account for certain emotional impulses, you’ll find that they quickly fade away. Give yourself thirty seconds to a minute to consider your possible reaction before acting it out. At the end of that time, you’ll probably think better of it. Pull back and stop interacting with the mean person directly. If there are other people around, talk to one of them until you cool down. Otherwise, find something else to focus your attention on to take your mind off an unkind comment or action. If possible, go somewhere else and do something soothing to help you relax. Even if you don't have a way of escaping, you can demonstrate your indifference to the jerk’s antics by directing your attention elsewhere.  Talking to the people around you will also take their attention away from the jerk, meaning they won’t get the conflict that they crave. If all else fails, pull out your phone and pretend to text a friend. That way, you can ignore an antagonist without the need to just sit in uncomfortable silence. You have nothing to prove to mean-spirited critics. Don’t engage them or feel the need to confront them over meaningless words or you’ll just be stooping to their level. Getting defensive is like revealing a chink in your armor that the jerk will zero in on and try to damage further. If they don’t allow them to feel justified in attacking you, they’ll just be hurling empty abuses.  Arguing with a jerk only serves to validate their conduct. There may be times when it’s necessary to speak out against a jerk, like when the person just won’t stop, or when they’re bullying someone else around you. In these cases, try to take a stand without coming off as aggressive. This can just motivate a jerk to push back even harder.
Summary: Take slow, deep breaths. Think before escalating the situation. Create some space. Don’t feel the need to get defensive.