KU School of Journalism employees pick from barbecue duck sliders, fried walleye, wild turkey, pheasant and side dishes during a potluck lunch Friday, April 1, 2016, at KU's Stauffer-Flint Hall. The wild game and fish fry, with entrees provided by journalism school employee and avid hunter and fisher Cade Cruickshank, is an informal annual tradition at the school.

Clinton Lake walleye is one food you can’t just go out and buy. Unless you hook it yourself, you really have to know someone — someone who’s willing to share.

Same goes for Tonganoxie wild turkey, Saline County pheasant or duck from neighboring Missouri’s lakes.

Main entrees like these have added an extra-personal feel to a Kansas University School of Journalism tradition for the past 10 years or so: the mostly annual, highly informal fish and game fry.

An ice cream cake was brought to thank KU School of Journalism employee Cade Cruickshank, who supplied the main entrees at a wild game and fish fry potluck for fellow employees and students Friday, April 1, 2016, at the journalism school.

This year’s happened over the lunch hour Friday at Stauffer-Flint Hall, and drew a small crowd of journalism employees, retirees and students.

“We used to do them when I was in the military a lot, for morale,” said Cade Cruickshank, director of broadcast operations and chief broadcast engineer at the journalism school. “It’s just good to get everybody together — they should feel like family.”

Cruickshank, who was formerly in the Air Force, is an avid hunter and fisher who’s happy for a group with whom to share his bounty.

This year’s potluck table included barbecue duck sliders and walleye, turkey and pheasant Cruickshank shot or caught elsewhere and fried up behind Stauffer-Flint.

Other diners contributed the beans, macaroni salad and desserts.

Associate professor of journalism David Guth, who said he was a Maryland Eastern Shore native and seafood fan, called the fare “a treat.”

Guth said he’s enjoyed a number of past years’ potlucks with fellow journalism professors.

“We have our differences but when it comes to eating, we’ll bury anything to have a good meal,” Guth said.

Given the date of the potluck, April 1, one group of employees who had not been before was slightly dubious when they received the invitation.

“Wild game and fish? Are we sure this is really happening?” said Jana Tuttle, a human resources coordinator for the journalism school. “We all kind of thought it might be an April Fool’s joke.”

But Tuttle and her colleagues brought side-dishes to be safe, and in the end were thrilled they came, said fellow human resources employee Rhonda Cook.

“It is delicious,” Cook said.