Is it worth eating river pinks?
- Thread starter Josh
- Start date
fishbadger
Smolt
No.
But if properly manipulated they do turn into halibut!
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But if properly manipulated they do turn into halibut!
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Wow, I guess I'm not such a fish snob after all. When I ate Skagit pink salmon 30 years ago - wow, time flies! - it was BBQed same as I do other salmon, with some alder added to the coals. It's not Columbia River spring Chinook, or even URB, or Fraser sockeye, but it was decent table fare. I might even eat one again some day, just to prove my point.
speedbird
Life of the Party
The two I tried both tasted muddy and strange, the first was a chrome hen that cut white, the second a chrome buck that cut red, and still cooked up with a strong fishy taste. Neither were inedible, but they didn't really taste like salmon. I actually really enjoy eating panfried salt fresh pinks, they taste pleasantly trouty
The few pinks that I've kept haven't been great or even that good in my opinion. I prefer to catch fish that I'll eat at the grocery store or specialty fish market. Now a bright salmon, not pinks or chum, out of the salt and that's a different story. Rock fish and ling cod, yum, and if legal I would consider keeping. Halibut, the right size, in the 30 to 40 lb range, hell yeah! But I love tuna, ahi and yellowfin, mahi mahi and many others! Sushi grade or fresh caught! Damn, I'm hungry now...
Pink Nighty
Legend
You can totally eat pinks, just high grade in the rivers until you find one that looks good. Trust your eyes, if it looks tasty treat it well and it will be.
G_Smolt
Legend
Like many, I believe the highest and best use of pink salmon is to make other, tastier seafood.
But if your kid is dead-set, the synthesis of positive thread responses jibes well with my personal and (former) seafood professional opinion -
Males eat better than females. Thicker belly walls, less fat/lipid (aka tasty stuff) going to gamete production.
Closer to saltwater, the better.
More chrome/less hump > Less chrome/more hump.
Be prepared. Have a cooler with ice handy...not back at the car, not at home, but very near. Select your eater, dispatch via stunning (Driftwood shampoo is my preferred method), then cut gills to bleed while the heart is still doing heart things. Put the fish on a tether in the water to facilitate bleed-out.
When bled, gut/gill/bloodline the fish and rinse. Place in cooler immediately. I personally like slush ice for fish I'm going to eat - less chance of tissue freeze, also keeps the fish nice n clean.
Allow the fish to go through rigor mortis and slack out before fileting - handling or bending the fish during rig can cause gaping and spine bleeding, and fileting before rig leads to massive moisture loss as the frame less flesh contracts and expels fluid.
When a pink starts to come out of rig (starts slacking), the clock also starts ticking on the quality - pinks have an enzyme that starts breaking down their flesh soon after rig, and thermal processing is the only way to halt that reaction. After about 48hrs post-rig the meat will be noticeably softer and smooshier. Plan accordingly.
When ready to eat, go ahead and season/cook it how you you would normally cook anybait product fine seafood.
But if your kid is dead-set, the synthesis of positive thread responses jibes well with my personal and (former) seafood professional opinion -
Males eat better than females. Thicker belly walls, less fat/lipid (aka tasty stuff) going to gamete production.
Closer to saltwater, the better.
More chrome/less hump > Less chrome/more hump.
Be prepared. Have a cooler with ice handy...not back at the car, not at home, but very near. Select your eater, dispatch via stunning (Driftwood shampoo is my preferred method), then cut gills to bleed while the heart is still doing heart things. Put the fish on a tether in the water to facilitate bleed-out.
When bled, gut/gill/bloodline the fish and rinse. Place in cooler immediately. I personally like slush ice for fish I'm going to eat - less chance of tissue freeze, also keeps the fish nice n clean.
Allow the fish to go through rigor mortis and slack out before fileting - handling or bending the fish during rig can cause gaping and spine bleeding, and fileting before rig leads to massive moisture loss as the frame less flesh contracts and expels fluid.
When a pink starts to come out of rig (starts slacking), the clock also starts ticking on the quality - pinks have an enzyme that starts breaking down their flesh soon after rig, and thermal processing is the only way to halt that reaction. After about 48hrs post-rig the meat will be noticeably softer and smooshier. Plan accordingly.
When ready to eat, go ahead and season/cook it how you you would normally cook any
You need to befriend better cooks.
Been a while since I've had it, but I've eaten many, many pinks any which way you can imagine. Like most salmon, it can be very easily overcooked. Probably more easily because the fillets aren't super thick. ANY overcooked salmon is not good salmon, and pinks are no exception. I'd call it less firm than others, but certainly not mushy if a fresh fish and prepared correctly.
I had many delicious meals with pink salmon back in the day. I'd even call them one of the better options for smoking. But they're just fine on the grill, cast iron, etc so long as it's fresh and properly taken care of. Once it hits the freezer, stick to smoking or canning. It for whatever reason does not hold up to freezing and thawing at all.
I have two freezers in my garage that hold my fish meat catches. They are typically full of albacore, halibut, lingcod, Columbia River fall and spring chinook, Columbia and Oregon Coast coho, and Alaskan Sockeye that I catch throughout the year. So I'd say my standards aren't out of whack
Pinks are the mildest tasting of all 5 west coast salmon species and readliy take on whatever flavours they are cooked with. Dime bright is key. IMO, great fresh on the BBQ.....Also take smoking well.
Pinks tend to be taken for granted due to their abundance, but also, pound for pound, can be good scrappers on med-light tackle.
Pinks tend to be taken for granted due to their abundance, but also, pound for pound, can be good scrappers on med-light tackle.
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speedbird
Life of the Party
I would argue they are more fun compared to similar sized coho they are a little bit harder fighting, but they do a different style of fight. Last pink run I noticed the silvers tended to either bog down or make one long run before coming in, while the pinks would keep it interesting with lots of headshakes. I've lost more pinks than any of the other species thanks to their soft mouths too
I've caught a LOT of both, and some very large coho at that. I still to this day say the pound-for-pound, pinks are the hardest fighting salmon. They just plain run, and fast.
Chinook: Bull dog. Strong AF.
Coho: A strong shake, rattle and roll. Typically minimal running unless it's shallow.
Sockeye: Similar to a coho, but a bit more speed.
Chum: Brute force and pure hatred. Typically tire out pretty quick, though.
Pinks: They'll run down and out for a long ways, come back a bit, then do it again and again. Typically the same amount of fight and power as other salmon 2-3x their size.
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One trip I took with my friend: we fished from the boat off the west side of Whidbey, casting flies to long schools of porpoising pinks. Caught my biggest ever pink that day and I wish I still had a photo of it. Easily 10lbs (and I'm not one of those that overestimates the size of my fish). Most the fish we caught that day were in that typical 3lb class, and laid down next to the others in my 4 fish limit, it was at least or more than half the mass of the other 3 combined.
I still remember that battle on the 6wt to this day.
G_Smolt
Legend
One of the rivers I've guided for decades has an early component made up of (comparatively) huge males. 7-8 lbs is pretty average, and I've caught and seen a couple low-teens fish over the years.
The early July action in the saltwater at the river mouth can be downright silly, and having several guests simultaneously into their backing on hot fish is pretty common.
For the person who fishes 10-15 times a year and isn't a snob, salty humpies are awesome.
Pic from...13?14? years ago at said beach...#humpiespaythebills
The early July action in the saltwater at the river mouth can be downright silly, and having several guests simultaneously into their backing on hot fish is pretty common.
For the person who fishes 10-15 times a year and isn't a snob, salty humpies are awesome.
Pic from...13?14? years ago at said beach...#humpiespaythebills
They can be pretty rad for someone who fishes a little (or even a lot) more than that, too. Some of us have to take our opportunity where we get it.
If that's the old 40+ floater on that reel...wish mine hadn't crapped out (coating came loose from the core). That line was great at tossing heavy jiggy pink things on a longish leader in the salt and estuary.
G_Smolt
Legend
The line is an Echo SOLO wf floater...RIP. Super-bitchin' flystring for less than 30 bucks, gone the way of the Buffalo.
Sorry for the thread drift, now back to eating pinks...
Congratulations. That's a nice fish. If you don't mind my asking who does that guide work for? She is kind of a cutie.
G_Smolt
Legend
She is married to a fella who owns a flyshop in Wyoming, they used to come up once a year and fish with me.
Nice attempt, tho
Remind me not to tell you a joke on Saturday night. Wouldn't want you to laugh in church on Sunday morning.She is married to a fella who owns a flyshop in Wyoming, they used to come up once a year and fish with me.
Nice attempt, tho