# Went salmon fishing at Sam's



## SmokinAl (Feb 26, 2011)

All you northern guys that catch your wild salmon & cook it fresh, I really envy you. That being said I got my pole & net & went to Sam's. When I saw the salmon in the cooler I snagged one with my treble hook, netted it & brought it home to smoke. It was filleted & skinned. I cut the belly & tail off so the main piece of meat would be the same thickness, kind of like St. Louis style ribs, then I coated it with EVOO & cajun seasoning.








Onto the smoker at 215. I put it on cold with the smoker cold & cold water in the water pan. The idea was to cold smoke it for 30-40 minutes while the smoker got to temp.. Here it is just on with the TBS flowing.







Normally I don't put a probe in the salmon, but I really wanted to know what the it temp. was when I usually take it off. I set the therm for 140 and it went off in about 55 minutes. We checked the salmon & it was done. One thing I learned is that you don't want to overcook salmon. You are much better undercooking it. My wife Judy is a salmon expert & she can look at it & tell when it should be taken off the smoker. Here it is ready to eat. Juicy & moist with that cajun spice. Judy said it was ready & she was right. I posted more than 1 pic because it was so juicy & tender. It just melted in your mouth. Hope you can see that in the pics.

























*Thanks for looking folks, hope you enjoyed the show.*


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## chef willie (Feb 26, 2011)

Looks great Al....I'm still reading posts from that other thread and here pops yours. I'm gonna treat myself and go fishing at Costco Monday when I get off work...lol


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## fpnmf (Feb 26, 2011)

Looks way delicious Al!!!!

  Craig


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## beer-b-q (Feb 26, 2011)

Looks Great Al...  What # test line and what size hook did you use? lol


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## nozzleman (Feb 26, 2011)

Man that looks good, I gotta try it. The best thing about fishing at Sam's is you can always count on eating fish at the end of the day.


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## les3176 (Feb 27, 2011)

nice looking salmon AL !!! yes the pics did do it justice,it looks juicy and perfect!!!


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## tyotrain (Feb 27, 2011)

AL that is some great looking fish nice job.. bet that was tasty.. AL I live 5 mins from the St. Lawrence river its were the _World Championship are held for carp._

we have some great fishing here.  check this link out http://www.carptournamentseries.com/news/?page_id=914


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## tjohnson (Feb 27, 2011)

Looks Great Al!

I love grilled salmon.

Todd


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## SmokinAl (Feb 27, 2011)

tyotrain said:


> AL that is some great looking fish nice job.. bet that was tasty.. AL I live 5 mins from the St. Lawrence river its were the _World Championship are held for carp._
> 
> we have some great fishing here.  check this link out http://www.carptournamentseries.com/news/?page_id=914




I used to catch carp when I was a kid, used homemade dough balls. Soft bread mixed with a little cotton. I have some big carp in the pond behind my house. They are sterilized grass carp & weigh about 15-20 lbs. each. There's also some big catfish & bass in there, and a ton of bluegill & crappie. Judy caught a 10 lb. largemouth back there about a year ago. Biggest one I ever caught was 8.5 lbs. The photo in my avatar is a 15 lb. catfish that I caught back there, believe it or not that sucker hit a spinner bait. I always thought you had to bottom fish for catfish.


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## porked (Feb 27, 2011)

Looks great Al, I betcha it tasted great too.


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## jirodriguez (Feb 27, 2011)

Man-o-man, that is some fine looking fish Al! I might have to borrow Judy next time I make some so she can tell me when to pull it off the smoker.... lol.


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## Bearcarver (Feb 27, 2011)

That looks AWESOME Al !!!

And Great pictures Too!!!----I left-clicked to zoom in on one of those closeups, and it seemed like I was walking on the surface of the fish, looking around in between the flakes!!!

Thanks Al,

Bear


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## Bearcarver (Feb 27, 2011)

Hey Al,

Did you drag them out on a rope?


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## scarbelly (Feb 27, 2011)

Great looking Salmon AL - I have tried Salmon every imaginable way and just dont like it, but it looks great.


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## rbranstner (Feb 27, 2011)

MMMMMMM Salmon. My favorite. I seem to "catch" them every time I head to Sam's as well. It's my go to hot spot. haha


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## SmokinAl (Feb 28, 2011)

Bearcarver said:


> Hey Al,
> 
> Did you drag them out on a rope?




Not his time, but I'll remember to do that next time!


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## dennycieslinski (Feb 28, 2011)

Wow!  Salmon, my favorite fish!   You sure got it lookin good in those pics.  There is not many things out there that will allow me to pass up a chance to eat salmon.


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## somekinj (Jan 8, 2012)

looks great! I'm just started getting into smoking and Fish and Poultry is really all I can eat due to a Bowel Disease. This looks amazing and will have to try it out!


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## crashtack (Feb 9, 2020)

Al - with the cajun seasoning - what's your preferred wood for the smoke? Assuming it's something a little more robust than alder.


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## SmokinAl (Feb 10, 2020)

crashtack said:


> Al - with the cajun seasoning - what's your preferred wood for the smoke? Assuming it's something a little more robust than alder.


 I usually use mesquite for salmon.
Al


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