Whitefish Run In Lake Superior

[KBFlyer]

Whitefish spawn around this time every year. Here in Ontario we are allowed to net them. We can keep up to 25 fish. The run is just starting so there were not many but we got some for our effort.
Decided to smoke the ones we got.
Night time netting in this winter weather is not much fun for this old guy, think I will send the kid next time. LOL

 

[DRKsmoking]

Nice batch of smoked fish, Never had White fish

David

 

[smokerjim]

Looks really good, love smoked fish

 

[JLeonard]

Looks good. Yeah send the kids and you have the coffee and smoker ready even they get back.

Jim

 

[R Blum]

Love smoked Whitefish.

 

[02ebz06]

Love smoked Whitefish.

Ditto! Don't think I've had any since I left Wisconsin many decades ago.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Never had them, but would love to try them...

 

[bigfurmn]

KBFlyer there comes a time when we wise up and call ourselves "supervisor". You sir maybe, I am not. Current in the garage with the 3yo burning off energy.

 

[Fueling Around]

Smoked good.
I don't like white fish unless winter caught to get the fishy out of them before smoking.
What else do you do with them?

 

[mike243]

Seen a article yesterday talking about the herring population has boomed like the old days, all the fish will boom also due to the abundance. Hopefully will make it up that way in a year or 2 to fish a little and look around where I lived as a kid , the Great Lakes are awesome and glad they are coming back

 

[jcam222]

Man nice catch and they look delicious! Net from a boat? I've not had whitefish.

 

[Redicans]

That looks really tasty. Never had Whitefish before. What temp are you smoking at?

 

[KBFlyer]

Smoked good.
I don't like white fish unless winter caught to get the fishy out of them before smoking.
What else do you do with them?

These are Lake Superior white fish so they are in plenty of very cold water :)
We just catch them this time of the year to smoke some. I will keep them in the summer if I happen to catch one while fishing for walleye but that does not happen often.

 

[KBFlyer]

Man nice catch and they look delicious! Net from a boat? I've not had whitefish.

No you put on your hip waders and walk the shore line. They come in at night so you use a flash lite and any landing net will do. Kind of like smelt fishing but the white fish are all along the shore lines. When they are running good it does not take long to fill a cooler.

 

[KBFlyer]

That looks really tasty. Never had Whitefish before. What temp are you smoking at?

I start out at 120F for two hours then increase to 135F for 2 hours and then 165-170F to get a internal temp of around 160F

 

[Brokenhandle]

Fish look good! Kinda sounds like fun catching them... once, till I trip, fall down, and fill my waders lol!

Ryan

 

[Fueling Around]

Fish look good! Kinda sounds like fun catching them... once, till I trip, fall down, and fill my waders lol!

Ryan

Water is always 1 inch deeper than the top of your boots or waders.

 

[KBFlyer]

My son bought a good pair of chest waders a couple of years ago that work great but if you did manage to slip and fall your still going to get wet and when the average temp around here is 34°F this time of year it will be very cold LOL

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

When I lived in Chicagoland a long time ago, many of the grocery stores carried smoked whitefish from the Great Lakes around Easter. I really enjoyed them, but I haven't had any in many years. You can't get them in Texas as far as I know. You can buy them online but they're really expensive.

Someone mentioned smelt. My grandpa loved smelt and my dad taught me to dislike them and I'm not sure why, maybe because he didn't like them. Anyway, I lived in the Twin Cities for a few years and the smelt run was a huge deal. You could buy them by the plastic bag full, cleaned or not. I bought some cleaned ones once and deep fried them as per the local recipes, bones, scales, and all. When done, you ate them like shrimp. Meat pulled right off the bone. Very tasty. I regret that my grandpa was gone when I tried them and I didn't get a chance to tell him how much I liked them.

 

[KBFlyer]

.

Someone mentioned smelt. My grandpa loved smelt and my dad taught me to dislike them and I'm not sure why, maybe because he didn't like them. Anyway, I lived in the Twin Cities for a few years and the smelt run was a huge deal. You could buy them by the plastic bag full, cleaned or not. I bought some cleaned ones once and deep fried them as per the local recipes, bones, scales, and all. When done, you ate them like shrimp. Meat pulled right off the bone. Very tasty.

Yes all you do is gut them and deep fry them, very nice snack. I have also smoked them but I prefer them deep fried.