i wont give any seabass, lingcod, or Halibut away, but i might if i was going to get some sturgeon...all of my pinks are smoked and given away at christmas to my customers...they all expect it now..that and my fudge...humpie years i dont have to make as much fudge...the larger fish (over 15lbs) sometimes we freezer seal as one big fillet, and take to BBQ's...that is usually impressive to people who dont really fish...i smoke the salmon bellies now thanks to you guys...that is really good...dont know how i ever used em as crab bait...now crab get the carcauss..
i do eat salmon, my boyfreind does not like it...he has two women he works with that will take fish till they are blue...my mom has 9 brothers and sisters who all expect some fish every once in a while...a good portion of my fish was being sent to my uncle whose daughter was dying of cancer...they wanted he to eat more organic type food and asked for me to send it to em...so i did, but she has recently passed...we ended up with 53 lbs of filleted and sealed King last week and half of it is gone now..it wont last long...i cant wait for some Coho..that is one of my favs (of Salmon)...i would love to get some tuna, but just have never gone out there...i could never trust my smaller boat even in good weather....c

Story's pretty much the same here. My wife and I are the only ones home now, but neither she nor I have ever tired of fish. We eat it at least once a week, but more often twice. When the kids and their families come over (usually for the weekend) all bet's are off. Out come the fish and we/they gobble it up. I'm nearly out of ling, still have a substantial supply of halibut, and the salmon supply isn't hurting (with many more to come for the Winter supply of smoked fish). Crabs are handy for cleaning up all the heads, guts, carcasses, but we are both about tired of crab.

When all else fails, it goes to the office. No one fishes there (unbelievable!) but all love seafood of all sorts. Nothing is wasted. If the vacuum seal fails and I don't catch it in time, it's crab bait.

During the Winter months, if I have crab bait left-overs that won't get used I take the whole mess down to the river and add to the river nutrient level. It works very well when everything is frozen as it floats down the river and thaws slowly, depositing pieces of fish along the way.

If a season goes exceptionally well, I release a lot of fish. It's kind of fun telling a 20+ lb legal fish, "Today's your lucky day!"

I only keep what I can eat or give to friends within 1 month. Everything that isn't consumed fresh is vaccum packed and frozen. I don't let anything sit in the freezer for longer than a month. If a fillet reaches a month I brine it up for the smoker.

60% of what I bring home we eat,the rest is given out to the In-Laws freezer.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

I've got a rule..........I don't eat any salmon that I didn't catch. I never buy it in a store and never order it in a restaurant. Same with trout. I do however enjoy the halibut and ling cod my neighbor gives me quite frequently. In return he and his wife get corn, raspberries, onions, and tomatoes from my garden.

I don't kill fish unless I know it will have a destination within a week or 2. During salmon season, I will vacuum seal fish until I get the smoker load. The rest of the time I just eat it after fishing, if it is a big one I give portions away.

I purchase Tuna because I get seasick, and it is bar none my favorite fish to eat.

Stam gave me two Salmon last year. We ate them both. Bob gave me one salmon the year before that and I caught a couple and we ate those. I don't think I have kept any other fish in years of any kind. Hatch steelhead that get bonked go home with whoever was in the front of the boat that day for the most part.

Got a buddie who goes on a 3 week trip from Bellingham up to the Charlots etc and he will bring home 150 lbs or so of salmon. He hords the crap , then in june he will show up and try and pawn that crap off on me.

I don't eat near enough fish! I caught two springers this year and zero summer runs so far, so I haven't had fish in over a month. I'll keep frozen salmon up to two months, although I'm not nearly so fond of it that way. When I get lucky and have more than I can eat in a short time, I give it to my mother who will eat salmon practically every day.

I'm hopin' to eat fresh salmon within the next week or so.

We eat fish at least once a week in the Parker Household. We are fish snobs, in that we'd much rather eat fresh fish over frozen fish.

I'll vac-pack and freeze any fish caught in the salt, or any springer or early summer run.

Pas that, if it's not fresh, I won't keep it or eat it. Sure as heck won't freeze a fall fish or winter steelhead (brat).

I have the remainder of last weeks king in the freezer, a chunk or two of halibut/ling/rockfish left over from May. That's it. Having a BBQ on Saturday that will finish off my salmon supply.

Have a good stash of frozen smoked salmon, but that stuff doesn't go bad.

I don't like giving fish away. Kinda consider that a waste. If I can't eat what I kill, I generally won't kill it.



And I owe you a fish! I was going to give you one of my salmon last year after the charter, but it didn't work out that way. No worries. I never forget. If you're around and I have a fresh fish, it's yours!

Sounds like everybody here has pretty much the same standards. Cool!

We eat salmon and halibut once a week for each. Fresh is best but I keep each vac packed for up to a year. Give about 20% to golfing buddies that don't fish- usually a fillet for a meal for 2-4 depending on the catch size. Periodically we'll have a fish feed if the catch is good- call up people to come over at the spur of the moment, surprising what people will drop for a chance to have a fresh fish diner for free (well almost free- most will bring the wine, etc.) Haven't fished for other than salmon or halibut.

We eat fish at least once a week with out fail. Fresh if available but I still have spring chinook in the freezer if not. We eat as much of it fresh as possible but I don't like to keep fish with out freezing it for more than three days, quaility starts to fade. Most fall fish go home with the whoever is fishing with me but I will keep nice chrome coho. Never buy salmon or order it out either, just can't bring myself to do it. Nothing goes to waste in our house we even bar-b-que the carcass.

That reminds me.... Alot of the time after filleting a fish there is a thin layer of flesh left on the rib cage and along the spine. I'll use a spoon to scrape this out and boil all the meat and give it to my cats, they love it!

I eat fish 2-4 times a week, if I have it. A lot of it goes to friends an family. I smoke up as much as I can.

Usually I do a full filet of salmon, which is more than three of us can eat, so it makes at least two meals, and a fish soup. interspersed with halibut, lings and rockfish, plus clams and oysters and crabs, we probably have some sort of seafood a couple times a week.

Some salmon not eaten the first night frequently goes into patties, soups, or salads.

I smoked whatever trout we don't eat fresh, and smoke several salmon each Fall.

One of my favorites is to make Gravlox, which is done with a mixture of salt, sugar and dill. It is similar to nova lox but not smoked. If I could get my smoker to be cool enough, I'd do nova lox as well. I've used Chinook and ocean bright chums for Gravlox and it makes a real breakfast treat with bagels and creme cheese.

I'd guess that we go through about a 100 pounds of fish per year for three people in out household. Some years a little more.

Vaccuum packing is a necessity for anything that isn't eaten fresh.

I've become a backyard gardener since moving to Monroe and grow nearly all my own produce from late spring until fall. Depending on the timing, there are fresh snap peas, green beans, summer squash, tomatoes,and several kinds of salad greens, all picked just before dinner time.

I forgot to mention that I freeze any salmon I am going to do as Gravlox before processing to kill any parasites.

One of our sons and his girlfriend live in Columbus, Ohio, and both love fresh seafood. Poor kid is always complaining about the lack of salmon, crab and good sushi back there.
So enjoy and know that in Ohio there is someone that is jealous of the things we take for granted. Dumb kid -It's his own fault. I told him he would be jonesin' for seafood but Bill G threw enough $ at him to get him to move!
We're going to see them in October and will take something as fresh as we can back to them.

Chuck--let me know what you need. I'll have more than I need!

Springers and summer runs are eaten as close to immediately as possible...saltwater humpies and winter run brats all go in the smoker within a day or two of harvest.

Coho...if out of the salt, they go on the BBQ, if out of the river, about 75% hit the smoker and the rest get BBQ'd.

I don't keep chums, and usually skip harvesting fall Chinook, too, but if I do keep any fall Chinook, they virtually all go in the smoker.

Squid...eaten fresh and stacked in the freezer like cordwood, too...clams and oysters are eaten the day I catch them, usually, as are crabs.

It's pretty much feast or famine around my house...if you count the smoked stuff, then we have some of my bounty a few times per week...if you count just the fresh stuff, then sometimes it's five days in a row, followed by a week or more with none...

I give a lot of good stuff away...I caught a summer run brat yesterday, and we're heading out of town this afternoon, so we'll be having a late lunch/early dinner of a fillet, and the other one will go to our neighbors for dinner to night.

Smoked fish, of course, is handed out readily when it's in high supply...

Fish on...

Todd

A SHI%LOAD!