I have never felt that steelhead are anywhere near as good eating as salmon, but I recognize that tastes differ. For example my wife will not eat steelhead. I have tried tricking her by saying its salmon but one bite and she knows.

If this poll shows that many others agree with me one way to limit Indian harvest might be to publicize the fact that the fish they are selling is an inferior product. If the majority of you disagree with me, I will forget this idea.

there is no comparison to fresh coho... or is it fresh springer...

no its coho...

wait... springer...

Oh nevermind!

Dave,

Although I also prefer salmon, and early chinook and sockeye above all, I do eat steelhead. I wouldn't call it inferior. In fact, it can be pretty good, as is coho salmon. And I've known people who prefer steelhead to salmon, so I think it does come down to personal taste preferences.

I think a better approach than food quality is to suggest that consumers avoid buying wild steelhead because, unless you know exactly where they came from, you cannot be sure they were from a healthy population, since most wild steelhead populations are depressed, if not threatened, endangered, etc.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

SOCKEYE, then spring kings.

I tried to take the poll but couldn't find the box to pick chicken!

I prefer steelhead also

I just voted, then viewed the results. At that time 50% - steelhead, 58%-salmon. This must be the same statistical data the state uses when assesing harvests allocations. So, you really can give more than a 100%.

Ocean feash salmon hands down. Coho and chinook are the best. But steelhead flesh does stay good when in the river.

Great post Dave, I prefer salmon, and for what it's worth, salmon is way healthy compared to steelhead trout.

Cigar

I prefer spring chinook and summer steelhead.

I think the quality of the fish is paramount to how enjoyable it is. I had a piece of steelhead taken from the Bogachiel the other day and it was aweful. I have had steelhead that I love too. One of my favorites was to catch a Sockeye on the Kenai and walk it from the river across the front yard , fillet it and put it on the grill over a fire....WOW is that ever delicious. Winter blackmouth is pretty delicious if it is handed well and real fresh.

I do not buy fish

Do winters and summers taste the same... I have cought the hell out of summers but never a winter... I prefer salmon... any type to a steelhead.

I'm with Dan S. FRESH springer and FRESH summer run steelhead. The winterruns and frozen fish all see the smoker or they are given away as gifts. Only fresh fish for us.

My wife likes summerruns alot more than springer. I like to catch them both, especially when she says "I'd sure like some steelhead". I then know it's time to break out the flashlight and glo-balls and run over Stevens after work for the Sky summerruns!!!

Winter steelhead and fall salmon just don't have the fat in them that springers and summer steelhead do. The springers and summers have a long time in fresh water, so they have a higher fat content than their fall/winter counterparts........and that's what makes them so tasty to me.

I smoke most of my winter steelhead, and it's good. But it doesn't compare on the grill to a nice summer run or springer.

Steelhead caught in the salt water is very good so are Frazier and Copper river sockeye. The best may be Yukon river kings. IMHO

Dave-
The survery was way tooo generic.

I love spring chinook, sockeye and summer-steelhead.

The summer-runs seem to be just as moist as spring chinook and sockeye but with a tad milder flavor.

And also with summer-runs, I have found they do not tend to lose their quality after entering fresh water as quickly as salmon.

Coho are okay but they are pretty dry...and actually Pinks can be okay when properly prepared.

You can keep your Fall Chinook (why anyone ever kills these fish is beyond me), Chum and winter-steelhead (bland and fishy tasting!).

The longer the fish travels to spwan the more fat content it is going to have. Springers and summer chinook usually travel the farthest for salmon. Summer steelhead might not travel far, some do, but they spend lots of time in the fresh water so they have a higher fat content. When it comes to fall salmon, if you catch them in the ocean it's tough to tell the difference between the different fish. Once they get close to the rivers though it all changes and they start loosing their quality.

Also it all depends on how the fish was handled and how freash it is. If you keep the fish cold from the moment you kill it, and BBQ it that day or the next, nothing can compair to it. But if you leave it on the bank for a few house, freeze it, then eat it, the fish will not be as good.

Agreed Sparkey.
Though I'm more of a C&R fisherman myself when it comes to river fish. (Spoiled palette I guess)
I love the richness of ocean fatty salmon. Especially the coller and belly-meat sections. When portioning these parts, I like to keep them seperate for smoking.
Lately, the majority of the muscle gets canned, or distributed as gifts (vac-packed frozen or canned in masion jars). Family in Hawaii loves that.
What Sockeye I retain from the salt (very few)is a treat, and I relish the opportunity to eat fresh sockeye.
Spring, or early returning chinook is a close second.
My old man is kind of one of those old salts, and usually turns his nose up at steel and river salmon. A few years ago, I BBQed a fillet of a Hoh R June fish, and he stll thinks that that was the best salmon he's had to this day.
Don't get me wrong, I like steel. But to me, even summers, or even ocean coho, fall short when compared to spring chinook, and especially fresh sockeye.
(Haven't kept a pink in a long time but I understand that if immediately bled, dressed, and iced, that they're pretty good. Especially smoked.)
Salty chums are good smoked.
It's all good (usually), but sockeye's first, and springers are my fav's. (Feeder ocean Kings are third)

J.D.

Generally I prefer steelhead because it is more firm and less mushy than salmon. There are exceptions like the springer jack I caught and ate last June. He was delicious. Hopefully this year I will catch a mature springer and eat it. Most of the steelhead I eat are early summer fish and are loaded with fat and have reddish orange flesh. Even tastes better skinned and boned with the belly and back fat cut out and eaten same day as caught. Summers are still good into fall. I've caught and eaten brite summers with orange flesh into November. However the last summer I caught in mid-November was bleached out as was the last winterun I caught last time out in January. I've caught and eaten silvers in late summer and early fall that have orange/red flesh but the texture is soft. I tried some Copper River sockeye from the store that tasted good. I've never eaten a chum before because they look nasty. Pinks are okay but better smoked. I've had summer Chinook that tasted pretty good too. Winter run steelhead tastes good early in the season but not as good as early summerun steelhead.

Big Tule - Keep on trying for those winteruns. I used to get skunked on winteruns all the time but kept on trying and got the monkey off my back. A few years ago my wife used to make fun of me when I went winter fishing. There are way more winter steelheaders than summer steelheaders to compete against. There is also less daylight to fish in winter too. Winteruns are lighter biters generally so it is harder to detect the bite.