Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Columbia hogs for the smoker

Hit the upper Columbia River in my float tube and managed to get into ALOT of rainbows( triploids)

Picked up a a few over 10 lbs.

I fought one for over 15 minutes and never saw him
He gave me quite a ride in my float tube. I ended up breaking him off because he pulled me down river and became too dangerous in a float tube


Used flies from the 24hr fly swap

Thanks guys!!!

Smoked up a bunch of trout and was quite tasty!!

Your trout fillets are orange? Ours are yellow. That's interesting. They're a lot wider back to belly too. I wonder how they got so different out there. Fast water? My friend worked for US Fish and Wildlife out there and caught a few trout and (white?) sturgeon. That would be a surprise to come across.

Are you saying that you didn't jam those fatties on your float tube's valve before taking the pics?

Looks yummy, glad the Swap's done some good.

Could you post some directions on how you smoke? Like, do you cold smoke or hot smoke, do you marinate, things like that.

I have a Brinkman electric smoker and I use wet wood chips. Actually, what I do is grill in a sort of smoky atmosphere. Is this similiar to what you do?

I'm guessing you meant to address ribka, not me. But just in case I can be of assistance, I smoke by removing one Salem from the box, fliccing my Bic, and inhaling.

Nice!

Triploids grow big and grow fast, that football shape is common for them.

Pigs for sure!

Rob p:


My take on the variations in size/shape is that a lot of it deals with food supply and the type of water fish occupy.

With a ton of food one can actually have fish outgrow or split their skin. Those are typically football shaped. I think they can grow soft tissue quicker than they can elongate the skeletal system. We see a lot of those in our under stocked lakes and larger high nutrient but slow flow rivers.

We have a "no name creek" in south central Oregon with both brookies and rainbows. The headwater run of about 1/2 mile is a near level mountain meadow with the stream being about 2 ft wide and 5 ft deep. Extremely slow flow. All the fish are football shaped. A challenging area to fish as one has to sneak along like a heron, dap or cast dry flies over the grass, and listen for strikes.

When the stream leaves the meadow, within yards it turns into a riffle/pool system about 8 to 10 feet wide with a much higher velocity than above. In as many yards, the fish take on a long slim shape.

I belive flesh color is mostly related to diet.

Nice fish! Bet that is fun hooking into one of those.

Generally what I'm used to seeing is the sea-run fish are usually that bright orange when they first hit fresh water. It's attributed to eating a lot of shrimp when they're in salt water. As they stay in fresh water, the meat gets lighter and lighter to where, like some trout, it's white with just a suggestive tinge of green. So ... a result of how much and what they're eating.

Tom

Brookies flesh here in Minnesota is very orange compared to Browns and Rainbows. I'm not sure why, I always thought that it's because they're Chars and not true trout. Same streams, same everything.

I've been smokin' quite a few trout this year. Hardcore, on the Weber grill whilst babysitting the heat. I like to try and keep it at about 210 and spritz the coals when it starts getting too hot. We use wet applewood chips for the smoke and it takes about 3 hours. Fantastic with crackers and dip...and beer.