Cedar Plank Steelhead

Made it out this past Sunday and was surprised to have the creek to myself all morning. It was t-shirt weather and only saw two other cars in the parking lot. Here are some pics:





Found a decent group of steelhead in the hole above, but other than that they were few and far between. I started out releasing a large dark male right off the bat, pretty close to the parking lot, and then walked a long way before catching a few out of the hole above. This hen put up a nice fight with the warmer temps and immediately shot high out of the water like a rocket after being hooked. She was released to fight another day:





Ended up keeping these 2 smaller fish to experiment on the grill with:





Those fish turned out so good on the grill it was unbelievable! Start with smaller size really fresh steelhead, and follow the processing tips below to a tee. All you guys who think steelhead doesn't taste good will have your yellow ropes out next fall wandering why you didn't figure it out years ago!

I had them filleted and on ice within 1 hour of catching the second fish, then froze the fillets that same day. Kept them frozen for only a few days, and used them immediately on the first day thawed. I believe all of that to be the most important part! Wait longer than the first day thawed to cook steelhead, and they start to get that fishy trout taste. It's because trout, salmon, and steelhead all have high fish oil content.

Anyway I soaked a cedar plank in water all day (bought at walmart for $2 in the grill section), then got the board out and put olive oil on both sides. Pulled the bones out of the fillets with forceps, and cut most of the dark meat off the bottom of the fillet (Second most important part! That dark bloody meat is strong). Then put olive oil and a dry rub on both sides of the fillets:





Put the board on the grill over charcoal at around 300 degrees for about 30 mins. These were pretty thin fillets, especially after cutting the dark meat off the bottom. So adjust the time for the thickness.

When ever I keep a few for canning it's usually when there is snow on the ground so I can gill them, bleed'un and pack them in snow until I'm ready to have them filleted. If there is no snow I'll have a cooler of if to throw them into after I bleed them even if it means seperate trips back to the vehicle for each one. Once I decide to keep them them don't go back into the water. Catch'um, bleed'um and ice'um, now that's a fresh fish. And it's better to have them on the ice rather than soaking in ice water. Just my uneducated opinion-everyone has one.

I didn't bleed those fish and they were still as mild tasting as walleye or perch. Now I did get them processed and on ice immediately after catching, and they were still breathing minutes before filleting though. If they were going to be dead for a half hour or longer before processing then definitely bleed them out.

Bonus: you don't have the slimy illegal immigrant flopping against your leg all day either.

I always do what wally cat said; After I decide to keep one or two I stop fishing right away, and it's a race to get them fully processed and iced as fast as possible. I would never drag a dead fish up and down the creek all day, even if it was bleed out.

by "cut the gills"...stick you finger in one side and out the other and pull hard to dsconnect everything

by "cut the gills"...stick you finger in one side and out the other and pull hard to dsconnect everything

Well you guys seem to swear by bleeding the gills so I'll give it a try next time, even if I am going to fillet the fish right away. You still need to get them processed and on ice as soon as possible though.

Nice cutting board BTW.

That board was hand made in Hawaii out of local eucalyptus, mango, and koa wood. It has another strip of arrows on the bottom side pointing the opposite direction and three wavy lines in the middle. The guy who made it puts about 8 - 10 hours into each one and sells them at a local farmers market.

stick you finger in one side and out the other and pull hard to dsconnect everything

Do you release it after that?

ORIGINAL: RhnstnCowboy

stick you finger in one side and out the other and pull hard to dsconnect everything

Do you release it after that?

Isn't that section 3, of DaGman's guide to trout photgraphy? Of course you release after, it's just to help with the photo.

I tried that finger thing before, and sliced myself pretty good on a bluefish. Might just be that type of fish. After that, I just cut them. Was never sure if the throat slice did anything, but have seen many do it. I try to get the guts out quickly too. Although 90% of the fish that I keep are panfish, and don't seem to make too much of a difference to bleed them.