I got greedy and took home a couple chum for the smoker this weekend. I've never kept a chum before because they look way to scary for my liking. My qustion is this: Are they okay barbequed. What about for the smoker. Mine are smoking at home right now and I'll decide whether or not to retain them after trying the smoked fish out tonignt. They weren't chrome bright either. They had those purple bars and huge teeth but the meat was still very firm (but more white than pink). What are your thoughts?

I've kept several in the past with some color, but without the huge teeth. Although I smoked them (and had people tell me it was the best smoked salmon they ever had) I've never thrown one on the BBQ. My experience has been the meat isn't as red as other salmon even when the fish are bright. I'd be interested in hearing what you think after you taste test the end product.
JMS

i love chum!! not only do they average the second highest weight of our salmon species but in my opinion fight the hardest. on top of that they run in large numbers(if you're in the right spot at the right time) and will bite on relatively simple(and cheap) gear, which is a major plus since i tend to break off more than usual on these fierce fighters. i have tried them on the bbq and it wasn't that great but are my top choice for the smoker. as for the coloration of these fish, generally the closer to the tidewater you fish, the fresher they will be. i have taken several chum which i believed to be big, bright native silvers until landing them only then to notice the barely visible purple vertical stripes on the side. as a matter of fact, on saturday i saw a bunch of fresh chrome chum jumping a few miles from the green can off the nisqually. tip: bobber and herring(small).good luck!!

I've taken bright ones from the salt, immediately cleaned and iced them, then brined (where they get extra slimy) and smoked.

I'll never do it again, though. They are garbage compared to "real" salmon. I can't imagine keeping one from a river.

They are called dog salmon for a reason. Dog food is all they're good for.

I bbq'd a bright one and it tasted fine. It is a bit milder than a silver or a king. My sauce for the bbq is spicy and full of flavor, so that may explain why it tasted fine, atleast my guests thought so....

No problem at all smoking chums with some color to them. A little drier than some of the other species as the fat content can be lower, but still rather tasty.

Many folks all over the country eat bright chums- it is often the fish that many "chain" restaurants (like Denny's) serve for their salmon. Out here in the P. Northwest we are little spoiled in our taste for salmon due to the ability to get multiple species of fresh salmon from the water and markets.

If you ever see smoked salmon advertised as 'Keta', that's chum salmon.

I think you can smoke just about anything and have it taste ok.

I tried river caught chum cooked a variety of ways, and smoked was OK, but the other ways just didn't do it for me. My dad liked it prepared all ways we tried.

Personally, all chummers go back in the water. Fun to catch, not so fun to eat. But that's just me. Same for pinks.

Also, I think a lot of fishing guides would like you to think Chums taste good and will happily give out several recipes. Of course if more people liked eating chum salmon, it would certainly help their guide business during November - so take their suggestions with a grain of salt (actully it will probably take a lot of salt...).

Is chum meat icky, or just bland?

If it's just bland, I could use it for more "fancied-up" salmon dishes like baked salmon in a sauce with sides.

If it's icky, you probably can't un-icky it.

I've read that you have to get chum bled, cleaned, and iced immediately for it to be any good.

Regards.

Finegrain
Woodinville

Cuttie,

No luck with the silvers????

Devine

Chum, dog, silverbrite, keta, it's all the same. Only $.99/lb at Safeway. They keep renaming the fish as a marketing ploy cuz nobody will knowingly buy it a second time.

I wonder why the plankton-eating sockeye (reds) are such excellent eating fish and the dogs, with the same diet, are such poor table fare.

I don't like pinks (humpies) either.

I also prefer male blackmouth (& kings) to female -- less mushy.

Hopefully, I'll get to cull through a few on friday.

I

Not much good on the BBQ........chrome ones are decent smokers.........olive and purple ones aren't much good for eating in any manner.

BUT, on the end of your line............they are FULL of pi$$ and vinegar. Definitely the toughest pacific salmon, pound for pound.

great fighters best used for dog food

I have found the bucks , WHEN IN GOOD SHAPE TO BE EXCELLENT SMOKED!!! THOSE THAT SAY DIFFERENT MUST HAVE KEPT ROTTING CHUM OR DON"T KNOW HOW TO SMOKE FISH.

Be selective and you will be pleased with the results.

if you cook them right they taste just like chicken

i let them go now but BBQed a fresh one long ago and it was ok.

Brought home a silver bright Chum last fall from the Pen. First and last time i will ever keep one. Meat was a washed out pink, kinda like trout meat. If anything Chums and Pinks make alot of food for baby steelhead.

With a great hatchery summer run and decent silver run "cammo" fishies should be released. Anything tastes good smoked

Nothing fight like a tail hooked chum! Accidentally of course. I like to see fish in spawning colors, and they are so uglyy that they are cool. A great fish for catch and release. The only only I kept was caught off of Johnson's point in August. Absolutely bright, poor meat compared to the alternatives.

The first chum I caught, 2 years ago, was a chrome bright 12lber in the Nisqually. It was so bright that a couple of "experts" across the river from me were convinced it was an early steelie. When I held it just right in the light you could barely see the purple lines. I too often thought, how bad can it be...this fish looks perfect so I took it home.
One half of the fish went on my bbq with my best marinade, the other half went in the little chief with my best brine. The color of the meat was good, not cherry red, but a nice pink. The half on the bbq turned out so-so. Even with my favorite marinade it was bland at best. The half in smoker was just as good as anything else ever smoked. Since then the only chum Ive ever taken home was the first one my son caught...and that was mostly for bragging rights to mom. It was slightly colored but smoked fine.
If you got em in the freezer already ( and most folks do by this time of the year) probably best to let em swim.
Tight lines
RL

Ugly??? I think chum are beautiful in their spawning colors. Not when they are totally dark and mush(all salmon are ugly then), but when they finally get their stripes I think they are the most beautiful out of all the salmon species. As for taste, never had one off the BBQ(heard they were no good for that), but smoked I think they are great. As has been said in this post already, be selective and you shouldn't have a problem.

Me personally, I have yet to find a salmon (of any specie) that I care to eat, smoked or otherwise.

One thing I see alot of guiding in Ak. is that first timers want to keep them all (kings, silvers, pinks and chums) return guests for the most part just want kings and silvers, if they do keep pinks and chums they usually say thats the fish they give to family/friends.