jd39
12/17/2012 6:51:00 PMNice fish! When you smoke rainbow trout do you do anything different than you would for salmon/steelhead? Haven't been satisfied with my first couple attempts at smoking rainbow fillets. Any tips appreciated!
downriggeral
12/17/2012 7:07:00 PMAs always thanks for the great report. Tops and heaters are awesome in the cold of winter...now who has to go outside in the cold and reel in the fish; tough job but someone has to do it! Ever fish the Trick er Treat (like Lenny Special only orange/black) from Frisky Jenny?
salmonbarry
12/17/2012 8:32:00 PMGreat report for the season!! I know the boat I will be buying in my near future!!
jd39: I usually sweeten up the brine a bit and use apple chips instead of alder and watch you time in the smoker as they cook up quick! hope that is some helpful advise! good luck out there
jd39: I usually sweeten up the brine a bit and use apple chips instead of alder and watch you time in the smoker as they cook up quick! hope that is some helpful advise! good luck out there
downriggeral
12/18/2012 1:02:00 AMJD39 I like apple or cherry for the smoke. I go a ton of smoke and heat and get the fish done in an hour or less. Here's the brine secret (in my opinion) many people over brine and get a very salty dry piece of fish. Try this one: 12 oz soy sauce, 16 oz apple juice, one cup brown sugar, couple of cloves garlic pressed, some onion powder or fresh onion, a couple of small pieces through the garlic press, table spoon red pepper flakes, couple table spoons real apple cider vinegar. Mix it up and marinate in the frig covered for 10 to 12 hours. Smoke the way you do it and see how it comes out. Should be moist, not dry overcooked with lots of smokey flavor and not too salty. Same thing works for salmon except start with the salmon slightly frozen and brine for about 24 hours. The frost helps the brine go in.
Hope this helps - Al
Hope this helps - Al
hewesfisher
12/18/2012 6:23:00 AMjd39 - I use almost the same recipe the downriggeral mentioned, but mine also includes wine & honey. I substitute garlic powder instead of fresh garlic, tabasco instead of pepper flakes, and apple juice instead of cider, but those would be subtle differences IMO. I brine for at least24hrs before putting in the smoker. As for wood, I've tried Apple, Cherry, and Alder for smoking trout, and for my tastes, an Alder/Cherry blend in my Bradley is what I use. I smoke for 3 - 4hrs and cook for 6 - 8hrs at 135° depending on how heavy I load the smoker.
downriggeral - I have used the Trick r Treat very successfully at Roosevelt. It's my next favorite bright color fly to use in conditions like those over the weekend. The Lenny Special was working so good, I saw no reason to change. Tops and heaters are the only way to go this time of year, and fighting fish in the cold for a few minutes is noting, the tough part is wet hands. That's when it's nice to have heat in between catching - thawing out fingers! :-)
downriggeral - I have used the Trick r Treat very successfully at Roosevelt. It's my next favorite bright color fly to use in conditions like those over the weekend. The Lenny Special was working so good, I saw no reason to change. Tops and heaters are the only way to go this time of year, and fighting fish in the cold for a few minutes is noting, the tough part is wet hands. That's when it's nice to have heat in between catching - thawing out fingers! :-)
charlie h.
12/18/2012 8:00:00 AMHF
Thanks for the report and the nice photos, great time to fish Rosie !
Charlie
Thanks for the report and the nice photos, great time to fish Rosie !
Charlie
Spokanee
12/18/2012 2:06:00 PMI was surprised to see your report for last weekend posted just after mine. When we put in Saturday morning there was one boat in front of us, they went upstream and we went downstream. That was it; we didn’t see another boat for the rest of the day. It sure is awesome to have a lake that big all to yourself. I’ll take that over combat trolling for Sockeye at the mouth of the Okanogan in the summer. We were using basically the same methods, but we caught all of our fish in the middle of the lake. We ended up trolling perpendicular to the shore, going back and forth across the lake. Go figure. I certainly agree that a full canvas cover and a heat source make all of the difference.
jd39
12/18/2012 7:18:00 PMThanks for the tips all! I was definitely off and will try your recipes and tips. Will have to get out and catch more, tight lines all and thanks again!
MotoBoat
12/18/2012 8:05:00 PMHewes, since the thermometer is located inches from non insulated single pane glass. Is it possible the inside temp is really higher than the thermometer shows? I would think that is one of the coldest spots in the boat, along with the floor? I wonder if a small piece of foam slipped between the glass and thermometer would affect the temp much?
hewesfisher
12/19/2012 5:42:00 AMspokanee when we launched Saturday morning there was one truck/trailer in the parking lot and as we were pulling away from the dock two more pulled up to get ready to launch. Sometimes I find the same thing as you with the fish being suspended over open water, but for some reason they were hanging tight along the shoreline for us, or at least the area we were fishing. We saw one boat below us working the north shore across from Sterling Point on the upstream side, but I don't recall what it looked like. Funny thing, with the overnight snowfall, I fully expected we would be the only ones at the launch, but no, there were already 3 rigs in the parking lot. It was a great weekend to be out!!
hewesfisher
12/19/2012 5:49:00 AMMotoboat - The thermometer pic was for you. ;-) I'm sure it's warmer away from the glass, but if it reads 51° - 52° on the glass, it's comfy enough for winter fishing. I could probably hang it from a top bow, but then I'd be hitting it when getting up to respond to "Fish on". All I know is the cover and heat mean my wife and I fish all year, and IMO, this is the best time of the year to fish. Like Spokanee said, Roosevelt is a big lake and having it virtually all to yourself is a real treat.:-)