Mud Hens??

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Good stuff, Tim and Jonboat. Good accurate points. If you don't like dark Salmon you can be out of luck very early some seasons. We've caught and filleted thousands and thousands of them. The color of their skin has absolutely no correlation with the texture or taste of the flesh. The coloration always appears in Males first, and can be different at the same time in different areas of the lake. The color darkening has everything to do with the Kings spending more time in warmer water. Think ripening. They are acclimating to the warmer lake temps as they spend more and more time in nearshore water, preparing them for the tribs. The tribs are often still too warm for spawning when the Salmon are ready(and of course, the males are ready sooner) so they move in and back out repeatedly testing the water around and in the harbors. This is part of the "staging" process, and lots of good fishing for hard fighting fish takes place.

Now if the Salmon must spend lots of time in warm water(65 degrees plus) due to a warm fall or lack of rain, the flesh will get mushy and take on a white color. Various cooking techniques can make the Salmon still desireable tablefare, especially smoking. These same warmer water temps can rob some of the Salmons fighting ability, but trib Salmon in cooler tribs fight valiantly where there is water depth for them to do so. Think about it, in most Salmon fisheries river fishing is mostly where it all takes place-like in Alaska. We are very fortunate here in the Great Lakes that we can experience the Pacific Salmon's fury and stamina out in open water.

[jekyll]

I'm a salmon catcher, not a salmon eater (I might eat 2 servings a year); I do love it smoked though. I give lots of fresh, frozen salmon to friends, neighbors and work mates. To a person, everyone says Lake O salmon is the best they have eaten, bar none. It doesn't seem to matter if I give them nice orange, summer fillets or pale, river fillets. They all beg for more. I will say I don't keep river zombies, only fiesty green fish. I've learned that when properly smoked, I cant taste a difference between lake fish or river fish. Brine and smoke are great equalizers.

Of the various strains of Lake trout, the orange fin variety seem to be more favored for the table. The white fin variety are oilier.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CEwQ9QEwCQ

[Mortigan]

Good information - thank you very much. I got a couple cortisone shots in the back, sorted my gear for the trib regs and bought a new Ranger net. I'll make it out this week (finally) and see if I can actually catch something.

[Mortigan]

Interesting start. Pulled into empty parking at 6pm @ my favorite micro-trib - and found a dead, milked salmon in the middle of it. got to soak a line for 45 minutes, watched the submarine races start in the deep pool as the sun set. It's nice to see they still make it - I hate that someone's killing and dumping the carcasses.

[jonboat]

Interesting start. Pulled into empty parking at 6pm @ my favorite micro-trib - and found a dead, milked salmon in the middle of it. got to soak a line for 45 minutes, watched the submarine races start in the deep pool as the sun set. It's nice to see they still make it - I hate that someone's killing and dumping the carcasses.

I'm with you there. If you aren't gonna eat it, release it unharmed. Taking the eggs and dumping the carcass is the sort of thing that is done by the same bunch that are always out there breaking the rules. Idiots that just don't belong in the outdoors.

[TyeeTanic]

The other thing about this is that you can try and fish for salmon when the run is fresh.

There's not too much fun about pulling a salmon that's out of energy from the water. Kind of like pulling out deadwood.

But, if you can hook into some fresh lake run silver salmon, man they can give you a fight to talk about, highlighted with nice jumps and all. It then takes a bit of skill to succesfuly land the salmon.

So, there is some fun to be had catching these fish, but yes catch and release is my golden rule this time of the year. I would rather put them back to have a chance of spawning then waste them.

Ministry of Natural Resources Ontario does not recommend eating fish over 14" long due to mercury and PCB levels which have accumulated in older fish. There's a report out called "Up to the Gills" - read it for more info. So, I don't eat 4 year old salmon, I only keep the shakers from the lake (5-6 lbs).

[Mortigan]

My spot is less than half a mile from the creek mouth so it gets a new load of fish anytime the water level goes up. If it still gets fished like when I was a kid, the local teenagers hammer on them. Anything not brand new is severely line-shy.