Westward we go...soon.

[Al Agnew]

I tried whitefish a couple times once I started living here in Montana part time.  Nobody here eats them unless they smoke them.  I quickly found out why.  At best they are mediocre.  They have a considerable stripe of red meat, and like most fish with red meat, the red meat is pretty vile.  And it isn't easy to remove.  I found one source that suggested soaking the fillets in milk for 24 hours...don't know what that was supposed to do, but it made the red meat portions a little less vile.  I could eat them pan fried after being soaked in milk.  But they just aren't worth the trouble to clean them and do all the stuff you need to do to make them edible.  Too bad, because they are so easy to catch and they aren't very bony.

I don't mind catching whitefish, and do not throw them on the bank when I catch one.  I usually handle them much like I handle trout I plan to release, but I may not take quite as much care with the whitefish, given their abundance.  However, the last couple years they have not been as abundant on the Yellowstone as they had been; a disease of some kind went through them about three years ago and killed a fair percentage of the population.

They take smaller flies readily, and though they don't fight anywhere near as well as trout, and don't jump at all, they keep things interesting when the trout aren't cooperating.

[Ham]

I’ve had some smoked Whitefish Dip in Michigan that was outstanding. Might be a different Whitefish though.
I bet back in the day, Whitefish fed a bunch of hungry people. Everything tastes better when you are hungry. 

[Quillback]

I believe there are two types of whitefish, Lake whitefish and Mountain whitefish.   Something else for you species guys to hase.

I saw a Wardens show where they were watching guys catching whitefish on one of the great lakes that were making their spawning run.  Fishing at night, cold weather, did not look like fun.  Some of them were snagging, which is verboten and landed them in trouble with the wardens.

[Skeeter ZX190]

My son and I have a running joke.  Seems like every time we fish Stockton Lake, we catch at least one drum.  We were up fishing in Montana and my son caught a whitefish.  I told him that I think it is the equivalent of a drum!  We got a good laugh out of that one.

[Al Agnew]

2 hours ago, Skeeter ZX190 said:

My son and I have a running joke.  Seems like every time we fish Stockton Lake, we catch at least one drum.  We were up fishing in Montana and my son caught a whitefish.  I told him that I think it is the equivalent of a drum!  We got a good laugh out of that one.

Nah, drum are far superior to whitefish.  Drum are pretty decent.  They are in the same family as saltwater redfish (the only freshwater member of the family).  If you like blackened redfish you'd like blackened drum.

[Al Agnew]

18 hours ago, Quillback said:

I believe there are two types of whitefish, Lake whitefish and Mountain whitefish.   Something else for you species guys to hase.

I saw a Wardens show where they were watching guys catching whitefish on one of the great lakes that were making their spawning run.  Fishing at night, cold weather, did not look like fun.  Some of them were snagging, which is verboten and landed them in trouble with the wardens.

Yup, and lake whitefish are pretty good.  Totally different species.

 

[Lancer09]

On 7/10/2023 at 9:20 PM, Al Agnew said:

I tried whitefish a couple times once I started living here in Montana part time.  Nobody here eats them unless they smoke them.  I quickly found out why.  At best they are mediocre.  They have a considerable stripe of red meat, and like most fish with red meat, the red meat is pretty vile.  And it isn't easy to remove.  I found one source that suggested soaking the fillets in milk for 24 hours...don't know what that was supposed to do, but it made the red meat portions a little less vile.  I could eat them pan fried after being soaked in milk.  But they just aren't worth the trouble to clean them and do all the stuff you need to do to make them edible.  Too bad, because they are so easy to catch and they aren't very bony.

I don't mind catching whitefish, and do not throw them on the bank when I catch one.  I usually handle them much like I handle trout I plan to release, but I may not take quite as much care with the whitefish, given their abundance.  However, the last couple years they have not been as abundant on the Yellowstone as they had been; a disease of some kind went through them about three years ago and killed a fair percentage of the population.

They take smaller flies readily, and though they don't fight anywhere near as well as trout, and don't jump at all, they keep things interesting when the trout aren't cooperating.

We started keeping whities 2 summers ago. We would make a smoked dip quite a bit for anytime we hung out with people. Also braised some in a tomato sauce and picked clean, was unbelievable.

 

It sounds weird but it's also FANTASTIC pickled and actually have a jar in my fridge right now. 

 

There are still PLENTY down south of yellowstone in the snake and in all the tribs. 

[Al Agnew]

For Ham…first time on the Yellowstone this year. Mary and I were just floating, planning to stop here and there to fish good looking riffles. This is the first riffle we stopped:

Fourth cast:

River is still high, not many places to wade and fish yet. Caught a bigger whitefish at the first spot and a half dozen at one more spot. Caught one rainbow.

[Ham]

Thanks Al! I'd love to catch a few on of these days. 

[Al Agnew]

12 hours ago, Ham said:

Thanks Al! I'd love to catch a few on of these days. 

Actually the population of whitefish in the Yellowstone is down considerably.  Apparently the record flood last year did a number on them.  I floated today by myself in my Water Master raft.  Had to cut the float short because I lost one of my swim fins.  But I caught 14 trout and not a single whitefish, and I don't think that's ever happened before.