Whitefish info

[JeffRaines]

Hey guys

I normally just fish for trout out of state, and it’s typically catch and release however I do enjoy eating fish and I’ve heard that mountain whitefish are great eating and abundant in some areas. Plus I’d love a reason to get out of the house this winter and have a fish dinner or two. Any chance I could get some pointers and maybe pointed in the right direction on these? I live in Puyallup so anywhere within an hour or so would be great.

Thanks!

[Alchase]

I use to catch white fish accidentally when fishing for trout/steelhead with salmon eggs or night crawlers in many local rivers. Snoqualmie has a lot of white fish. I do not know anyone who has eaten one, we never kept them and considered them garbage fish?

[h20hunter]

I've seen articles about smoking and canning online.

[Skillet]

We fished the Kettle River for them when I was a kid, it was a hoot.  We used a couple of splt shot about 12-15" above a small baitholder hook (#12, I think) and a couple of maggots. 

Then we'd pickle them.

[Skyvalhunter]

Whitefished since I was a kid. We mostly smoke them and my mom used to pickle can them. Yeas they are boney and should be scaled if fried. I fish for them on the Sky river, they do quite well for them in Duvall. Use maggots, grubs, dig for hellgrammites. Depending on the area you can use 2 hooks and doesn't have to be barbless but check the regulations for the area.

[WapitiTalk1]

Used to slay them in NW MT years ago. They are great smoking fish.

[Bill W]

I fished for them in the past at Flaming Geyser park and at the old Whitney bridge.

[Alchase]

Learn something every day!
Never knew they were good to eat.

[Skillet]

Mountain whitefish are delish and a lot of fun.  Lake whitefish too (would occasionally catch one while bladebaiting for walleye in the Big C). 

[JeffRaines]

How do the gulp products work with these guys? Would love to pick up a couple of jars and have some left for the next few weeks.

[Nwgunner]

The Naches and Yakima rivers are great waters for whitefish.  Every year about this time I would read local articles in the paper suggesting this under utilized, tasty resource.  Big bag limits too.  A small hook tipped with a maggot.

[BigGoonTuna]

there's tons of them in the cowlitz, and they can get huge(i've caught a couple in the 3lb range).  seem to catch one every couple trips, but never have targeted them.  i've been saying this for a few years now, but i might have to make a drive down there to try and catch a few intentionally with how lousy the steelhead fishing has been.

[onmygame]

If you live in Puyallup - a good bet would be the White / Stuck River between Enumclaw and Greenwater. That stretch of river used to be famous for winter whitefishing back in the day. Check the regs first though - no matter where you go. The best of luck.

[Skyvalhunter]

How do the gulp products work with these guys? Would love to pick up a couple of jars and have some left for the next few weeks.

Never tried the Gulp products on them. I have caught them on eggs. I was once stopped by a LEO who wanted to give me a ticket for fishing for bait. He said I couldn't until I pointed out the part about if you were fishing for whitefish you could use bait. So like said before check the regs

[Bill W]

I fly fished the Sultan River years ago and used beads for whitefish.  Had split shot on the leader also to get the bead to sweep along the bottom.  I missed bunches of strikes until I determined the whitefish were also hitting the splitshot.   Anything down on the bottom will attract them if whitefish are there.