Northwest Fishing Reports

OK, I am wondering how well a boot king smokes up. I'm a bit concerned their high oily content coupled with softer flesh near spawning time might make them not as smokeable. I'm talking kings that are close to spawning, not just starting to turn. I smoked a coho last year that had a fair amount of red to it (male) and it turned out pretty well. Any opinions out there anyone?

YUK!!!!!

LOL, terse and to the point. I like it:)

try it lol if its nasty as heck tell us lol

I'm starting to think most have not even tried it LOL. Thought that might be the case but hopefully someone out there has and is brave enough to mention so! If not, I will probably try it later either way in September. Found a hatchery that sells their surplus kings AFTER they spawn them so of course they're dirt cheap and probably dirt soft LOL. Affordable enough even for me[biggrin] . I'm desperate for some smoked salmon this winter season and probably won't be able to get out much to stock the freezer... So necessity may win out and find myself smoking a boot to see if it is manageable... If so, I'll have a backup plan in place if I can't get out and get after them!

Get after it...
A good soak in the brine will firm the meat right back up. All we get in the upper Columbia is per-spawn boots and they smoke up really well. Although I'm unsure of how a post-spawn fish will turn out, you'll never know until you try.
Keep us posted.

First of all I'm embarressed to carry off a boot from the river. To me when cooked or smoked they have a very pungent smell and heavy fish taste.To me its a waste of time to smoke them. I really only want to eat primo fish. Thats the beauty of being in Wa State.As Wolverine put it so perfectly YUK.

I suppose the definition of a "boot" salmon is open to interpretation. Some folks call any colored fish a boot, while others use the term for fish that have spawned or are about to spawn. I go with the latter as a fish close to spawning will have have used up almost all of its stored "oil reserves" to get to where it wants to spawn and then develop its eggs/milt. At this stage what you get is a watery piece of meat, many times with little to no color. That being said, I have caught fish on the Icicle that were dark outside yet bright red and firm inside, it is all a matter of timing. This time of the season you should be OK with most of the fish you catch as it will be another month or so before the spawn really gets underway for the chinook. I've picked up some real serious boots out of lake Sammamish, they are best used as crab bait.

I smoked a couple pretty dark ones out of the Samish River a couple years back and that was the end of me even THINKING about keeping anything dark. They were nasty, smelly, and just tasted like FISH no unique flavor at all just very very fishy and gross. If you are going to be using "boots" I would use only males, hens use up too much of their energy in egg production and bucks generally have better meat quality as they gain color.

I would say just don't do it. Go to the fish market and get some previously frozen chromers for dirt cheap. They usually will do big sales on surplus fish (usually Coho and Sockeye). I have bought fish at around $1.99-2.99 a pound and smoked it with great success.

Since I posed the question to the board I will try to follow thru and see how it goes when I get hold of a couple fish in September. I think U are onto something there Matt with the males. Maybe I can try and hook up fishing with a couple regular posters from WL.com Sept/Oct and try to pawn off little pieces to them within a few days of smoking them to see what they think heh heh. Don't want to make enemies though Hey, who knows maybe I will have stumbled onto a way to keep my obsession with eating smoked salmon year-round to a minimum on the pocket book when I can't drag the beasts from the water:)

PS- Matt I used to get stoked (no, not skoked) fishing the winter run steelhead on Samish back in the early 90s. Mostly above old Hwy 99 bridge though. Great small water action back then. And wasn't crowded! Good old days... Now it sounds like the lower river almost resembles Whatcom Creek's chum snag fest when the kings are in the Samish. I never did fish the lower river and didn't try for the kings. I've heard the steelhead fishery aint anything like it used to be too.

I will make sure the 'boots' are boots and not zombies! Gotta draw the line for health's sake LOL.

Just say no to boots...

If it ain't chrome, it don't come home....

A9 wrote:Just say no to boots...

If it ain't chrome, it don't come home....

My thoughts exactly...Whenever I here somebody say they don't like salmon I picture a guy leaving a fishing spot with a dark fish and vice versa. Along time friend of mine said he didn't like salmon but said he liked halibut , cod and catfish among others , that was until I tossed a fresh chrome slab on the barby and he later said "that was the best fish he had ever eaten ". Not sure how many fish I have given away at the hole when someone was shocked that I was about to release it. They always say the same thing "it'll smoke up just fine" I just don't believe it.

I love smoked salmon so much that even a boot silver (male) I smoked last year was real good stuff I never kept boots years ago cuz I fished all the time and had good fresh stuff. I took many years 'off' from fishing starting a family, getting house, etc but last year fed my smoked salmon habit uncontrollably with the easy pinks and my wife letting me run down to the local pier! Smoked lots of pinks from the salt, all real good. Had the boot silver with a little Tillamook sharp cheddar or pepperjack , a couple ritz crackers and some chardonnay (cheap stuff- Yellowtail but good). Ohhh, I'm salivating just thinking of smoked salmon LOL... BRING ON THE BOOTS! Wait, better yet get my arse on the water and get into some chrome!

Thanx for the feedback guys! Remember these are going to be postspawn boots straight from the hatchery hatchets:-& So they will be worthless as far as reproduction (and maybe eating but I'll hold my judgement for now) once the hatchery is done with them. It's an experiment/test of my obsessive smoked salmon eating habit and lack of ability to get to any water with decent salmon and decent time around right now... Geez, still gotta wait a few weeks too before the fish are available for sale. Maybe I will have to give in and go to the store in the short term....
Tight lines all!

knotabassturd wrote:Remember these are going to be postspawn boots straight from the hatchery hatchets:-& So they will be worthless as far as reproduction (and maybe eating but I'll hold my judgement for now) once the hatchery is done with them. It's an experiment/test of my obsessive smoked salmon eating habit and lack of ability to get to any water with decent salmon and decent time around right now...

That's kinda disgusting man, I don't know if thats safe to eat something like that. If your that desperate for salmon that your going to smoke spawned out zombie boots than PM me and I'll try and get you out on the saltwater so you can take something chrome home to bbq/smoke...

LOL A9, ya a zombie would be absolutely terrifying. The moldy stuff on the fins carries some kind of nasty bacteria or something that I think can make people and dogs really sick. Thanx for the generous offer but my time/ability to get around is limited and we only have one car (the Mrs and I) so my fishing is often tied to getting dropped off for the day somewhere along a path when she's using the car on a weekend.
Maybe you could take a kid out fishing instead:) I can just run to the store in the meantime for short term.
But on this whole boot thing, I brought it up so I will follow thru on smokin' a couple to see. If I fillet the fish and it is falling apart in my hand, I'll take a pic upload it and throw it away. Otherwise though, I'll be smokin' it and reporting back if the fish is manageable. If it is anything like Big D mentions on the prespawners, I tyhink brining it will firm it up a bit and the fish is cheap enough for even the Mrs to be happy IF it turns out OK... Of course if itturns out Ok, I might need some gullible volunteer outthere to try it and report back LOL. I saw goin postal lives fairly close to me. Hmmmm.... Maybe I can con I mean convince him into trying a little when I go thru with this 'experiment' heh heh:-& Or maybe some of the guys when they hit the Green for coho. It could give new meaning to the river's name:colors: I live in west Fed Way area.

Are you getting them from the Hatchery. The Nisqually give boots away to those who help out. Post spawn salmon is really more dangerous then anything. At this stage mold has formed allready on the fish. Some are gonna be almost at a disease stage. Be carefull what you cook and eat. If you get them w/ heads on check the eyes. Only eat salmon with clear eyes no milky in them.Check the meat for tapeworms also.Be careful.

OK racfish now U are starting to convince me LOL. If there's ANY sign of mold or the fish being so soft as to be obvious yuk, I will obviously chuck it. Those would be zombies and I'd hope a hatchery wouldn't sell them but who knows. I have two eyes to help. I am with you on the clear eyes and smelling to make sure it aint overly 'fishy' smelling. Still want to try though... Do you know of anybody that ate the fish the Nisqually gives away? If not, do they just use 'em for fertilizer?
Here I had this great idea I thought to score real cheap salmon for smoking... Still gonna try it! If I get sick I'll be sure to take a pic of the toilet bowl before flushing and will spread the gospel LOL.
Tight lines all.

hey now i have takin a few fire truck silvers and they were good

Dear lord, saw the most nasty lookin' kings on another site not to be mentioned... The boots I'm thinking of will definitely be better lookin' than that uh stuff.

The Nisqually boots werent bad. I did know a guy who got some free. He helped a lil at the hatchery and was given the kings.They should be ok to fair in quality.Give it a try.