Mountain Whitefish

[BAKPAKR]

When I live in Missoula a long time ago we used to catch lots of whitefish by the reserve street bridge. I'm guessing that's all city now.

Oh, yeah…

 

[AlaskaHunter]

Yep. I want to smoke them. The Root is closer than a lake I like to ice fish. mtmuley

My Alaska bias is to bread/fry white meated fish like halibut and smoke fattier fish like salmon.
A Missoula friend had us over for dinner years ago and served breaded/fried lake whitefish which were excellent.
Is there a difference in that stream whitefish are best smoked?

 

[seeth07]

My Alaska bias is to bread/fry white meated fish like halibut and smoke fattier fish like salmon.
A Missoula friend had us over for dinner years ago and served breaded/fried lake whitefish which were excellent.
Is there a difference in that stream whitefish are best smoked?

My comments are based on lake whitefish knowledge so it may not apply to river whitefish but I'm guessing it's dang near the same.

Whitefish are a cold water species. Cold water species typically produce high quality flesh (think walleye, perch). However, whitefish in my neck of the woods have a reputation for being a smoke prepared fish. Why? Well lake superior and lake Michigan had massive populations of this native fish and they were fished intensively in the early 1900s until the collapse of the fishery in the 1970s (gonna have to fact check exactly what decade). The fish markets along the shores in towns like Port Washington and Two Rivers in order to ship out the fish would smoke them. Since whitefish lived in deep water on both inland and the great lakes, they weren't often fished for due to lack of fishing knowledge how to catch them and living in hard places to fish. The result? Most people when they ate a whitefish ate it smoked how it was commercially produced and shipped to the local and far away markets.

 

[Dougfirtree]

My comments are based on lake whitefish knowledge so it may not apply to river whitefish but I'm guessing it's dang near the same.

Whitefish are a cold water species. Cold water species typically produce high quality flesh (think walleye, perch). However, whitefish in my neck of the woods have a reputation for being a smoke prepared fish. Why? Well lake superior and lake Michigan had massive populations of this native fish and they were fished intensively in the early 1900s until the collapse of the fishery in the 1970s (gonna have to fact check exactly what decade). The fish markets along the shores in towns like Port Washington and Two Rivers in order to ship out the fish would smoke them. Since whitefish lived in deep water on both inland and the great lakes, they weren't often fished for due to lake of fishing knowledge how to catch them and living in hard places to fish. The result? Most people when they ate a whitefish ate it smoked how it was commercially produced and shipped to the local and far away markets.

I caught one ice fishing in Minnesota once. I breaded and fried it and it was excellent!

 

[Sask hunter]

Trying to catch lake whitefish has been an impossible mission for me. They are very good smoked

 

[KB_]

I usually catch them around here on a really tiny white dry fly. Anything bigger they are tough to hook. Catch them in a feeding frenzy, and they can be a riot.

 

[seeth07]

I usually catch them around here on a really tiny white dry fly. Anything bigger they are tough to hook. Catch them in a feeding frenzy, and they can be a riot.

They are like sharks when they are on a feeding frenzy and it can really be a blast! Especially when you catch them on first ice in December when they are in shallow water to spawn!

Whitefishing shallow - one caught and one missed.mp4

drive.google.com

 

[peterk1234]

Hungarian fish soup with whitefish. Paprika base. I used the bones, bony meat scraps and heads to make a fish stock last night.

Had my wife try the fish. She said it was sweet like lobster.

 

[Southern Elk]

You fellows have me wanting to try this. Does any one have any experience catching them in the Madison?

 

[QuazyQuinton]

Don, decent populations of whitefish in the Crooked, Deschutes and Metolius rivers, and also Odell, Cultus, Crescent and Suttle lakes to name a few spots.

A guy just broke the world record with a whitefish caught in the Deschutes. I think it was 5 pounds, something. Would have been like pulling a small Volkswagen out of the river.

QQ

 

[peterk1234]

A guy just broke the world record with a whitefish caught in the Deschutes. I think it was 5 pounds, something. Would have been like pulling a small Volkswagen out of the river.

QQ

I got this. I can beat it.

 

[Treeshark]

They are like sharks when they are on a feeding frenzy and it can really be a blast! Especially when you catch them on first ice in December when they are in shallow water to spawn!

Whitefishing shallow - one caught and one missed.mp4

drive.google.com

Seeth07, that is a blast fishing them that way. Drill a hole to fish out of (longer rod helps) and angled hole to view them and it’s a scream.

*Just noticed where you are from, I’m sure we go after them in the same spots.

 

[MarvB]

A guy just broke the world record with a whitefish caught in the Deschutes. I think it was 5 pounds, something. Would have been like pulling a small Volkswagen out of the river.

QQ

Yeah 5#12oz and 24”…best part of the story he wasn’t even fishing for whiteys, trying to catch redbands up by Warm Springs!

 

[Dougfirtree]

Why do so many trout anglers hate whitefish?

Despite the increased focus on and effort devoted to native fish conservation these days, the mountain whitefish is often overlooked or maligned. Whitefish, like trout, are members of the salmon family. They are native to many of the same storied waters as our beloved trout — Rocky Mountain...

www.hatchmag.com

 

[KB_]

Why do so many trout anglers hate whitefish?

Despite the increased focus on and effort devoted to native fish conservation these days, the mountain whitefish is often overlooked or maligned. Whitefish, like trout, are members of the salmon family. They are native to many of the same storied waters as our beloved trout — Rocky Mountain...

www.hatchmag.com

dude I ever see someone toss a whitefish into the willows like that I may slap the shit out of them with the end of my 9 ft fly rod. What a shitty thing to do.

 

[BirdManMike]

Small nymph flies. You can fish them on a spinning rod under a float if you dont want to flyfish.

 

[BirdManMike]

Never really targeted them either. Grandpa told me storied of them getting after them on the yellowstone back in the day, he had said his brothers used to smoke them?
What you planning on doing with them @mtmuley ?

On the Jellystone, youll catch 10 whitefish to every trout if fishing small nymphs. The section thru paradise valley below Yankee Jim can be a whitefish rodeo if nymphing.

 

[OntarioHunter]

One winter morning Dad was driving home after graveyard shift at the dam. There was old Carl Daniels fishing for whitefish off the Silver Bridge over the Flathead River. Knowing Carl was sure to have his usual bottle of booze in a brown bag, Dad stopped and used the excuse of asking how the fishing was to share some time with the old fella ... who was sure share a drink. "What are ya using for bait." Carl pulls out a prescription bottle from his jacket pocket. "These are frozen. How do you get em on a hook?" Carl scooped a couple from inside his lower lip. Dad puked over the railing. True story.

 

[peterk1234]

On the Jellystone, youll catch 10 whitefish to every trout if fishing small nymphs. The section thru paradise valley below Yankee Jim can be a whitefish rodeo if nymphing.

I have been having twenty fish afternoons right now in the dead of winter (if that what you want to call this weather) on the River, standing in one spot. They are hitting size 14 nymphs. Copper Johns seem to be their favorite. I can't complain about catching a pile of fish on a flyrod in the winter. Nope, nothing wrong with that.

 

[R.K.]

I have been having twenty fish afternoons right now in the dead of winter (if that what you want to call this weather) on the River, standing in one spot. They are hitting size 14 nymphs. Copper Johns seem to be their favorite. I can't complain about catching a pile of fish on a flyrod in the winter. Nope, nothing wrong with that.

I might have to try finding a spot on the Yellowstone that isn't covered in ice. Ice fishing the lakes is fun and all, but fighting fish in a river is just plain better- especially if you can fry them.