July salmon trip to Lk Michigan

dcso3009

Heading back to Bailey's Harbor WI in July. We usually do well there, with many big fish above the 20lb mark. This trip will be for 3 of us for 3 days. Last year was 2 days and only 2 of us. Came home with over 100lbs of fillets! Good eating there! Great for the smoker too.

I'll put up some pictures after the trip.

317wc

That should be a blast for you. I love smoking salmon, when I lived in AK I had access to literally hundreds of pounds of red salmon, smoked and canned so much, it was great. I actually came across a new brine recipe today,

Alaska Distillery Honey Smoked Salmon

1 salmon filet
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup non-iodized salt
1 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup Alaska Distillery Honey Vodka
1 cup water
1/2 tsp. onion salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder.


Mix together. Soak boned and skinless fillets overnight in fridge.
Remove salmon filets and pat dry with paper towels.

Load up smoker with largest pieces on the bottom and smoked with alder chips.

I've always used a 5-1 ratio blend of Johnnys Seasoning Salt and Sugar in the Raw. Worked well with some just about spawned out steelhead this spring also.

dcso3009

That is a dressed up version of how I do mine.
1 gallon water
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce

Brine skinless fillets for 10 hours. Remove from brine and put in frige for 2 hours. I like cherry wood to smoke my fish. Nice mild and sweet smoke.

I find this to make for a very firm chunk of finished product. I prefer it this way, rather than soft.

dcso3009

I wish I had a better report:

Worst fishing we have had ever! In 3 days we managed only 2 kings and a rainbow. No one was really on the fish, and there was no real pattern to what did work.
The water was too cold, and too much bait there for the fish to eat. We could see the baitfish on the surface, and electronics showed them down to 50FOW. Large 100 yard schools that would obscure anything else on the sonar.
Oh well. It was nice weather and I have never seen that lake that flat for more than a few hours, let alone 3 days.

Don's Rainbow
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Dave on the rod
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Dave's King
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My King
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Marc1301

A bad day fishing is still better than a good day working![8D]
I love salmon, but alas,......we don't have them in these parts.