Whitefish

[WoolSocks]

Seeing if anybody wants to join me next weekend. Will be on the Yakima around Cle Elum trying for whitefish. Simple plan, just going to drive down the river and fish off the bank in a few spots.

If you don’t mind the cold, it’s fun and low-key. PM me if you want to join.

[WapitiTalk1]

Seeing if anybody wants to join me this weekend. Will be on the Yakima around Cle Elum trying for whitefish. Simple plan, just going to drive down the river and fish off the bank in a few spots.

If you don’t mind the cold, it’s fun and low-key. PM me if you want to join.

One of the best fish to smoke.

[Southpole]

Seeing if anybody wants to join me this weekend. Will be on the Yakima around Cle Elum trying for whitefish. Simple plan, just going to drive down the river and fish off the bank in a few spots.

If you don’t mind the cold, it’s fun and low-key. PM me if you want to join.

One of the best fish to smoke.

I hate to hijack but I caught a couple of whoppers this years and let them go because I didn’t know what to do with them and didn’t want to waste them trying to figure it out.

[Boss .300 winmag]

Seeing if anybody wants to join me this weekend. Will be on the Yakima around Cle Elum trying for whitefish. Simple plan, just going to drive down the river and fish off the bank in a few spots.

If you don’t mind the cold, it’s fun and low-key. PM me if you want to join.

One of the best fish to smoke.

I hate to hijack but I caught a couple of whoppers this years and let them go because I didn’t know what to do with them and didn’t want to waste them trying to figure it out.

Fishing fowl.🤯

[WoolSocks]

Seeing if anybody wants to join me this weekend. Will be on the Yakima around Cle Elum trying for whitefish. Simple plan, just going to drive down the river and fish off the bank in a few spots.

If you don’t mind the cold, it’s fun and low-key. PM me if you want to join.

One of the best fish to smoke.

I hate to hijack but I caught a couple of whoppers this years and let them go because I didn’t know what to do with them and didn’t want to waste them trying to figure it out.

Feel free to let me know where you caught em’ 😁 pretty sure the season is only in the winter though.

Smoking them is the way to go. They are kind of bony, but tasty. You wouldn’t believe what nice restaurants charge for whitefish pate’.

[Southpole]

Year around in a section of upper Columbia where I fish.

[DeerThug]

I know everyone says smoke them...  BUT if you take the time to double fillet go down the ribs first to get the cross bones then work out the top and bottom pieces  then get the meat out then skin the fillet - batter the resulting pieces and fry in hot oil.   Better than Skippers fish  by far

Or rough fillet and pressure can.  Makes a great sandwhich!

[Southpole]

I know everyone says smoke them...  BUT if you take the time to double fillet go down the ribs first to get the cross bones then work out the top and bottom pieces  then get the meat out then skin the fillet - batter the resulting pieces and fry in hot oil.   Better than Skippers fish  by far

Or rough fillet and pressure can.  Makes a great sandwhich!

I was wondering about canning, makes sense.

[lewy]

Never really targeted whitefish, whats the best way to catch em?

[Timberstalker]

Pink fly!

[Timberstalker]

Tipped with a maggot

[Skyvalhunter]

A maggot, grub or my favorite hellgrammite was always a sure fire way to catch them for me.

[Parasite]

Never really targeted whitefish, whats the best way to catch em?

Ice fishing, jigging from a boat, pier fishing surf casting  ... done all these methods back in Michigan. Surf casting was in the late fall during the spawn was while I was targeting steelhead using a slip sinker rig and spawn. Pier fishing was a hi-lo rig near the bottom using waxworms or maggots, ice fishing was on the bottom in 90 FOW using a slip sinker rig again but jigs also work, and jigs also from a boat.

[Southpole]

Banks lake is a very popular place to catch them, lots of Russians targeting them there. You’ll get the big fat whitefish in the 2-4 pound range out there too.

[Bullkllr]

We're talking two different kinds of whitefish here. Lake whitefish and Mountain whitefish which are smaller and found in western streams.

Mountain whitefish are in about every stream in the state. Some eastside streams have special winter whitefish seasons with special gear rules. When streams are open during 'regular' seasons, whitefish are typically legal under "other gamefish" rules. Daily limit is 15. You can catch them all year, but in winter they school up and are probably easier to catch in numbers.

They can be caught incidentally on about everything you can throw in a river, but small flies tipped with maggots is the standard when targeting them. 'Hellgrammites' ie stonefly larva are probably the ultimate effective bait.