Having never really targeted chums, I have never kept any. Are they worth keeping? If so how do they taste? Just wondering.

FS

The females are worth keeping if they are chrome. Good eggs.

Easy -
Are you saying the best valve of the chums for the sport angler is the eggs?

tight lines
Smalma

I commonly smoke up a couple chums each year. Can you say, "shopping bag full."

The chums are lower in fat and milder in flavor than most salmon and provide perhaps the best tasting meat for those who dislike the strong, fatty, salmon flavor.

Many people, upon eating well prepared fresh bright chum, have remarked that ,"This is the best salmon I have ever tasted."

No.

Let me put it this way. I spent nearly 20 years commercial fishing out of Kodiak, Ak. The chum market was primarily directed to the Asian market. The eggs were stripped, boxed and shipped as table fare. Nearly all of the fish were flash frozen and sold to the crab fisherman to bait their pots.

Because so much of a female salmon's fats and oils go into the development of its eggs in terminal areas (rivers etc) a male at comparable maturity is better table fare. With salmon and steelhead the males of the species develop much bright spawning colors than the females - much like with peacocks and pheasants it is to insure a higher probability of being selected by a female or out competing other males. As a result a slightly colored male will be better eating than a chrome female.

The only reason to keep a female over a male is because of its eggs. This busy of high grading for females essentially doubles the anglers impact on the resource - something to consider when angling on a wild resource.

Tight lines
Smalma

It is truly a matter of taste. I like chums - if chrome bright and orange fleshed. They are milder than most salmon. I know a lodge owner in B.C. who will only eat chums. They are now called silver brights in the fish market. At Top Foods today they are $3.49 a pound

If they are olive-green with purple stripes and dog teeth.........like your typical Kennedy creek chum, you probably should consider alternative sources of nutrition.

Get some nice chums, though, and they can result in some superb smoked fish. I've had plenty of smoked chum that rivaled the results you can get from any species.

If you get the brite ones that are in good shape they smoke up great. I think the extra oil in them gives them a great smoked flavor that you can't get from other salmon.

Smalma,

I agree, I rarely keep hens of any species because of the table fair.

I rarely fish eggs, but even if I did I would and do strongly disagree with people who target hens just for the eggs.

Lots of other ways just as good and some better than eggs so I see no reason. Eggs are messy anyways.

My folks brought a bunch of males over that were given to them. The fish had some color, but just a little. After giving my dad a hard time asking him to dump them back in the water, I agreed to help smoke them up.

I didn't eat any until three others tried it and said that it was great. I just couldn't do it...

So, I tried it, and it was very good. Very mild. More like smoked sturgeon (and probably better for you). Of course, the fish were cleaned and brined within a couple hours of getting killed, so that might have helped.

All I have ever done with the chum I catch is smoke them. Seems that I always have friends and co-workers that are wanting smoked salmon and the chum are plentiful and easy to catch. If I'm going to cook up the daily catch for dinner, I prefer a silver or king, although I would be up for trying a bright chum.

Actually. I check the cheeks first to see meat color. I've caught dark chums (well, had bars, but bellies were whiter then white) that still were a nice dark pink inside. I've also caught bright chums that were tan inside. So go figure.

But here's something that most haven't tried out. Take a nice fresh chum. Fillet it out. Debone, then deskin it. Cut into small pieces. Roll in eggs/milk and then into batter. Then deep fry. They turn out delicious actually. Serve with tarter sauce. But, if you catch one that's mushy and dark bellied, best to release, i don't care how long you smoke, still gonna be YUCK. But I do smoke my fish as well. Just depends on if I'm in the mood for deep frying or not.

But if you have a chance, try deep frying. Turns out really good.

,"This is the best salmon I have ever tasted."

I brought some 1 year old salmon to work from my freezer that I didn't know was even in there. The vacuum seal had broken too..I barbecued it after marinating it in Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce.... I took a bite and felt like running and hiding but the gang at work said:

"This is the best salmon I have ever eaten!!!"

Too bad they never came over to my house to try some fresh from the salt barbecued the same day it was caught. mmmmmmm

Chums , on the other hand, are called DOG salmon for a reason..the mushers in Alaska fed them to their sled dogs. Most of the Chums that the indians are out gill netting today will end up gutted and discarded..eggs taken from the females and the bucks will not even be cleaned. Carcasses tossed back in the drink. I smoked one I caught in the Sky last weekend and it wasn't bad but I certainly wouldn't target them for the table given the quality fish I have to eat.

Grandpa river fishing??? That would have been cool to see.

i always get a laugh during chum season when a skanky moldy chum is landed, someone in the crowd always offers the same advice..."it'll smoke up fine"

its the same thing every year

Chum....the ******* child of the salmon species!!!

What? I cant say B a s t a r d ?

they're good fried or bbq'ed if they have red meat and a light belly...i won't touch a chum if it has a dark belly since it's already spoiled

one of the better salmon to smoke...but i always thought they had a higher oil content than most salmon??

Nothin like watchin a couple good ol' boys packin off a couple old boots. Its amazing to see people keeping dark fish whatever the species is. The moral of the story: Go to the salt if you want fresh fish.
Chrome

Chrome 454;

You dont have to go to the salt to get bright fish. This was from a river and it tasted GREAT!

surecatch,

that fish is the exception, not the rule...dark skanky chum is dark skanky chum, no matter how much salt you put on it before it goes into the smoker...

Chum are cheaper than hamburger in the store.

I read an article once that reted chum salmon as the best eating salmon out there!The article originated on the east coast

I ran into a bach of chromer at the begining of the season and kept two.I smoked them up and brought them to chelan to give away to a few friends.They were actually very good,but,like I said you could hardly find a bar.

My experiances as a kid taught me there is a very fine line with those fish.I believe that the fact that they only use the lower few miles of a river to spawn atributes to there meat breaking down.It wasn't the flavor of those boots it was the texture that turned me away.

They are a blast to catch though!

Surecatch, I know a spot that should be doing just about that quality of fish right now!About eight miles or so down from the steelhead camp ground.

Metalhead Mojo: You are right that skanky fish is NOT fit to smoke, and that goes for coho
and chinook too. My point was that we shouldn't generalize. Some chums are excellent. Don't judge then all by the Hoodsport boots. I know of several rivers where they come in chorme bright. other where a bright fish is a major rarity. Must be genetics Iguess.