Yellowstone Lake 2015 cutts & lakers

[What Map]

We finally made it down to Yellowstone Lake for our first trip of the season. Spring came early but we found too many other fun outings that kept us away from the Park. We had solid action during the two days we fished. We ended up smoking five lake trout and threw back nearly a dozen cutts.

Diane with one of the cutts



A laker for the smoker



Cutt in net



What Map with laker



Cutt showing colors in sun



In the smoker



Grizz (I think) tracks on edge of lake one morning. Very near campground.

 

[NoWiser]

Wow, looks like a blast!!

 

[El Jason]

Beautiful fish!

 

[sneakypete]

Great looking fish, not sure id want to meet the bear though!

 

[Ben Long]

Love to see those big native spawners and big, dead lakers. Go get em!

 

[Nameless Range]

Looks like a great day with some big fish. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Muskeez]

Dandies for sure! & in beautiful country!

 

[Bambistew]

Did you brine those fish before you smoked them? I smoke a lot of fish, and am curious of your method. We catch lakers occasionally, but I rarely keep them. Usually marinade in white wine and sweet onion and grill.

Nice fish. Those cuts are giants.

 

[NKQualtieri]

Yesss, get those lake trout outta there and that's a nice-sized bear--caught this 2 y/o-ish grizz and her sibling my last trip through the beartooths, love getting into the 'stone!

 

[huntRme]

It's good to know there are still some good cutthroats there.

 

[Trigger50]

Congrats ! Thanks for the pics !

 

[What Map]

Did you brine those fish before you smoked them? I smoke a lot of fish, and am curious of your method. We catch lakers occasionally, but I rarely keep them. Usually marinade in white wine and sweet onion and grill.

Nice fish. Those cuts are giants.

I used to brine my fish with salt and sugar but I don’t anymore. Don’t seem to find the time. I gut the fish as soon as I have landed them in the boat. They are then on ice within a few hours at most. They stay refrigerated until I put them in my pellet smoker, usually the day after I get home. Even at the lowest setting it burns at a little over 200 degrees. After a couple of hours they are done.
I am very good at judging when to stop cooking whole fish. You want to be able to fairly easily pull the fins and their bones out of the carcass. Then with my fingers, a fork and a very sharp knife I separate all the meat from the skeleton. If it is over cooked the bone release from the vertebrae and stay in the meat and must be removed individually.
If the fish is under cooked then some of the raw meat stays attached to the skeleton and cannot be used. This is not a huge problem, just a waste of some meat.
For lake trout I feed all the skins to by black lab. The skin is very tough.
I try to keep as much meat as possible in big pieces from the fish. As I lay the pieces in a Tupperware container I sprinkle with salt, Mrs. Dash pepper blends and squirt on lime juice. The meat can then be frozen.
I use this meat just as I use tuna from a can. I also fry it in butter as a side to eggs in the morning. It is all good.

Here is what they look like right out of the smoker:

 

[worm]

Congratulations on the awesome memories that you made. Thanks for sharing the pics.

 

[Bambistew]

I make a lot of smoked salmon goods. Lasagna and chili are interesting and quite good.

Cleaning up the last 20lbs of last year's catch. Freezer is about to get filled up again.

 

[Eric.MN]

Yum! Smoke salmon is the best

 

[sneakypete]

Barmbie, now that's a smoker! What brand is it?