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

[turvy]

Never had grayling but have had well-cooked lake trout and found it to be surprising good...even had it smoked and it was excellent. However, that said, I'll still take walleye and perch before anything else. In fact, if they are the right size, I might prefer perch before the walleye...they are both very special.

[hap]

There have been many folks that brought walleye North just to prove to me how good it is. Then they put their frozen fish against fresh rockfish... They have all been shocked at how much better it is than walleye. I have caught and eaten lots of perch and walleye, crappie, bluegills, and more...

One concession I will make easly though is pike... Here it is almost always from tea-stained tannic waters and not worth the trouble to clean. I have had decent pike from good clear water.

Sorry for bending the thread away from the original question...
art

[hap]

Denny
That was exactly the grayling picture I was thinking about.

Trust fall/winter is treating you well.
art

[maodiver]

There have been many folks that brought walleye North just to prove to me how good it is. Then they put their frozen fish against fresh rockfish... Th
Sorry for bending the thread away from the original question...
art

Will confirm that rockfish or a good lingcod are pretty dang good. One of these days I will try walleye. But lake trout are good fish...really good smoked for the big'uns