# Do You Eat 'Em?



## jojopro (Oct 9, 2007)

Do you eat the steelheads you catch?


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## JPSDAG (Aug 16, 2007)

I Don't But My Dogs Love Them We Mix Some With Their Food Sometimes


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## Brian.Smith (May 18, 2006)

Yes if cooked right steelies are very good, but you need to take the time to prepare them right. Cook on grill if skin on cook skin side down garlic sea salt little soy and bamm.


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## ryosapien (Jul 5, 2008)

The poll needs an option:

I would eat one, but everytime i catch one i think it is so majestic that i can't bring myself to slaughter it. 

That's my problem anyhow


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## jojopro (Oct 9, 2007)

I have heard that there is a huge taste difference between Great Lakes steel and Pacific steel. The Pacific steel is supposedly much tastier and I was told that it even is frequently served in restaurants out west. For those of you who have eaten both GL and Pac steel, what do you think, is there really that big of a difference?

What can we attribute the flavor differences to? Differing diets? Salt water vs. fresh water? Larger body of water having fewer contaminates?

There is certainly a great difference in flavor between a bright chrome G.L. steelhead and one that is in full color. What is the reason for this discrepancy? Is it due to changes in diet, i.e. mainly bait fish in the lake and then a more varied diet in the rivers? Is it the water itself? Or, are natural chemical changes occurring within the fish which alter their flavor, when they prepare to spawn?

John


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## ryosapien (Jul 5, 2008)

jojopro said:


> There is certainly a great difference in flavor between a bright chrome G.L. steelhead and one that is in full color.


What is the difference? out of curiosity. I am assuming the bright chromer tastes fresher??? It is funny i usually go out intending to take one but everytime i catch one say it'll be the next one. I think when it gets colder it will be more likely i will keep one. I usually travel light and travel pretty deep in the river and can't imagine one staying good all day.​


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## freyedknot (Apr 10, 2004)

if i can not return one alive i will also feed it to the dogs. i have heard the summer steelhead caught out in the lake are tasty. i think the spawn stress in the river might diminish that tasty flavor, especially when they are not in the shiny chrome outfit.


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## Brian.Smith (May 18, 2006)

Even the steelies in NY taste diffrent than the ones we get in oh. I have to say they taste diffrent when they are in the rivers a while. Their metabolizm slows way down so they start to store alot more fat in the body also they eat more flys and grubs and larve. Also water has alot to do with it. And why the pc taste better the water is alot cleaner you don't get the pollutants in the water in you get some but not as much.


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

I am guessing that PC steel taste better because of the diet, the ocean run fish eat more crustations and different baitfish. also, fish running up the streams devote most if not all of thier energy to moving and maturing, not to muscle tissue, much like spawning walleye(wich I find disgusting next to summer and early fall fish). it stands to reason that without the energy devotion to growth and muscle the fish will not taste very good, your basically eating old flesh when in the summer (main lake) you are eating new flesh. also in may places on the PC you cannot keep fish while in the streams, so most fish eaten are probably taken at the mouth or in the ocean, so they will taste better in the first place.
I see no reason to eat an 8lb trout when you can find a stocked pond with 1lb trout that will certainly taste better(smaller fish of the same species taste better, and ohio steelies are just big stocked trout). plust there are perch, gills, crappie, channel cats, walleye and other eyes, and other fish that all taste better and dont fight as well.


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## dodgingthefly (Apr 10, 2008)

Idk, I just ate one that was around 6lbs before I gutted it. Very tasty I have to say!!


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## corndawg (Oct 24, 2007)

Two foods (and I use that term loosely) that I won't eat is liver and any fish from the Trout/Salmon family. i've kept a few dime brights and tried the "soak it in milk over night" thing and pretty much every way available to cook them but I still don't like the way they taste. I'll keep a few over the season for the in-law and my folks but the rest are set free.


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## brickman (Jun 2, 2008)

If you are going to keep one to eat, few important points. Keep fresh very silver fish, once landed cut the gills and bleed it then keep it cold. They are really good if these precautions are taken.


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## ryosapien (Jul 5, 2008)

I LOVE salmon (store bought) and wonder if they taste anything like that?


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## nicholasburnsworth (Oct 23, 2007)

I like to keep one every now and again. They are really good BBQ'd on the grill with a homemade honey lemon BBQ sauce. In Alaska it is quite common.
It really pisses me off when I see them on the shore zipped. If I ever catch someone doing it I will follow them to their car, get their LPN and let them know what a peice of crap they are for wasting a good fish.


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## dodgingthefly (Apr 10, 2008)

In the times were in I almost could care less if its not the finest dish out there.. they fill me up!!!!


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## corndawg (Oct 24, 2007)

brickman said:


> If you are going to keep one to eat, few important points. Keep fresh very silver fish, once landed cut the gills and bleed it then keep it cold. They are really good if these precautions are taken.


Agreed, bleeding is a very important aspect to untainted meat. As a side note please be humane and stun the fish with a sharp blow to the head before sticking a knife in it or cutting a gill.


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## jojopro (Oct 9, 2007)

ryosapien said:


> What is the difference? out of curiosity. I am assuming the bright chromer tastes fresher??? It is funny i usually go out intending to take one but everytime i catch one say it'll be the next one. I think when it gets colder it will be more likely i will keep one. I usually travel light and travel pretty deep in the river and can't imagine one staying good all day.​




Steelhead are a strong 'gamey' tasting fish, and it's been my experience that the more color the fish has the stronger it will taste. As with pretty much any kind of fish, the smaller ones taste the best. If you plan to keep one while stream fishing you need to keep it on a stringer in the water to keep it alive as long as possible. Don't bleed the fish until you are ready to leave. Once you have bled a fish you need to clean it ASAP or get it on ice. 




ryosapien said:


> I LOVE salmon (store bought) and wonder if they taste anything like that?


I love Atlantic or Pacific Salmon too! Although steelhead are members of the salmonid family, our Lake Erie steelies really don't taste at all as good as ocean caught salmon. I say ocean caught salmon has a distinct but delicious flavor and you only need season or marinade to enhance that flavor, whereas steelhead's distinct flavor needs seasoning, marinating, or smoking to hide the flavor. 

There are some ways to decrease some of the 'gameyness' of your steelhead fillets. 

* First off, select smaller brighter chrome colored steelies over larger more colorful ones. 
*Cut the fat...steelhead have a high fat content, and the majority of the contaminates that a fish takes in gets stored in its fat. A great deal of fat can be trimmed from the belly meat, along the fish's back, along the lateral line, and just beneath the skin. 
*Remove the skin, and the fat and dark meat that lie just beneath the skin. However, in some cases, such as when smoking fish it is beneficial to keep the skin on to help hold the fish together.
*Remove the lateral line, (the sensory nerve running along the side of the fish). 
*Remove all dark meat, found just beneath the skin and surrounding the lateral line. This dark meat is probably the strongest tasting part of the fish.
*Soak fillets/steaks for 30 min - 1 hour in heavily salted water (preferably natural sea salt or kosher salt) this will draw out some of the sliminess and gameyness from the fish. Rinse the fish thoroughly and pat dry, and then...
*Soak fillets/steaks in milk for 1 hr - overnite. Rinse and pat dry.
*Do not fry. Frying fish locks in all of that not so tasty fat into your fillets rather than allowing it to cook out.
*Grill, smoke, or poach would be the preferred methods for getting the best flavor out of these high fat content fish. When grilling or smoking the fat oils can drip off of the fish. When poaching in liquid, the fats can sweat out...drain the poached fish well from the cooking liquid.

My preferred way of cooking steelies is to poach them in water, dry white wine, lemon juice, fresh herbs, and cracked black pepper. I then crumble up the fillets and make 'salmon patties'/'fish cakes' out of them. 

John​


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## Pole Squeezer (Jun 21, 2008)

My wife experimented with some skinless fillets, soaked in milk for 1hr, and wrapped up with shrimp salad, then baked. I have to admit they came out great. I grew up in the south, so i'm used to strong tasting fish.


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## jlamson (Oct 18, 2006)

I smoke all mine, there awesome, we also tried this and worked out decent, you fillet them, take the skin off em' and cut them into smaller pieces. get an old cookin tin and put canola oil and butter in the pan and season up how ever way ya like, we use lemon pepper and wrap it in tin foil then place on the open fire, comes out fantastic taste almost like perch


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## PaintItBlue (Oct 21, 2008)

Hey you guys forgot the, "When I manage to catch one, i will try eating it"

Since this is somewhat on topics what is recommended for freezing steelhead, my dad like fresh fish but they only come up in the summer usually. Fish would be in freezer maybe 3-6 months. Should I do the usual water in a ziplock with fillets?


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## jrsfish (May 21, 2004)

My girlfriends cats just love them, she bakes them and then peels off the meat.Ive tried them but they remind me of her.


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## jlamson (Oct 18, 2006)

PaintItBlue said:


> Hey you guys forgot the, "When I manage to catch one, i will try eating it"
> 
> Since this is somewhat on topics what is recommended for freezing steelhead, my dad like fresh fish but they only come up in the summer usually. Fish would be in freezer maybe 3-6 months. Should I do the usual water in a ziplock with fillets?


i vacume seal all mine so i can have some smoked in the summer, water works as well but i found out there not as good as sealing them up


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

I hardly ever keep them, but Friday the wife got her first (and I wanted some skein..). I never saw a fillet like the ones I got Friday - they were very red, if I didn't know, I would have swore it was a salmon. Smoked it with hickory that night and it was yummy. Plus, smokin a trout is a good beer drinking sport!
Put some wood chips on, crack a beer. Get another beer, put on some more wood chips, repeat as necessary!


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

jrsfish said:


> Ive tried them but they remind me of her.


ahhh man, whats wrong with that statement?LOL 

dont eat them, the nasty taste will ruin your tastebuds for when your eating the really great tasting walleye. ive tried everyway possiable and they still taste like a!# to me. i love to catch them and try to release everyone, not because i want to preserve the species, but their nasty man...nasty..yuck


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## The One (Jun 9, 2007)

I have eaten many steelies from the Pacific Northwest and there is a big difference in taste. The GL steelies have a more fishy flavor where the PNW steelies have little to no flavor. As mentioned before trimming the brown fat along the lateral laine helps remove some of the fishiness. I also like Johnny's seafood seasoning and regular seasoning and lemon pepper dry rubbed into a dry fillet then grilled over charcoal.

http://www.johnnysfinefoods.com/products/10021.php


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## danjaquino (Jun 2, 2005)

If you catch some, I would highly recommend smoking them. They are very, very good this way. If you like beef jerky, then you will like smoked steelie.
Excellent snacking food with beer


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## K gonefishin (May 4, 2004)

ezbite said:


> ahhh man, whats wrong with that statement?LOL
> 
> dont eat them, the nasty taste will ruin your tastebuds for when your eating the really great tasting walleye. ive tried everyway possiable and they still taste like a!# to me. i love to catch them and try to release everyone, not because i want to preserve the species, but their nasty man...nasty..yuck


I agree 100%.


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## riverKing (Jan 26, 2007)

for the smokers... this is just my opinion but it alwaya seema that smoking fish is the best way to make bad tasting fish good enough to eat. smoked carp is pretty darn good, but why go through the effort when fried perch is better and easier.


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## MuskieJim (Apr 11, 2007)

Believe it or not, Bruce up at Grand River Tackle has a great little seasoning that he sells. You can get it at virtually every grocery store, it's called Redfish Magic. It is a cajun, or blackening seasoning that you put on the fish before grilling. I have tried steelhead several ways, and smoked or redfish magic grilled are the way to go, no doubt.


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## reo (May 22, 2004)

IMHO, it comes down to this, If I have to do something during the cooking process to _cover up_ the taste of whatever it is that I am cooking......I will cook something else


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

I was planning to keep a couple and try to grill both of them for my family over the holiday. Have an hour drive back home so I need to keep them on ice, or is not worth it.


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## ryosapien (Jul 5, 2008)

ngski said:


> I was planning to keep a couple and try to grill both of them for my family over the holiday. Have an hour drive back home so I need to keep them on ice, or is not worth it.


I like your confidence ski... with the weather we are having you may want to buy that turkey just in case


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## creekcrawler (Oct 5, 2004)

I'd bleed them asap, and put them on ice. Bleeding them really seems to help.

Now if any of the rivers will be fishable is another story - the Hoga was blown out this am on the way to work......


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## ShutUpNFish (Apr 17, 2007)

Brian.Smith said:


> Yes if cooked right steelies are very good, but you need to take the time to prepare them right. Cook on grill if skin on cook skin side down garlic sea salt little soy and bamm.


Yep! Some folks don't know what they're missing believing in common mis-conception. I do mine very similarly....The prep is the main key....

First off, I bleed the fish by cutting the gills...this allows for a nice clean, bloodfree fillet. Fillet the fish and leave skin on. Before marinating, make sure you pat dry the fillet completely (very important step!) Stick in a glass cookie pan and squeeze on fresh lemon juice, then liberally with olive oil. Chop up fresh garlic and parsley. Season the fillet to taste...I like to use Lowrys season salk and fresh cracked black pepper. You can also lightly sprinkle onion power and garlic powder on. Then add the fresh chopped garlic and parsley......cover the entire thing and place in fridge for half day or overnight. Get the grille hot to 350*. olive oil on the grill then place the fillets on skin side down.....grille until the meat gets flakey....DO NOT TURN OVER. The meat will easily come off the skin....You WILL NOT be disappointed!

PS - Walleye is NOT great tasting because it has NO taste at all. Don't get me wrong, I love to eat walleye, I have a whole freezer full. However, walleye is for people who don't like fish. IMHO, when prepared correctly, steelhead blows walleye away on the grille....then again I'm a seafood lover and appreciate the various seafood tastes.


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

ShutUpNFish said:


> First off, I bleed the fish by cutting the gills...this allows for a nice clean, bloodfree fillet.


I assume just run a sharp blade across the red gills both sides, how long will it take to drain the blood, hang the fish upside down (I did see someone mentioned to bash the fish before I do this). Sorry for being stupid, never killed a chrome before, not trying to make a habit but I've tasted a few chromes someone cooked and it was yummy.


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

ryosapien said:


> I like your confidence ski... with the weather we are having you may want to buy that turkey just in case


Don't worry I got a whole spead for Christmas, one deep fried turkey and all the fix'ns. The chrome is going to be a bonus. Now I need to catch a fresh silver guy, I'll let the old ones go, Sunday is the day to chase some chrome, going to abuse my PA license.


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## liquidsoap (Oct 22, 2005)

Only tried it once.
Will never make that mistake again


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## icehuntR (Dec 18, 2005)

I'm not a fan of farm raised salmon or rainbow trout.Had fresh lake trout long time ago liked it.Wild Reds best fish I've ever eaten. Had a dried out smoked piece steelhead once ugh blah spit spit.I'm willing to try a fresh cooked piece but never seem to have a stringer with me .


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

ryosapien said:


> I like your confidence ski... with the weather we are having you may want to buy that turkey just in case


Well I got into steel Sunday in PA, unfortunately they were all older fish so I did not kill any chrome.


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## AnthHol (Jul 24, 2007)

I kept a hen this past weekend it turned out really good. I filet it the night before and soak it in milk over night. Then i soaked the filets in orange juice for 5-10 minutes and patted them dry. Then i mixed honey and orange juice and brushed it on the filets. I broiled them at 450 for around 5 minutes until done. Everyone that tried it liked it.


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## ryosapien (Jul 5, 2008)

good to hear ski. I was wondering do you have to gut a fish streamside or can you just bleed it and gut it when you get home?


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

I was talking to a gentleman at the stream who takes one home every know and then, you can just bleed them and leave them intact and gut them when you get home. Another suggestion was to marinate the fish meat in a sweet mix and then grill the fish.


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## GRADY228 (Jun 25, 2005)

I would for sure bleed it as soon as I caught it, makes a big difference when you are cleaning it later. Look up on the internet Indian Candy recipe, very tasty!! Also if possible remove the skin, it holds in the strong taste.


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