I would of never guessed the world record coho came from New York. Learn something new every day

I fished the Alagnak twice in the 80's, and will attest to the aggressiveness and quality eating of those chums. Dragging plugs for kings or sticking bright chums on a swung fly nearly every cast...the concensus of the crew each trip was that the chums were just plain more fun.

I still cannot belive how aggressive those Alagnak chums are...I had my 80 year old dad and uncle with me knee deep out on one of the bars, and while taking a break to tie on a new fly for Dad, I had the bright idea of stuffin the butt of my fly rod down my waders, reel handle firmly nestled next to Billy and Bob, with ten feet of line and my Popsicle fly dragging below me. You can see where this is going...one of those bright chums slammed my fly and stripped off about 50 feet of line before I could wrestle the rod but out of my waders. This was exceedingly funny to my Dad and uncle, though Billy and Bob were a bit less amused!

I brought a box of Alagnak chums back each year and we enjoyed them both smoked and grilled. Quite mild compared to their cousins. Conversely, I kept a bright chum from Chico a while back which I tried grilling...just plain awful!

Alright, point is, they are a great fighting fish but not going to get to 50lbs.

Those slimy, snagle toothed, rotten, zombie fish. They tear the hell outa my gear when im trying to get a winter run. When there is nothing going on they do save some days from catching nuthing but the bottom. I too have caught chrome coastal chum, tried eating one once and the meat was pinkish. I'll stick to steelhead and coho.

Zombie fish also provide alot of food for baby salmon and steelhead, another reason to have fun with and release em.

What, you mean like this one?




Chrome black... not a hint of white on the belly.... and hanging long-tailed sea-lice. Go figure!

Found this recipe on WDFW. Just imagining that dark chum cut up and thrown in a chowder makes my mouth water.

Chum Chowder

Printable version
We refer to this recipe as "Chum Chowder" due to the fact that it looks very similar to a thick clam chowder. Two variations that work well are to add a small amount of smoked chum to give it a little smoke flavor, or to add some bay scallops or fresh prawns to enhance the chum.

Ingredients:
2 lbs chum salmon
6 slices bacon
1 medium onion (½ cup chopped)
2 shallots (1 tbsp, chopped)
1 ½ cups white wine
1 ½ cups water
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp dried thyme, crushed
1 stalk celery, quartered
2 cloves garlic halved
4 sprigs parsley
2 whole cloves
3 tbsp all purpose flour
3 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
½ cup light cream


Preparation:

Clean, fillet, and remove skin. Cut fish into bite-sized pieces.

Cooking:

Cook bacon in 4 ½ quart dutch oven. Drain, reserve 2 tbsp drippings. Crush bacon and set aside. Cook onion and shallots in reserved bacon drippings until tender. Remove from heat. Add wine, water, salt, and thyme. Tie celery, garlic, parsley, and whole cloves in a cheesecloth bag and add to pan. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove cheesecloth bag. Add fish to dutch oven. Cover and cook gently about 8-10 minutes or until fish flakes when tested with a fork. Blend flour and softened butter or margarine to a smooth paste. Stir into simmering liquid. Stir in cream. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Season to taste, and sprinkle bacon over top before serving.

Old snagglepuss.

And the recipe....melts in your mouth because it's rotting flesh!

I'd like to see someone pipe in about the Indian lore regarding the mighty chum. A certain river near where I live has a great run of bright chums that can be eaten grilled or smoked. Those who I have shared with have never complained about the quality of the fish.
Beeeeeee

stlhead,

Only if you cook the rotten ones...

I only keep early season bright or nearly bright fish caught in salt water, bled, gutted, gilled and iced upon landing.

Smoked chum fettuccini and chowder are fine mid-winter meals when the fresh silvers are but a memory.

Chum katzu (skinned pieces fried in panko crust and served with a tangy tempura sauce over rice) is great. In fact, my Japaneese neighbor is amazed that we don't target bright chum and is always happy when I bring him a fish or two.

Yes, if you keep the upriver chum boots with the skin falling off, you will be eating rotten crap. Then again the same is true of up river silver and king boots...

Come to think of it, I take it all back. They are a pain to fight and taste like poo. Stay home and do NOT catch those stinky fish .

Back in the ol college days I whacked a chrome bright chum out of Whatcom Creek and cooked it up for the roomates...they loved it!

I'll take my frozen Kings and Silvers over your fresh chum any day. But you enjoy. People who regularly keep Chum are saying "hey, look at me....I'm not a good fisherman so I have to settle for this". Here come the snob comments again...

If you have a freezer full of silvers this year, my hat's off to you, you are a better fisherman than I

In response to the guy who posted the link to recipes,and I quote,"Chum are not highly regarded as table fare in BC and yet I would not hesitate serving this fish to guests."

Yeah me neither,especially if they were in laws Now that's some funny chit. I would fish for chums,just not sure if I would let anyone I knoe see me do it.-Jim