Lake Trout in Yellowstone, Eat them?

[Gandolf]

Hi All,

The post on the steps to remove lake trout in yellowstone is very incouraging news.

The question that comes to mind is what about "catch and eat" as a positive step in removing these fish. I know that if you catch one up there it cannot (and should not) be returned to the water. Of course, all of the cutts should be returned to the water.

My question is are the lake trout good eating?

Thanks and regards,

Gandolf

[Panman]

Ive caught them from places other than Yellowstone and found them quite satisfactory. But then again I am a fish-a-holic.

im

[narcodog]

I think that they are eating some of those captured trout at various restaurants. Also if you can one Yellowstone Lodge will cook it for you.

[ScottP]

The macks I've had were delicious.

Regards,
Scott

[hap]

There are very few freshwater fish worth eating... and as a fish lover I have tried most of them... Burbot, sturgeon, and lake trout are the best in my opinion.

So, my ego aside... lake trout are very worthwhile on the fork.

I remember cooking a neat little bunch of grayling when Denny was visiting, but IIRC we also had a lake trout that got hung up in a bad way and died and I cooked it in the fire, wrapped in aluminum foil with butter and garlic, onions, lemon wedges, and salt and pepper... We eat tons of very good saltwater fish and lake trout are worth remembering...

This may have been the very one we ate...

art

[Denny]

I used to think that Walleye were the best fresh water fish until my week of fishing in Alaska with Hap & family. As Art said, he fixed the fresh caught Lake Trout in alum foil, w/all the goodies for seasoning. The two young men and collected some dead alder and after allowing it to burn down into "just right" coals, placed the fish directly on the coals. I will not say it was better than what I remember Walleye but as good and it did not take the 4 of us long to clean it up.
We also had Grayling one night and I will go into my photos from the trip and see if I can add them here.
I found them to be finger lickin good also. So it was either the cook, freshness, Alaska or a combination of all that made our fish eating so memorable.
Denny

[sjh]

Yes, lake trout are very good to eat. Their flesh is pinkish beige in color and taste somehat like slamon but a bit milder.

[hap]

Flesh color really depends on diet... We get them as they are savaging salmon smolts and they are deeper than just pink, but not as red as salmon. Some places we catch them they eat more insects than fish and they are quite pale meated.

[The Chronicler]

Back in "The Day" the late JC and me would make an annual trip from our base on Michigan's Au Sable River up to Traverse City, Michigan where his parents had a summer cabin. We would spend the day trolling for Lake Trout in Grand Traverse Bay. This was in the time before the sea lamprey were completely controlled and catching a Lake Trout took a bit of doing. If we did not succeed JC's father would have one in the freezer that we could take back to our camp on the Au Sable where we would split it in half, wire it on a plank and prop it up in front of a fire of oak splits. We would brush butter over the flesh during the cooking process, and when it was done it was a treat that was out of this world.