How do "you" smoke your "kokes"

[RODACTION]

Well with the help of many of you guys I caught a few kokanee and want to smoke them, so how do you smoke yours ?

We were able to fish for a couple of hours Saturday, Sunday, and today at Green Peter. We trolled and jigged and got some really nice fish, one really nice chinook too.

Thanks for all who gave tips on how to, as I had really never fish for them before, I get after the salmon and steelhead, but the kokes thing was pretty new to me. We had alot of fun getting the fish and the were super nice.

Now I need to buy some more gear and maybe some new rods :)

Thanks guys,

Ken

It was nice to see Joemomma gettin after them this morning too :wave:

[The Pew]

I head and gut them and but smoke them whole other than that. Any salmon brine you like will work. Put a toothpick in the body cavity to keep it open.

Best smoked fish there is in my opinion.

[fishkisser]

Make up a brine of water, brown sugar, and salt to your tastes. Sometimes I put in a little soy sause but not much. Fillet one side off the fish and just leave the backbone in the other side you won't waste any flesh that way . put the Koke halves in a bowl and cover with your brine (Don't make it too salty) the salt will intensify while smoking . Place bowl in fridge for at least 8 hrs. overnight is fine . When done brining pull out fillets and pat dry, place on smoking racks and let glaze until tacky 30min-1hr. I like mine a little moist but I usually smoke em until the tails just start to curl up.I use alder wood but you could try apple or hickory also. Man my mouth is waterin just thinkin about it ... Better get me a piece outta the fridge ... Good luck on your culinary exploits... Barney:wave::food::meme:

[jzell]

Camerons stove top smoker cooker + 2 fattys = dinner + leafovers.

www.cameronscookware.com

As for traditional smoking in my lil' or big chief smoker....I save that for the large anadromous varieties.

John

[yankemnbankem]

Actually, if I get the time to catch em and smoke um...........

Catch em.
clean em (I actually butterfly fillet all my fish leaving the guts and head intact, no fuss no muss).
Next I put them in the brine.

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup canning salt
1/4 cup molasses
8 cups water

I let them sit in the brine 2-3 days

Take out of brine and rinse off with water and pat dry with a towel.

place on your smoking tray or what have you and sprinkle with pepper or other seasonings you want to add.

let them sit out for 1-2 hours to glaze up and warm to room temp.

Now, stick them in your smoker (mine is a traeger)

I smoke them for about 5 hours. If you have the little or big chief use only two trays of your favorite wood chips. (1 tray every 45 minutes or so.)

When I used the big cheif smoker it seemed it would take about 6-7 hours for kokes.

You can take em out a little early if you want to put a glaze on em. take em out, put on glaze and then slip them in the oven for a little while.


Another little tip - for some delicious canned kokes..... use no brine, smoke em for 2 hours then can them with some jalapeno peppers.

Im no chef boyardee but I do like my smoked koke.

[joemomma]

Hey it was nice to meet ya Ken! Actually you saw the highlight of our day! 6 kokes and a dozen C&R chinook, heard one guy and his wife nailed 23 down by the island and I can verify half of those! The jiggin just didn't work monday to well!

[RODACTION]

Ya, it was nice to see you too, and the jigging thing was not working at all monday. we quit and went to troll.

We went to trolling about 8am and got 8 fish, my cell phone rang at 9:20am, it was my wife. She said, its time to come back to camp now, your done playing :laugh:so I reeled up and headed back to camp, we spent the rest of the day pulling tubes with kids.

I will be back there soon, I really would like to put 4 to 6 rods in the water and see what happens.

[Dullhook]

I like to use basically the same brine mixture as yankemnbankem. If they're bigger fish like Wickiups or Crescents---fillets are good. For the smaller ones like Suttles or Odells---chunks are really good.

Cut the head off and halve them so that part of the body cavity is open on the tail section. This allows the brine to penetrate the fish better. Chunks need to soak longer than fillets. At least 24 hours. Be sure to air dry them for an hour or two before smoking them. This puts a nice glaze on them. Here's a batch of Odell kokes chunked and smoked. When the skin turns golden brown sample a piece for doneness. They're delicious hot! I like a little cayenne pepper sprinkled on them. :food: :cheers:





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