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white meat salmon?

59K views 36 replies 29 participants last post by  Quasimodo the fish killer 
#1 ·
thanks for the great feedback :cheers: . My buddy asked me to smoke this fish for him and it is currently cooking away. I cant believe that I have never encountered this situation before. I will be sure to pass on this information to him as he is still web challanged. I just told him that the fish spent time near a nuclear plant :grin: haha
 
#2 ·
I first heard of the White King salmon when I lived in Petersburg Alaska in 1975. You could order it off the menue in restaurants. It was highly prized and very delicious. Also very rare,something like one in a thousand. Also very expensive.


free
 
#4 ·
Crazy

I too have seen this in Tillamook and a couple times on the Nestucca. A few years ago I caught a white springer on the Trask. The only real way to tell a white king from a Tule or other fish that has lost its coloring is the fat layers in the meat. The Springer I caught was super fat and oily. I caught a chrome buck a couple years ago on the Nestucca and was shocked to see white filets. Then I noticed all the fat and the client said it was one of the best fish he ever caught. But I also have seen many white meated Chromers (especially on low water years), so look for that fat layers and firm meet.
 
#5 ·
the meat was definatly firm and there was a layer of fat as well. I didnt even think to consider the fat thing
but it makes sense. Thanks for the insight
 
#6 ·
Took me a while to find the disk

These were from a river in Northern BC

About half of the fish were white meated and half were red meated



No matter what the outside of the fish looked like. In talking to locals, they didn't think there were "white salmon" tributaries per say. I wonder if they only spawn with their own kind, or genetics. There seemed to be no difference in the stomach contents (not much in the river)

I will say we ate both. Tasted similar but me and my family prefered the reds. We cooked some side by side and did a taste test.

20 years ago, the commercial guys in the area could only get 1/2 of the price per pound, now since restarants advertise "Ivory Salmon" they get half again more.

I prefer the reds. It's all marketing.

As far as Tillamook this time of year. If it was "pale" (aka Wilson River pale)meaning the color gets lighter between front of fillet and rear, it's just a bright fish with pale meat and not great to eat IMO. Notice in these pics the "White Salmon" doesn't change shade front to back of the fillet. They are true White Salmon.

Many of the "chromers" we caught in the past few weeks cut awfully pale.
 
#7 ·
This may be a November fish phenomenon. Last year was one of the first I did any real fishing in November, due the late rains like this year. My neighbor and I caught several fish, and tagged four chromers, even with sea-lice. When we filleted them, we got quite a surprise. Even though the fish looked great, the meat was turning. As mentioned before, the shade changed from head to tail. They smoked up well, but not the type of thing you brag about. The sea lice just indicate the fish has not been in fresh water long. Even though the fish have been hanging around in tidewater/ocean, they are still aging, hence the pale meat.
 
#9 ·
I saw many "White Springs" (as they are commonly called in Canada) a few weeks ago when I was in BC. The Fraser River white springs are originally stock from the Harrison River (a tributary), which were planted in many Fraser Tributaries. I talked to a few people and also hatchery biologists up in BC when I was there. The white color is from a different genetic makeup, thats all. The gene for red meat is in the 'normal' strain of salmon, but these white springs are different. That is the only difference and many people up in BC said they actually liked the white springs better for smoking. I would imagine these white springs were planted in other rivers as well (maybe some WA rivers??) and thats why the odd one shows up every once in a while.
 
#12 ·
As far as the Tillamook area goes, the later in the season chinook return, the lower in the river they seem to spawn ( I am sure a biologist may disagree with me on this ).

As for any salmon, the farther they have to travel, the less fat they have stored. The Tillamook area fall fish don't have a long way to go in the first place. The Springer's in the Tillamook area don't have to travel any farther, but wait until the fall to spawn, thus the richer flavor and the larger fat reserve.

As far as your white meated Tillamook fish, it's probably a N.F. of the Wilson fish. They hit fresh water and spawn quickly. There's nothing wrong with it. I have caught fish on the Wilson in late November and December that were crome, ( the Trask and Kilchis also ) but had already spawned. Only the fish on the Wilson were allready spawned. But the Trask and Kilchis fish had the pale white meat you are refering to.

[ 11-18-2003, 07:47 PM: Message edited by: rebell ]
 
#13 ·
There was an article a while back in the New York Times. It referred to the white meated kings as Ivory Kings and that they had a light nutty flavor, remenicent of chilean sea bass. Now with all that said, they can and do charge a lot more for it. :mad: A friend of mine ordered some white king salmon at the Metropolitan Grill in Seattle :shocked: . I asked her if it had a flavor yada yada yada of chilean sea bass. She rolled it around a while and said, "Yes, it does." :grin: Can't prove it by me though. I've never eaten any chilean sea bass........ :rolleyes:
 
#15 ·
I know...you are probably thinking what I was thinking when I first heard about it :hoboy: . Here is a little background on the question. A buddy of mine caught a 25 pound chrome buck out of the ghost hole about a week ago. When he cut into the fish he found that the meat was white or pale looking :shrug: . It was firm and the fish even had sea lice. Since then I have been talking to a few people and I keep hearing these stories about a white meat salmon. The theories on this phenom seem to vary but the theme of hatchery and native mix keeps popping up. Does anyone out there have any additional information on this?

Call me curious!
 
#20 ·
My brother is a wildlife biologist and he catches these fish often on the north end of Vancouver Is.. He did some research ,, what I was told was that these fish were the prized fish for its white meat before canned tuna became the big thing. He also claims that they are bait fish eaters and that is why the lack of red or color in the meat. The white Salmon river is named after this run of fish ,,, and that river was famous for the white salmon before the dam went in.The dam killed that run . This all I know.
Oh ,, and he says that they smoke up fantastic. More like kippered herring flavor. id. painter
 
#23 ·
Russ is right about the BC white kings. They don't have the genes to store carotenoid pigments in their flesh, though their diets may be the same as a red fleshed salmon. Now if it's caught here and is of varied color. Brighter in the front, paler in the tail. It is simply a fish past it's prime.
 
#25 ·
Personally - I think all sides of this are correct. They can be white from Genetic makeup (regardless of diet) as the Frazier run. They can be white from diet. They can also be white (although I've never seen a really white one- but have seen very pale orange) from being a little to ripe into spawning season.

Everybody wins- Send Jennie your address and she'll send us all a nice gift! I'll take some of those pliers Jennie! :grin: :wink:
 
#26 ·
The reason the farmed fish used to have white flesh was the fact that there were no carotenoids in the pellets they were fed. Pellets now have carotenoids and farmed fish now have red meat. I don't think there are many wild fish that have a complete absence of carotenoids in their diet. Some just don't have the ability to store them in their flesh.

PS. there are plenty of carotenoid bearing invertebrates in fresh water :wink:

[ 11-19-2003, 02:45 PM: Message edited by: Ramstrong ]
 
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