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Tree Swallow

Thursday, October 1, 2020

Another letter from Pat across the pond.

 Hey Robert,


I hope this finds your infection gone...

I was intrigued to read about Steelhead trout in yer blog.
When I worked in the salmon industry in SE Alaska it was fairly common to see a Steelhead come in.
Not sure some of the fishermen knew the difference between them and salmon.
Quite similar to a Coho in looks but a little sleeker and longer.
Commonly a troll boat would land a selection of Chinook (king), Coho (silver), Sockeye, Chum (dog) and pink (humpies) salmon with the odd Steelhead, Red Snapper, Brown Bomber and cod thrown in.
I don't think any of the Steelhead made it out of the plant, probably being snaffled by employees before they got frozen.
My personal favourite was Sockeye. Such a beautiful fish. Many were diverted from the grading line into my fridge.
I do believe at that time most of the Coho were sent to France for smoking. The Chinook mostly went for fancy banquets and barbecues as they were so big. 
I thought the pinks were destined for cat food but have seen it tinned in shops...not that I would ever eat one. Smelly vile things.
Given the choice, I would always opt for the Steelhead or the Sockeye. (and the king crab - but we don't want to tell too much....)

And on another note - when I was growing up (ed. in Scotland), my father usually had a gill net out as he didn't have much money and 5 kids to feed.
Quite regularly we had sea trout for dinner. Not sure if that was some Atlantic species or just salmon called by another name to avoid being called a poacher...

All the best
Px

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thankyou we have never seen a steelhead up in alaska northern rivers. In front of or house the largest salmon in world of kings would run till some bright sparks used huge net to capture them. They killed off large breeders now 50-75 lb kings are pretty much no more now we have much smaller salmon miss those big ones for sure