Northwest Fishing Reports

Whats your favorite type of smoked fish? fresh or salt?
Mine is sturgeon :]

Ive had it grilled and it didnt suit me very well. Smoked might be interesting.

Salmon, its about the only fish Ive had smoked except for trout.

But the one time best smoked fish Ive ever had was a fat Ruffie my inlaws neighbor gave us.

Saltwater salmon all the way for both fresh eating and smoked. Smoked is about the only way that I can eat sturgeon. Other than smoked, sturgeon is waaaaay down my list of fish for table fare. Oil content of the flesh really separates "good, edible" from superb quality eats. The farther away from their spawning gravel that salmon and steelhead are caught, the better table fare they are.

Trout in general but especially the cutts from Lake Washington smoke up very well, and are near the top of my list. The best, in my opinion, are summer kokanee. In most cases, you'll need to smoke these fish on the sly as usually if the other members of your family know that you've caught kokanee they will be all gone before you can get them anywhere near the smoker. Next down the list is shad. The only reason I have them at #2 is the number of bones these fish have.

Id say as far as freshwater fish go ,Cutties are great for smoking and eating. Their roe is super for summer steel.

My favorite would have to be a Rufus Native followed by a Rufus triploid they are excellent smoked Any salmon from the salt are going to be great smoked (cant speak for a saltwater chum or sockeye but would imagine they are still going to be good). Fresh tuna smoked might be #1 for me too

I've only had smoked trout and smoked salmon. The smoked trout was okay. The smoked salmon was good. I'd really like to try smoked sturgeon. I haven't fished for sturgeon in several years.

Building a smoker is one of my projects for this spring/early summer. I'd like to try and smoke a variety of fish/sausages/meats this summer. Smoker will have to wait until I finish several other projects.

i had some freshly smoked lake trout and that was really good

I like smoked sturgeon too. Catfish smokes really well. About the only way I will eat catfish. Looks kinda funky with the white meat and all, but the oily flesh makes for good smoking.

Salmon from the salt is always great, I find Sockeye to be the best smoking/eating variety of salmon but usually I buy it from the store rather than catch it in the salt.

Freshwater has to be either kokanee or sea-run cutties with the kokes taking a strong lead. Smoke it for about 4 or 5 hours and eat it soft or let it run for 10 hours and jerk it! Kokanee jerky is amazing and delicious.

As for fresh table fair I would have to be a fan of white meats like Lingcod and Halibut. Cabezon is pretty damn tasty too and locally available.