Kokanee taste vs. King Salmon

As I haven't caught a freshwater king salmon yet, I'm wondering what the difference in taste is between a Koke and a King. Anybody? What do you like best?

for me kokes kokes kokes all the way the mudsharks aka kings from lake ontario do not taste as well aa kings from the pacific coast thats for surethumbsup

Learning to fish for salmon and steelhead in the Puget Sound area and now chasing the Kokanee of Flaming Gorge, I much prefer Kokes over both Chinook or Steelhead. The Kokanee I am used to have nice, firm orange fillets and are missing the oily layer of fat just under the skin that the other slamon species have. Maybe it was just a feature of the Northwest but the fat layer really turned me off when it came to taste. I'm not a true fisherman since I really don't care for fishy tasting fish, freshwater or saltwater varieties. Take me to a Skippers and I won't go home hungry.

SMOTW hit the nail on the head for me. I don't like my fish to taste like fish. The Kings definitely have a fishy taste.

Kokes all the way on the taste meter. The kings are more trout like towards a whiter meat but ususally a light rose color. The inland lake Kings just don't have the salmon meat texture or tast like their sea bound equivalents. This is why I am so crazy about Kokes is that they are good eating.

On the issue of fishy tasting for all the fish that I fry up as fillets I always take a spoon and as soon as they are cooked enough you can scrape that brown fat away in one swipe away from the lateral line area or other places if needed. This is where your fishy taste comes from. I do the same on my smoked kokanee as well before freezing any leftovers, It makes a huge difference in eating / tasting quality.

Kevin

I would have to say that a good, fresh spring chinook is hard to beat. The flesh is bright, bright, red and full of flavor. The summer chinook which are bigger, tend to have the pink color flesh, and not a lot of flavor. Here are some examples of the fine specimens..

Way to go RibOwner! Thanks for making me homesick for the GREAT Northwest. Are the pictures from the Sound or out on the Pacific? Either way, GREAT PICS!

RibOwner said:

I would have to say that a good, fresh spring chinook is hard to beat. The flesh is bright, bright, red and full of flavor. The summer chinook which are bigger, tend to have the pink color flesh, and not a lot of flavor. Here are some examples of the fine specimens..

Click to expand...

Definitely there is a huge difference between a Lake King and normal sea returning King. My comparison was about Lake Kings. If it was an ocean based King I definitely prefer that over Kokanee, even the river based ones.

Kevin