When a person has perplexed his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to have made a fine kettle of fish of it.
Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.
kettledrums * kicksNathan Bailey's 1721 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang
John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes