Canal Trout

[Bucho]

After a fruitless morning of trolling wobbler flies anlong the bank of the Kiel Canal, I grabbed some lunch and returned with inline-casting jigs. Appearently the better choice for today:

21", 3,5lbs



The glow pink pp doesn´t look much like a match, but the blue scale holo tape came pretty close to this summers´s roach fry:



Noticed several other, smaller fish that didn´t take so a rigged a dropper fly that got me another one at 16,5"

 

[plateboater]

nice!

 

[hookup]

Nice trout.

Spent some time fishing the Rhein river & some of the tribs back when Dad was stationed in Ashaffenburg & Kaiserslautern.

 

[Jig Man]

:icon14::icon14:

 

[Hawnjigs]

Wow, thats a fattie. How did you cook it?

 

[LedHed]

Man - you always have cool fishing reports..

 

[Bucho]

Thanks everybody!

@ hookup: Any trout there? fishing for browns in large rivers and canals is totally underrated here in Germany. Folks drive hundreds of miles, crowding out the shores of the baltic sea while just a few hundred meters inland, excellent trout marks like the canal remain deserted. Its really weired.

@ hawn: I just finished the large cold smoked trout i caught 3 weeks ago, so this one will be cured "graved lax" style for a change. Its in the freezer right now to kill off eventual bugs and make it easier to pull the bones. The small one is already in brine, curing for the hot smoke. Just got myself one of these small "table plate" smokers and tried them last week on another small trout, works a treat!

 

[Hawnjigs]

Bucho, thanks, had to look up "gravlax" and its a Scandinavian raw fish dish. I'm learning that many cultures have a favored method of preparation.

I like the idea of a "table plate" smoker but couldn't find one available thru USA Google.

 

[hookup]

I like that little table smoker.

I have one of these on the deck & it does trout & salmon well. Runs on propane. I do allot of gerauchte schwein (did I say that right?).



Most of the trout I got in Germany were from small mountain streams in Bavaria & the Schwarzwalt. The rest were stocked trout from the rod n gun club. The lakes had some pike in them, but I only fished nightcrawlers back in the day and the pike would just as well have small minnows or trout - which we weren't allowed to fish.

I trout fish now in the High Sierra mountain area of California whenever I'm back west visiting Dad. I live in the Washington DC area and chase mostly small mouth bass from rivers. I wont eat anything from the local waters because of water quality issues, but when I head north to upstate PA or New York, I will eat walleye. Honestly like the 'eye way better than any salmonoid I've ever caught.

What is "graved lax" style? I used to eat allot of lax when I lived in Germany, but never tried making it.

 

[Bucho]

No idea how they call them in english but they are very popular over here. They´re dirtcheap, easy to use, take no place and last forever.
I tried some english words but only found them in the UK, at a 30-40% higher price than here. Seems to be a German thing. Maybe you get them from amazon.de if you search "edelstahl tischraeucherofen". They retail around 30€. Here are two offers from the UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0024V9P...m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0V2RDFJ7738MW4Z8ZP96

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TABLETOP-SMOKER-TEMPERATURE-COURIER-DELIVERY/dp/B00P7RE7Z0

"graved lax" is cured - literally "buried"- salmon. Back in the day they used the ground as a fridge and found out that salted salmon wasn´t even half that bad after a couple of weeks.

You cover the filets it with coarse salt, brown sugar, some spices and dill, wrap it in foil and/or put something heavy on top of it and leave it in the fridge for a few days. Not much to it, lots of receipies in the net.

 

[hookup]

tischraeucherofen = table smoke oven

Not sure on the exchange rate in Euros - everything was in Deutsche Marks when I lived there - 4 marks to 1 dollar. Yeah, I'm old.

My smoker cost about $100 US - relatively cheap, but it sits outside on the deck, so rust is a factor. I replace it every 5-7 years. I'm guessing I could do 20 trout at one time. We use it mostly for pork roasts or pork ribs. I can get 2 15 pound (7-8 kilo) roasts on it or 3 racks of pork ribs. Basically, the smoker has a propane burner on the bottom, a box for wood above the flame, then a pot to hold water for steam. Used to make good ol' fashion US Bar-be-que, or as we call it "Q".

Next time I catch some trout, I'll give the "graved lax" a try.

 

[AtticaFish]

Beautiful fish. The pink might not match but looks like you have the size profile to match. The holo tape looks really cool too.

Mmmmmmmm..... sweet and salty trout.

 

[Bucho]

I´ve just placed another order with WTP. The color chart in their catalogue is mind-boggling. They have no minimum order and if you buy a narrow strip of a 100` bulk roll, its not even that much money. :icon14: