I spent few days with my brother in law's cabin at Hume Lake and one afternoon, he announced that he was going to the lake to get a couple of trout for dinner. Well by God he did it and pan fried two 10" Rainbows, which along with some crispy fried garlic potatoes was the best meal that I have had in a good while. It got me to wonder if there was one trout species that was better to eat than the others. The best trout that I ever had were some small Cutthroats from a Beaver pond at the top of Emigration Canyon, out of Salt Lake City. ( it's an absolutely evil place to get to, on private property, so I'm not worried about blowing it up ). The flesh was as red as King Salmon and beyond delicious. I was told by my host that the fish had a diet full of scuds, and this was the secret to their color. How about you guys? Do you favor one type of trout over another?
Which trout would you prefer to eat
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ln m;y favorite little put and take lake I catch brookies, cuts, browns and rainbows. The brookies are best, the cuts good but the browns and rainbows I leave in the lake. The taste just isn't as good. Nothing better than fresh steelhead though.
The below summary of different trout characteristics was published in 1957 by a well-known angling author.
From the only stream I ever harvest fish from, the browns are clearly a better tasting fish than the rainbows. Both are wild, but the browns have much firmer, orange flesh, while the bows seem much mushier with white flesh. Just one sample, but that’s all I got.
From the only stream I ever harvest fish from, the browns are clearly a better tasting fish than the rainbows. Both are wild, but the browns have much firmer, orange flesh, while the bows seem much mushier with white flesh. Just one sample, but that’s all I got.
I probably haven't eaten a trout in about 40 years but in 1966 had what I called the "Thousand Trout Summer". Living at 10,400' and climbing to about 11,500 every day to work in a mine kept me in the Sierra back county all summer long, adjacent to a beautiful trout stream and amidst a variety of glacial lakes. Trout were everywhere and were the primary protein source at that elevation. I pretty much lived on trout and Wyler's lemonade from June to late October. Probably the reason I no longer eat trout.
But by far the favorite was brook trout. The rainbows were just ok but not preferred and the goldens were the worst of all. I caught few Brown's that summer and don't recall them being very good table fare. Most were caught above 8,000' so the water quality was uniformly good across the whole range from north of Yosemite to south of the golden trout wilderness area. I remember one golden lake above 11,000 that had shrimp as the primary food source and the fish were just stunningly beautiful. Bright red flesh but just oily as hell and not worth the effort it took to clean them. But even stream goldens taken in icy streams were not good and I soon learned to avoid them.
The key to keeping fish in the backcountry with no refrigeration was to kill and clean them immediately and put them in a canvas creel lined with wet grass. Even on an 80 degree day this would keep fish fresh and crisp until camp was reached at the end of the day. I haven't seen a canvas creel in decades. Or needed one
But by far the favorite was brook trout. The rainbows were just ok but not preferred and the goldens were the worst of all. I caught few Brown's that summer and don't recall them being very good table fare. Most were caught above 8,000' so the water quality was uniformly good across the whole range from north of Yosemite to south of the golden trout wilderness area. I remember one golden lake above 11,000 that had shrimp as the primary food source and the fish were just stunningly beautiful. Bright red flesh but just oily as hell and not worth the effort it took to clean them. But even stream goldens taken in icy streams were not good and I soon learned to avoid them.
The key to keeping fish in the backcountry with no refrigeration was to kill and clean them immediately and put them in a canvas creel lined with wet grass. Even on an 80 degree day this would keep fish fresh and crisp until camp was reached at the end of the day. I haven't seen a canvas creel in decades. Or needed one
Brookies out of the Unitas in Utah are the best I have eaten . It's been years ,but I'd bring home a few. My father-in-law loved them ,he'd disown me if I didn't 
. My mother-in-law would simply fry them in bacon grease with just some salt ,and pepper. Didn't get any better .
. My mother-in-law would simply fry them in bacon grease with just some salt ,and pepper. Didn't get any better .So many variables go into eating quality for fish! Water quality, pH, food sources, handling, etc etc. I’m not sure you could ever come up with an answer. The worst I ever tried were river browns from a lowland river, which tasted of nothing but mud. But then some of the best were also browns, from an acidic highland loch, fried in butter and garlic on the shore for lunch! Actually, shore lunch is probably the only way I would eat trout these days. Fried in butter, with a good pinch of salt and some garlic and pepper. Accompanied either with fried potatoes or a couple of slices of good sourdough bread…..
IMO the more simple you make it when cooking them works the best ,considering as you say they are out of the right water . I kept a couple smaller rainbows out of Wade lake in Montana years ago , and were the worst trout I have ever eaten ,for whatever reason . They were cleaned ,and eaten not long after catching .
All of 'em are some fine eatin' if you slather 'em in butter, wrap in bacon, aluminum foil and bake on a slowly dying bed of campfire coals until done, smoke a blunt.....then carefully unwrap the foil, throw away the trout, and eat the bacon (with a side of Doritos).
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I've been tempted to try one as they have to be delicious but I'm afraid I will be struck by lightning...
My favorite trout to eat are brook trout. Then wild cutthroat followed by wild rainbow trout.
Bambooflyguy
Legend
Even these red colored winter caught rainbows tasted like the soy sauce added for any flavor to choke down…..
I caught and ate some 12” SRC’s in the early ‘90’s outa the Satsop. Beautiful fish, wonderful flavor. I killed and ate a couple of pan sized brookies in 2021 in the Wind River range, fried spuds and 2eggs….breakfast of champions. Dugan shared. Other than that no, I generally c&r.
I did smoke a lake trout about 15 years ago, hard to light, didn’t draw very well.
I did smoke a lake trout about 15 years ago, hard to light, didn’t draw very well.
I don’t eat many trout but two favorites from back in the day are sea run Dollys in Alaska and some high desert California reservoirs trout whose flesh looked like Kenai Sockeyes.