# 1st Kings of the season



## alaskanbear (Jun 22, 2011)

yeah, yeah she got the bigger one..

  
	

		
			
		

		
	








Filleting time


----------



## beer-b-q (Jun 22, 2011)

Man those are awesome....


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 22, 2011)

dry brine goods







cubed and in the brine


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 22, 2011)

6 hours in brine


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 22, 2011)

air drying for 12-14 hours.



















.


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 22, 2011)

try the fillet one again


----------



## meateater (Jun 22, 2011)

Holy salmon!!!!!!!!!!! You want to adopt a 46 yo. kid? I have knife skills.


----------



## SmokinAl (Jun 23, 2011)

WOW!!!


----------



## Bearcarver (Jun 23, 2011)

OMG !!!!

I'm only the 4th one to reply on this!!!

Others couldn't take it, and must have passed out !!!

I gotta see a lot more of this smoke!   Such beautiful Salmon!   AWESOME color in those babies !!!!!

MORE!

MORE!

MORE!

BTW: Great BearView by the Alaskan Bear!

The Pennsy Bear appreciates that very much!

Thanks AB,

Bear


----------



## sunman76 (Jun 23, 2011)

heck yea!!!


----------



## flareside92 (Jun 23, 2011)

I'd be in heaven just catching a fish that size let alone smoking one!

very curious now.


----------



## fpnmf (Jun 23, 2011)

Real nice fish!!!!

Nice yard too, love the birches in the background.

  Craig


----------



## tjohnson (Jun 23, 2011)

Is this "For Real!"

I just checked flight times to Alaska, just in-case you need an assistant!!

Todd


----------



## daveomak (Jun 23, 2011)

AB, Morning. Love the pics of the kings. Did the salmon make their own brine from the dry rub or did you add some liquid?


----------



## nwdave (Jun 23, 2011)

Great color on the Kings.  Now, that filet knife....... that is not your average knife.  My Uncle had one like that.  Funny, he spent many, many years in Alaska.  Must be Alaskan thing.  The size of the fish up there make it necessary.  Yes, I am jealous.


----------



## tjohnson (Jun 23, 2011)

Big Fish = Big Knife!

TJ


----------



## big twig (Jun 23, 2011)

I am so jealous right now. I would love some fresh salmon instead of this frozen stuff I get around here.


----------



## ben franklin (Jun 23, 2011)

Beautiful fish AB!

My wife and I did the Kenai two summers ago. Me on the fly rod and her on my back with a 50mm Nikon and a Mossberg 12 ga "sweeper". She's mighty handy to have around.

Our freezer has been empty (of sockeye anyway) for a long time now though. And you are making me look at the Alaskan Air site to check flight costs!
 

Can't wait to see the smoke!


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 23, 2011)

NOW, for "The Rest of The Story"..!!!!


----------



## porkpuller (Jun 23, 2011)

I just LOVE the color of fresh salmon!!  Those are beauts!!!!


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 23, 2011)




----------



## fpnmf (Jun 23, 2011)

Awesome!!!

  Craig


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 23, 2011)

The dry brine pulls out all moisture seen in the picture.  I did not add liquid at all.  Thanks for all the great replys and I will think of each and every one of you when I MUNCH OUT..


----------



## venture (Jun 23, 2011)

Excellent job!  Beautiful pics, too!

Good luck and good smoking.


----------



## africanmeat (Jun 23, 2011)

OMG OMG this is great one day one day

great post thanks


----------



## Bearcarver (Jun 23, 2011)

It Just Doesn't Get Any Better Than That !!!

Bear


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 23, 2011)

a sum total of 27.4 pounds of unadultrated, vacuum sealed Alaskan King Salmon--in the freezer  MINUS a few bites here and there..

Thanks to all for the kind comments.. Been a loooong weekend with little sleep.. but well worth the effort and will do again next weekend  (wed-thurs) my weekend that is..

Rich


----------



## get smoked (Jun 23, 2011)

one word...   WOW


----------



## cowgirl (Jun 23, 2011)

Looks fantastic Alaskan Bear! Thanks for posting your process.


----------



## meateater (Jun 23, 2011)

Now that's some salmon.


----------



## chris elias28 (Jun 24, 2011)

Thank you so much for taking us through the process. This was an amazing thread!


----------



## gotarace (Jun 24, 2011)

WOWSERS...Now Those are some nice KING Salmon!!!! Thanks for sharing Alaskan Bear. Thanks for the Fantastic Q-View.


----------



## alelover (Jun 24, 2011)

WOW. How long did it take to land those suckers?


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 24, 2011)

Took the wife about 35 minutes, she got the big one... and mine was about 10 minutes-- Took a total of 3 days to turn them into smoked salmon candy and smoked chunks..

Rich


----------



## bigr314 (Jun 24, 2011)

OMG I have never seen anything like that before. Fantastic. Say Hello to Sarah.


----------



## africanmeat (Jun 25, 2011)

OMG Rich i came back to this post all the time i cant believe my eyes


----------



## bassman (Jun 25, 2011)

Excellent job!  Not only on the finished product, but also on the catching.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Love some Indian candy!


----------



## hfactor (Jun 25, 2011)

Nothing better than smoked King Salmon.  Every few years of so, the Kings return to spawn in the Ventura area, heading I assume back to the Ventura and Santa Clara rivers... been lucky enough to catch a few on my boat....










  

Check that, nothing better than fresh King salmon....


----------



## houston smoker (Jun 26, 2011)

Beautiful fish!!!!  thank you for the pics!!  WOW


----------



## dnvrdv (Jun 26, 2011)

Thanks for the idea for Horsdevours for August.  I see man candy for the guests before the meat is done.  Now where do I catch a salmon in Colorado?


----------



## nwdave (Jun 26, 2011)

dnvrdv said:


> Thanks for the idea for Horsdevours for August.  I see man candy for the guests before the meat is done.  Now where do I catch a salmon in Colorado?


Well, if you wait long enough there may be a couple or three of sockeye coming your way.


----------



## dnvrdv (Jun 26, 2011)

How did I know I would get your attention?  I've heard of snagging Sockeye out of Green mountain, but thats not till late September.

 


NWDave said:


> Well, if you wait long enough there may be a couple or three of sockeye coming your way.


----------



## pittman (Jun 27, 2011)

Wow! All I can say is Damn!! 

How long did you smoke it for? What temp? What type of wood? 

You have set the bar for me!


----------



## SmokinAl (Jun 27, 2011)

Beautiful!


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 27, 2011)

Pittman said:


> Wow! All I can say is Damn!!
> 
> How long did you smoke it for? What temp? What type of wood?
> 
> You have set the bar for me!


Thanks sir!!

I dry brined for 6 hours;  water rinsed lightly and then patted dry with towels and air dried for 14 hours;  I smoked with maple, and cherry with a touch of hickory for a total of 17 hours--did two seperate smoke batches.

Was an alllll weedend ordeal and so well worth every sleepless minute of it!!

Rich


----------



## alaskanbear (Jun 27, 2011)

OH  and the temp was 95-110 consistent all the way through..

Rich


----------



## Bearcarver (Jul 6, 2011)

As long as I'm here, I'm gonna bump this Awesome Thread.

There has to be a lot of people who haven't seen it, and would like to.

As for myself, I keep coming back to gaze at the pictures.

Even though all the pics look great, my favorite is the first one !!!

Thanks Rich,

Bear


----------



## alaskanbear (Jul 10, 2011)

Very kind of you to say so BC--Thanks,

Rich


----------



## alelover (Jul 11, 2011)

Someone asked about smoking Salmon the other day. I hope they saw this post.


----------



## smokingohiobutcher (Aug 4, 2011)

Well ...now I know what I am doing with the kings in my freezer!

Truely A-MAZE-N Lookin Salmon!

Thanks you other Crazy Ol' Bear! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






SOB


----------



## jonboat (Aug 23, 2011)

Great pictorial to go with those nice fish. We got some on a Lake Ontario charter, but next up is the fall run.  I plan to troll in the 50 - 80 foot of water range here in about two weeks when they start staging, then come late September, early October, we'll be in the Salmon River and Oswego River catching them.



Those pictures have me chomping at the bit to get after the fall Kings in Ontario!!! I think the one your wife got is bigger than they get in Ontario.



Here are the ones a group of us got on a recent charter (there's one coho in the mix):


----------



## bosmech (Nov 21, 2012)

This is one great thread, man do I miss the Pacific NorthWest and the Salmon.


----------

