What do people do with Chum? Do they eat them? When I drive up the road to my favorite hole to fish for REAL SALMON, I can always tell where the Chum/dog fishermen are. They park their YUGO's along the river at the least likely places someone would fish for REAL salmon. I am not knocking all you DOG fishermen. I just don't understand what it is about DOGs. Are they 2:00 A.M. pretty? Yes, they fight hard. When ever I happened to hook one it takes for ever to land it so I can get my gear back. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder !

they fight hard, and you can catch them really easy. they "smoke up great" as everyone else says. i personaly eat them. i have a really good way to cook them. i guess thats from years of having my grandparents live on the duckabush where thats the only run of salmon they get. they perfected cooking them. i wait all year long to fish for dogs, i love the fight. and on my noodle rod its ever better

They are fun to fight on light gear as long as its in the mouth, single barbless hooks come out nicely if you do snag, give some slack and good by. The only chum I've kept are chromers in the salt.

Chum give good fight. Make good diner. Taste good in stir-fry.

Well, as you say.. "Yes, they fight hard." Are they easy to catch? Probably, more so because of the numbers of them. I fish because of the fight...period, no matter what the species. If I was going for meat I would starve and could go to the market and get fresh king/Coho for a pittance of the price compared to fishing for them. I never keep one (dog)... that's just me, I use it as a tune up for the coming steelhead.

this last weekend I caught and released 20+ chum and loved every minute of each one.

Chum are about the hardest fighting fish in the Salmon series, IMO. When still fresh they will readily take spinners, spoons and bait, and are world class fighters for most of the battle.

Sure, if you are hooking boots then it does get irritating, but in most cases if you hook a boot it is snagged..once they get nasty they really aren't much for taking lures/bait...and that's a good thing as no one wants them a that point. Those boots are what I call "Upriver Whites"..meat is white, soft and tasteless.

I've caught a few this year that were keepers, nice firm red meat and very tasty when smoked.

This fellow (36" X 19.5") gave me a great battle Sunday afternoon. He hit one of my home-made Colorado spinners like a freight train, then went into an aerial and underwater display of Chum stubbornness. He finally gave in just as the fog got so thick I had to find the take-out via Braille!



When smoked, these fish are better than Coho, IMO. Meat has more oil and does not dry out as bad. I'll be smoking about 75 lbs. of Chum next week and sending it out as Christmas presents to friends around the country.

Mike

Ahhhh, the northwest's alternative to coal in the stocking. I wouldn't even do that to MY inlaws.

Do your in-laws BEG you for more coal every time you talk to them?

I'll be glad to post some SMOKER PORN for you when these guys come out of the ovens.... (Maybe I can get Mingo's wife to hold up a tray????)

Mike

If there is anything my inlaws won't eat, I haven't dicovered it yet. They're like Moliscs whos sole existence revolves around undulating between the kitchen and the bedroom. That said, I STILL wouldn't feed them chum.

Chum are for fisherman with little talent, even less taste and no self respect.

I always knew Nick, Bill and Dave were crackers at heart.

Chum have to be the most parasite infested fish out there. Full of worms inside and out. Nasty.

BINGO!!!

Nobody gives the chumies credit. They are fun when they are semi fresh. Around thanksgiving is when they are a real pain in the arse. Trying to weed through old rotten fish for a steelie is hell on gear
Mike is right about the fresher ones smoking up good. I kept a chrome one from the Penn a few years back and it was great smoked. Probably wont do it agian unless the coho and chinook dissapear.

Just an FYI on fat content of salmon. Here is what the USDA lists as fat content for Pacific Salmon:
Chinook(King) 8.87
Sockeye(Red) 7.28
Coho(Silver) 5.04
Chum(Dog) 3.20
Pink(Humpy) 2.93
There seems to be a misconception of Chums being a very oily fish. As you can see that's not true.

Interesting. I always wondered why people keep saying that chum are "very oily," and in the same breath, say that chum do not taste good or taste "bland."

To me, the fat content is indicative of taste: more oil/fat = better taste. I always thought that the bland taste of chum is/was directly related to a low oil/fat content.

Thanks for the info Capt Q.I for one believe it :p

That doesn't make any sense to me honestly... Ever looked at how much humpies shrink when smoked?? You can smoke the holy hell out of em and they are still moist and oily.. Definitely an interesting fact in my book!

tbird,
very true.

Cpt. Q,
That info is interesting but then why can you smoke chum and humpies like a toking indian and the meat doesn't dry out. Do that to a silver and its dryer than charcoal in a fire pit.

speaking of what I do with my chum. Well I generally release most even when they are chrome. The ones I will keep are chrome hens, for the eggs. And once I get all the eggs I need then I release all the chums I catch for the rest of the season. This year I got my needed number of eggs two weeks ago. The once I keep smoke very nicely with my recipe. I give most of the smoked chum away at christmas.