First day of Trout season haul!

[flatbroke]

With the first day of trout season opening last weekend I was able to get out with my dad and we came back with a small haul of 5 rainbow trout. We cleaned them up and I took them home to brine and then smoke with alder and hickory. As a side experiment I took the heads, cleaned out the gills, salted them and let them sit for 20 minutes, and rinsed them. They then went into a pot of boiling water to simmer for 20-30 minutes and bam! Fresh fish stock!

great job and congratulations on father son time

 

[jcam222]

How do you brine them, temp to smoke etc.? I plan on doing catfish this year in June when the go bonkers in the local reservoir. I can catch 5 pounders or so in my honey hole until my arms are so tired I cant move :)

 

[Bearcarver]

How do you brine them, temp to smoke etc.? I plan on doing catfish this year in June when the go bonkers in the local reservoir. I can catch 5 pounders or so in my honey hole until my arms are so tired I cant move :)

We used to catch catties like that at Conowingo, but the best eating ones are from10" to 16". (My favorite eating Fish!!)
Bigger ones get too oily.

Bear

 

[GentlemanJerk]

How do you brine them, temp to smoke etc.? I plan on doing catfish this year in June when the go bonkers in the local reservoir. I can catch 5 pounders or so in my honey hole until my arms are so tired I cant move :)

The brine I used was one I found on the Fish thread of SMF. We gut them, cut the fins and head off, then split them down along the spine. I then brined them in a Tupperware container for about a day giving them a shake every now and then. I smoked them for about 3-4 hours using a mix of alder and hickory, then tossed them in my oven (my electric smoker won't go above 180F) at 190F till their internal temp hit 145F. I left them to rest after they hit the IT and then pulled the bones out and vac-sealed them to be frozen for later.

Some were eaten plain, some became part of an egg salad, and others became part of a really good smoked whitefish dip that my dad made.