Has anyone smoked boot kings before?

[spokey9]

last season a buddy of mine had me smoke a couple of kings he got outta the carbon that were a yellowish tan (we had fun catchin em cuz they still had a lot fight left in'em) an though the meat wasnt completely mush there was no color. I like to think i can smoke up sum yummy fish, but those came out bland and salty (no salmon taste at all). It also took almost 24 hours of smokin to get'em to firm up like bright fish do. got a darkish one outta the cow last year that smoked up fine (it still had a lil pink left in the meat). that's bout the extent of my experiments with booters.

[knotabassturd]

Thanx spokey9 for the feedback. I'd be kinda turned off filleting into a king and seeing off-white meat LOL. Unless it was a white king! Never had one of those but hear they are very good.

[spokey9]

no prob knotabassturd. i'm still hunting for my first white king too

[jens]

I will agree with most, "If it ain't chrome, don't take it home..." With that said, and agreeance with my buddy curado, some of the fire red Coho aren't bad at all especially the bucks.

[knotabassturd]

I don't have experience with smoking boot kings so should be an interesting journey I take in the next couple weeks smoking one:colors: . I agree on the fire truck coho bucks. Got one last year where I was kinda "eh, I'm not sure... Well I'm about out of salmon so OK" and smoked it up after filleting it. Turned out well. I am a little curious about brine time and meat firmness etc with a boot king. I'll try to keep track of all that time, recipe stuff, and report back Tight Lines!

[knotabassturd]

OK i got my boot king to smoke. I'll get it smoked by mid next week. It is filleted and frozen right now but I segregated it from the brighter fish so as not to have an oopsy cooking a cedar plank alder smoked BBQ fillet with a gold boot on it. Here are some tasty pics LOL (it was a big boot at 39-40 inches- the upper pic was after I did my 'boot' technique to it while the lower pic is while it was somewhat fresher but definitely very gold):

[spokey9]

hey knot, how'd the boots turn out?

[Maurice]

OK i got my boot king to smoke. I'll get it smoked by mid next week. It is filleted and frozen right now but I segregated it from the brighter fish so as not to have an oopsy cooking a cedar plank alder smoked BBQ fillet with a gold boot on it. Here are some tasty pics LOL (it was a big boot at 39-40 inches- the upper pic was after I did my 'boot' technique to it while the lower pic is while it was somewhat fresher but definitely very gold):

When I need salmon really bad I get them under the 1st ave bridge near Georgetown. The mukleshoot tribe brings the nets in their and you can get decent salmon for $2-3 a pound $100 got me 5 fish in the 10-12 lb range. Their dime bright.

[knotabassturd]

hey knot, how'd the boots turn out?

Dang sorry about the long delay!
I just realized I left the thread hanging. I did smoke some of the boot (cut a piece off) and ummmm gave away the rest of the fish to my inlaws:-$ .
Believe it or not, they made fish soup and fishballs out of it and loved it!

Me? Well, the meat was definitely a bit light colored compared to the other salmon I smoked with it but it wasn't too bad. It was a bit more chewy for whatever reason (I thought it might turn out to be more soft). I have been overcooking my fish because my darn smoker heats up too fast (little electric Brinkmann). I am working on it though and getting better at stuffing alder wood chips in almost continuously so I can get enough smoke on 'em and pull out the fish before it gets too tuff (I like moist).

Flavor was mostly brine flavor and not much added by the fish but it was better than my worries had it turning out. If I was running low I would definitely use it for smoking but I have some good chinook right now so it is an easy decision to give the so-so fish to family .

I will try to get a couple pics up showing the lighter colored smoked fish next to regular chinook. I did take a couple. I have been using a pretty normal brine with slight tweaks- wet brine with 1/2 gallon water/apple juice 50/50 mix, just short of 2 cups brown sugar, just short of 1/2 cup Morton's Kosher salt, a tablespoon or so of fish sauce, 1/4 cup teryaki sauce. The batch I just did this weekend finally has me thinking i have a basic recipe down fairly well for the smoker I have... Believe it or not, smoke time only 2 hours[blink] Wish I oculd get it to 4 for more smoke but if I stuff the chips in heavy it actually turns out pretty well on the smoke flavor.

PS- maurice thanx for the tip on the salmon! I will be absolutely sure NOT to tell my wife:-$ Otherwise instead of telling her the fish I catch would cost $50 or more fresh in the store so going fishing isn't as expensive as she thinks, she'll be saying 'NO they only cost $20 at 1st ave!' and I will have that much harder time convincing her fishing is worth the time/$:pale: .

[gpc]

A guys definition of a "boot" salmon can vary greatly. I have heard time and time again the whole "itll smoke up just fine" saying. I have tried it, on 4 of the 5 salmon species and it just isnt true.

A nice colored up fish, maybe a pink with a small hump, a chum with the k9s starting to show or a hook starting to form on a silver is just fine. Most of the time the meat is just a red just not as firm. Add a little more salt to your brine and increase the smoking time by an hour and you are good to go.

I will admit that some years I am just not as good as others. Wether it be a stiff work load that keeps me off the water, a week run of fish, or just flat out it isnt my year. Now with a season like this I tend to be less picky. I dont buy salmon a colored up fish cared for the proper way, tastes WAY better than any farm raised pink dyed atlatic salmon for $8 a pound. So yes, a less than chrome fish has stumbled upon my smoker enough times.

But please man, do me a favor. Dont smoke a spawned out king. I am having a slow year. But I will do everything in my power to get you a better fish than that. I will keep you posted on how I do and we will split my next catch. Just please dont bother with those post spawned kings.

[natetreat]

A guys definition of a "boot" salmon can vary greatly. I have heard time and time again the whole "itll smoke up just fine" saying. I have tried it, on 4 of the 5 salmon species and it just isnt true.

A nice colored up fish, maybe a pink with a small hump, a chum with the k9s starting to show or a hook starting to form on a silver is just fine. Most of the time the meat is just a red just not as firm. Add a little more salt to your brine and increase the smoking time by an hour and you are good to go.

I will admit that some years I am just not as good as others. Wether it be a stiff work load that keeps me off the water, a week run of fish, or just flat out it isnt my year. Now with a season like this I tend to be less picky. I dont buy salmon a colored up fish cared for the proper way, tastes WAY better than any farm raised pink dyed atlatic salmon for $8 a pound. So yes, a less than chrome fish has stumbled upon my smoker enough times.

But please man, do me a favor. Dont smoke a spawned out king. I am having a slow year. But I will do everything in my power to get you a better fish than that. I will keep you posted on how I do and we will split my next catch. Just please dont bother with those post spawned kings.

hahahahahahaha, yea I dunno about post spawn fish, I've eaten 'em, as long as they aren't moldy and zombie, but they sure don't taste like salmon. I used to keep the boots and use 'em for crab and shark bait. I caught a 15 footer on a quarter of a boot king. Now that's a ood use for a boot.

[knotabassturd]

See if i can get a pic of the lighter slamon after smoked, shrunk one pic to fit on screen. You can see the difference between the 'boot' whiter meat and the more normal redder. Both are chinook.

PS- gpc, I already smoked it!#-o LOL, at least I only smoked a little

[Gringo Pescador]

I don't know Knot.. kinda gives me the heebee jeebees..

[spokey9]

i got alot of family that are always on me for smoked fish, i might try your recipe to get some off my back (not like most of them would know good salmon if it smacked'em in the head, lol). thanks for the experiment results knotabassturd.

[gpc]

Hey knot the offer is still there, just got to catch something first and then we both get good smoked salmon:cheers: I got some work over by Hanford next week, hopefully I can get a nice 40lb URB and we will have salmon for days

spokey9; that remeinds me of a guy down on the Green last year who had a limit of "less than Chrome" pinks aka nasty boots. I asked him what he planed on doing with all the fish. (expecting, "just want the eggs" reply) And he said he was from Kentucky and the rest of his family didnt know good smoked salmon, so he just caught their X-mas gifts. We both got a laugh out of it, but I really think he was serious. Sometimes I forget how spoiled we really are with all the salmon fisherys we have. Just think 1/2 the population of the USA has never had fresh salmon, we can get it 12 months out of the year here, or so I have heard, been a pretty rough year for me lol

[Gringo Pescador]

My wife's family is Mexican, one of our trips down to Mexico City, her dad took me to a restaraunt all excited because they had the best salmon in the city. It was very mushy and smothered in so much salsa, you really couldn't taste the fish (probably a good thing). So on their visit here last year I BBQ'ed up a Pink and a Coho I caught in the sound that week. His 1st comment - "There are TWO kinds of Salmon??" 2nd comment "it is so firm! Not soft like at home." That started the lesson, he never imagined there were so many different types and that they could taste so different. Now every time he comes out that is all he wants, and he always wants to know what kind it is.