I never had trout as a kid, gnu. Too expensive. If we had steak, it was one large steak for two parents and the five of us kids, sliced thin. Oftentimes on Fridays, my dad would overcook a halibut steak in the broiler in the oven, and we'd split it among the whole family. I grew to hate halibut.

When I was a kid in Wisconsin, the standard church fish fry had perch - but that's when Wisconsin had a commercial fishing industry on Lake Michigan* - little boats that looked like Dutch wooden shoes, like this one (click). The perch was always fresh, and it was a real treat. Oh, and we might switch to smelt, when the smelt were running - they'd be fried up in huge quantities. Here in California, the Knights of Columbus do the cooking at Lenten fish frys, and they usually serve cod, haddock, or whiting - along with fries, cole slaw, and beer.

-Joe-

*They also had commercial fishing on Lake Superior, but I think that was mostly for bigger fish, like whitefish. I've never seen the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior, so I know nothing first hand about it. Commercial fishing for perch was big on Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie until about 1970. I guess the Catholics ate up all the perch, which may be why the year-round fish-on-Friday rule was dropped....