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[milo]

Yesterday I crossed over to the dark side and got to feed the fish some roe. They were so thankful that a good number of them decided to come home with me.



Now the interesting part. As I was dressing the fish into nice fillets and other cuts, I made it a point to sample every fish. I cut a slice off the front and the back of every fillet, and fried it with only butter, veggy salt and pepper.
The top fish, a picture perfect doe, had the mushiest and most unpleasant tasting meat you can imagine. Even while cutting it, it was clear that it was not exactly top table fare. It will take a lot of culinary creativity to make that fish taste good. I think the smoker is its only hope.
On the other hand, the large dark male, second from top, had the most sensational texture, colour and flavour of all four fish. It looked and tasted better than the smaller, chrome male. They will both make fine BBQ material.
Finally the bottom doe: although much better tasting than the top one, it still couldn't match the texture and flavour of the males.

I said it before, but now I am 100% sure:
- male migrating salmon taste better than females
- the taste of a salmon does not always match its external appearance.

Although all the fish were similarly handled (fully bled upon catching, kept on wet grass while fishing and put on ice within a few hours of killing them), there seem to be too many variables.

[Sandman]

Perhaps the jaundice of that top male contributed to the "sensual" taste.  The female I brought home today had the firmest and orangest of meat I have seen in a while and I am looking forward to baking her tonight.

[TheFishingLad]

Got the twin of your top doe today on the tidal fraser and when filleting it it was soft and mushy. Rather unfortunate.

[Suther]

Does the tail section on that top fish look a funny color, or is that just reflection from the white bin?

[Fish Assassin]

What about the second fish ?

[milo]

Perhaps the jaundice of that top male contributed to the "sensual" taste.  The female I brought home today had the firmest and orangest of meat I have seen in a while and I am looking forward to baking her tonight.

Oh, I know. I have run into fine tasting female coho myself. Just not that often, and they were usually quite immature.

Does the tail section on that top fish look a funny color, or is that just reflection from the white bin?

Just a reflection. That fish was picture perfect, yet poorest tasting.

What about the second fish ?

If you are referring to the dark male, it was the best tasting fish, with flesh colour redder than that of a sockeye.

[firstlight]

I kept one hatchery Coho so far this year and it was probably one of the nicest Coho I have caught amd kept.
It was a true chromer with the whitest of bellys and was a buck.
Couldnt wait to have a piece of it that night when I got home and was very disappointed in it.

It had that muddy taste that Trout in Interior lakes sometimes get.
Have never experienced this before and will smoke the rest of that fish because of it.

So I guess you never know.

[bunnta]

I too notice this as well, this year for some reason the coho's meat are very mushy. After filleting many spring, pink and then coho i was puzzle how come the meat was mushy, not sure if this was normal for a coho as it was my first time filleting them. Used to let my mother do it and she said last year they weren't mushy. Now the jack coho meat are speculator, i love jack meat hands down over bigger ones

[Long_Cast]

The second coho from the top has very dark red meat which is a very good!

[Sandman]

Just as I thought, this doe tasted scrumptious, baked with a little butter and lemon spice.

[StillAqua]

Now the interesting part. As I was dressing the fish into nice fillets and other cuts, I made it a point to sample every fish. I cut a slice off the front and the back of every fillet, and fried it with only butter, veggy salt and pepper.
The top fish, a picture perfect doe, had the mushiest and most unpleasant tasting meat you can imagine. Even while cutting it, it was clear that it was not exactly top table fare. It will take a lot of culinary creativity to make that fish taste good. I think the smoker is its only hope.
On the other hand, the large dark male, second from top, had the most sensational texture, colour and flavour of all four fish. It looked and tasted better than the smaller, chrome male. They will both make fine BBQ material.
Finally the bottom doe: although much better tasting than the top one, it still couldn't match the texture and flavour of the males.

I said it before, but now I am 100% sure:
- male migrating salmon taste better than females
- the taste of a salmon does not always match its external appearance.

Although all the fish were similarly handled (fully bled upon catching, kept on wet grass while fishing and put on ice within a few hours of killing them), there seem to be too many variables.

Interesting Milo. I agree about females.....they seem to put a lot of energy into producing their eggs that affects the quality of the meat. Certainly affects the oil content and flavour of the meat.

Any correlation with the order they were caught in? I've become a believer in quick chilling to ice temperatures immediately after bleeding and dressing...so much so that I always carry small freezer packs I can stuff in the belly and insulating wrap to keep it as cold as possible. But I haven't tried your type of experiment yet.

One other thing I do now is quick brine my river salmon, even if I'm just pan frying or oven roasting, to dehydrate them a bit first. Apparently they take on a lot of water when they enter freshwater from the sea and get soft. Seems to help with the mushiness.

[Spawn Sack]

For some reason I always thought does were the way to go. Perhaps this holds more true for pinks and chum.

I will confirm what others have said about some doe coho caught lately. In the last couple weeks at least 4-5 of the chrome coho females I have brought home have had very dissapointing meat. One yesterday was a chrome bullet but when on the filleting board at home the meat was pale pink and look like chum!

Every chrome male I have kept has had beautiful rich red meat. And yes I always bleed immediately and gut shortly after. All fish were caught on the Vedder.

[gmachine19]

For some reason I always thought does were the way to go. Perhaps this holds more true for pinks and chum.

I will confirm what others have said about some doe coho caught lately. In the last couple weeks at least 4-5 of the chrome coho females I have brought home have had very dissapointing meat. One yesterday was a chrome bullet but when on the filleting board at home the meat was pale pink and look like chum!

Every chrome male I have kept has had beautiful rich red meat. And yes I always bleed immediately and gut shortly after. All fish were caught on the Vedder.

I find that bucks are better table fare for all salmon

[DAWGMAN]

Found that i smoked a few coho this year and they all turned mushy. They were in the smoker for 8-10 hrs. I used a wet brine, maybe a dry brine would be better? Soke rainbow trout the same way and they turn out awesome, Any help for mushy coho ….thanks

[Fisherama]

Found that i smoked a few coho this year and they all turned mushy. They were in the smoker for 8-10 hrs. I used a wet brine, maybe a dry brine would be better? Soke rainbow trout the same way and they turn out awesome, Any help for mushy coho ….thanks

I'm far from an expert on this matter, but perhaps try brining longer to remove the moisture (~8hrs) and smoking for a shorter amount of time (2hrs at low heat).  Once all the moisture is out, cooking time decreases significantly.  Also, try removing the skin if you haven't been doing this.  Good luck.