Kokanee Candy Bars

[Full_Monte]

What do you guys do with the Kokes before you smoke them? How do you clean them? Do you remove the bones? I HATE choking on fish bones!

[Kokehead83]

Ok so
1. Remove hook from fishes mouth Knock fish in head cut gills to bleed fish out.
2. Put fish in plastic bag cover with ice.
3. Go to fish cleaning station If lake doesn’t have one I drain the water out of the cooler and fill with ice for the ride home and process fish at home.
4. Fillet the fish. If you don't know how to do this go to you tube and type in filet a fish there will be numerous links for numerous fish the basics are the same. I will add a good quality sharp knife is key to getting clean fillets. I cut down the back bone then cut or the rib bones. I also descale the Kokanee before I fillet them sometime just run a knife to remove scales I do have a brush that I remove the scales with too.

Ice Ice Ice Ice Ice keeping the fish cold will give you a fresher end product and a firmer flesh when you fillet. After I fillet the fish I will either pack them in a new bag and cover in ice for the ride home or package them how I want and into the fridge, freezer, or cure for smoking they go.


Ben

[Fallriverguy]

I bonk and gill the fish before putting them on ice. I fillet all my fish. Keeping them cool is very important. I also give them a good rinse with cold water before storing them in the refrigerator for eating or smoking.

Some like to fillet them with the rib bones and remove them later, but I like to fillet off the rib bones.


Filleting Kokes (http://www.ifish.net/board/showthread.php?t=116180&highlight=fillet)

[Full_Monte]

Hi Guys!

Thank you very much for the pointers. I'm going to try it!

[DLM]

FGR, tried your fillet system with last weekends catch and it was
Soooooooooooooooooooo easy even a caveman could do it.thumbsup

Thanks for the pictures, they made the entire process very clear.

[Propnut69]

FRG,nice tutorial on filleting kokes.thumbsup

[BlueBack79]

when i smoke kokanee/trout, i am usually using a wet brine. the only thing i do is remove the heads. after brine, let rest for a couple hours to drain/dry. this is when i fire up the smoker to get to temp. i place the whole, unskinned fish in the the smoker. i flip the fish a couple times during the smoking/drying process. when they are done, i peel the skin away and pull the meat from the bones and vacuum seal. comes out bonless and delicious. i posted this pic before, but this is some done the way i described above.