So So at Echo 7-22-21

[TubeDude]

@Jmorfish

Hey Pat – tks for the piscatorial pictorial…I’ve cleaned a lot of fish over the X# of years, but never did think about removing that pesky row of spine bones during the cleaning process…do believe I’ll do it on the next accidentally caught cutt from Strawbery, or Rainbow from Rockport, if they ever show up there again…Even ran off a copy of your whole process, and will give a copy to grandkids…nicely done…tks again…

Welcome.  Hope it helps you better appreciate your future trout meals.  When prepared that way and oven baked with the butter and spices it rivals the best salmon you ever had.

And if you wanna add a “kicker”, try laying on a few shrimp over the seasoned and buttered fish.  I call this “Surf and Surf”.
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[Jig-fisher]

@TubeDude

@Jig-fisher

I like to fish for all types of species, but In the end I like to eat fish as well.  There are days I do the catch and release thing, but most trips involve putting a bag of ice in the cooler to cool down those fish I plan on taking home. Bass, panfish, walleye, wipers, cats both channel and bullhead, then the trout and kokes.  They all grace the table at my house. I grew up eating trout and still enjoy it, only hate the pin bones.

I’m witchoo.  I’m multi-tackle and multi-species…and I do usually keep a few for the table.

I also grew up eating trout…as a kid in Idaho.  And I too hated the little flesh bones…until I learned the way of the fillet knife.  Now I fillet any trout I keep…even down to footlongs.  And with a couple of cuts alongside the row of pin bones I can lift them out and not worry about getting any myself…or effecting any kids or other folks who might be dining on my fish.

Here’s a little pictorial PDF file I put together a long time ago on some tiger trout from Huntington (Mammoth) that shows the deboning process.

I do the same with smaller ones, fillet the bones right out.  With the larger ones, I just use some needle nose pliers and pull them out.

[wiperhunter2]

@Jig-fisher

Good idea.  I’ve heard from others that they do this as well.  I’m going to have to try it.  I pressure can a big portion of my deer and elk and it turns out great.  My wife doesn’t care for venison very much, but will eat the bottled stuff with no complaints.  She says it tastes like a very tender beef roast, and she is right.  It falls apart, is not gamey, and is very tasty.  I will eat it right out of the bottle. We make tacos, stews, chimichangas, enchiladas, burritos, etc. and it all is very good as well.  How do you use your bottled fish?

We usually eat it like you would in fish tacos, at least for the warm water fish but with the salmon, you can eat it right out of the bottle by itself or eat it in a meal as the main course with whatever side dish you prefer. We usually open a pint jar and split it up between me and my wife, then serve mixed vegetables on the side. Some people mix the bottled salmon with cream cheese and eat it on crackers.

[TubeDude]

Made a return trip to Echo.  Only 3 species today and no catfish or walleye.
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Launched off the end of the access road north of the main park entrance…close to where the rocky shoreline begins.  Easy launch.  Air temp 70 at 7 am launch…and 83 at pre-noon departure.  Water temp 72-73.  Only light breezes at times and flat glass mostly.  No boats on the lake at all, but a growing number of yaks, paddle boards and other small play craft as temps warmed and people started lining the shoreline.
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**Started small…trying to find some decent perch and maybe a crappie or two.  All I got were some indecent dink perch…%$@& little bait stealers.  I did have one nice crappie hooked but he arranged for his own early release before I could get him to the net.  **

After that I began working through a series of larger smallie type lures…plastics, marabous and cranks.  Got some smallies but they were all “under-footers”.  But the ones I got were porky.  They been eating good on the crawdads being displaced by the falling water levels.
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The highlight (or low point) of the morning was when I made my first cast with a 3" green plastic with orange flakes.  I pitched it close to shore and just started working it back in when I got a CHOMP.  Set the hook into something substantial and got a couple of good headshakes.  Ha.  A nice smallie thinks I.  And then it put the line over its shoulder and ran off about 25 yards of line.  Oh joy.  Another carp.  But it was a fun 10 minutes until I put the undersized net under that 24" beast.  Musta weighed about 10 pounds.  Took its picture and released it unharmed.  Didn’t give it a complimentary gillectomy but I din’t kiss it either.
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It was getting warmish by 11 and the slow fishing got even slower.  No sounds of power squadron but a growing cacophony of shrill voices from the growing crowd of  fellow water recreators.  So I departed.

Latest intel is that when they close the lake it will include everything associated with the main park.  The ramp is already closed but the complete closure will also include all shoreline access and public use.  There is to be a meeting August 4 to finalize details.  Limited access to the shoreline will be allowed from the new campground, but as I was leaving I noted that the lake water ends at least 1/4 mile from the campground.  And it ain’t likely to get better before it gets worse.  In short, no boats can possibly launch until the projected reopening about May of next year.