Fishing Forum

All this talk of a "salmon give away" made me want to go check it out. I found out where and when it was going to be and then went to check it out.

I have a fishing license and even a salmon tag, but haven't been able to afford to go salmon fishing this year...let alone buy all the necessary gear to catch one of those beasts.

All I have to say is WOW. Because I have paid my dues I felt that I was entitled to a couple free fish, and who doesn't like eating salmon anyway? I never thought the "give away" would be like it was though.

A buddy and I get there at 9:15 a.m. 45 minutes before they give away the fish at 10 a.m. At this time there were already 80 people in line. I was kind of surprised to see that many people. We then got in line and watched as people poured in to get in line. I'd say about 80-100 more people got in line behind us. Most of the people in line looked like they actually needed the food. But I must say there were quite a few people that were well enough off that they didn't need free food. I even seen somebody pull up in a Mercedes and get in line! I was kind of shocked to see that.

While in line I was told that they have been doing this every Thursday since the salmon started running. I was told that they would be giving away 128 fish today. Last week it was 1000+ fish. So today it was 1 fish per family, last week it was 2 and 3 fish per family.

10 o'clock finally came around and they opened the gates to where they had huge white coolers of fish. They started giving them away. They were HUGE fish. I thought steelhead were big, but they are nothing compared these king salmon.

The line went VERY fast and I seen countless numbers of people holding HUGE fish. I quickly got up to get my fish. I looked in the cooler and WHOA! I had my plastic trash bag and the man put in a 30+ inch salmon in my bag. The one under mine was significantly bigger - 5 to 6 inches bigger actually.

I bring them home and measured them out. Mine was a 34 inch male. My buddy's was a 33 inch female. It took me an hour and a half to clean, fillet, and steak them out. Each fish provided 2 gallon sized bags FULL of fish. I couldn't believe how much there was! After seeing how much meat there was on one fish, I can't see how they could give away 2 and 3 fish to a family and expect them to have room in the freezer for them!

I was also surprised to see that both of the fish that I cleaned HAD NOT BEEN SPAWNED. That is fairly upsetting that they couldn't even spawn them to make more fish return to the river.

Attached are some pictures of the event.
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Thanks for the great first hand report and pics. Maybe next year I will take one of those salmon if I don't make it up there to catch one. Makes my mouth water just looking at them.

Personally I don't think it matters what the financial status of the people in line is. The F&G just don't have the time and resources to check each persons financial status so I am glad it goes to someone.

As for the salmon not being spawned out. I believe the Feds have a certain number of eggs they need to get the number of smolts that they can take care of before they put them back in for their trip down the river. In other words they only have a certain carrying capacity and exceeding that capacity wouldn't do any good. Also have you ever touched a salmon that has spawned out naturally? They are soft and gross. Not good eating.

Windriver
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How cool is that?!

Where is it that they are giving away salmon?
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forgiven - they were giving the salmon away today in Idaho Falls on 19th street. It was across the street from a radiator shop.

windriver - that makes sense about them having the quota for eggs and such.. I just hope the feds and fish and game are doing a good job so that these monsters will thrive and we can catch a ton of them.

Also, they are delicious! I just ate a salmon steak from one of them with a salad and it was GREAT!!! So tasty!!!
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We grabbed some salmon from that location back in april or may, Darker with some red, Coho maybe? (edit: sorry, Steelhead) Went today but I was late and it was all over.

Anyways, they were all about 24" exactly, didn't get there until 11:30 and no one else was there so either they had a lot or no one really knew about it. My brother and I had taken a storage tub, so he just had us throw 5 each into the tub and we were on our way. When we cleaned them ours did have the eggs removed from the females.

I thought ours were big, yours is a monster. I probably wouldn't have waited in line even if I had made it early thinking they were the same as the ones we got last time. Now I'll know better.
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Glad to see some fishermen got some salmon. Good information. The salmon that they keep for spawning are still in the hatchery and won't be ready to spawn for a few more weeks. Those salmon they give away to food banks after the spawn them. Their quota this year was 600 and they hit that easily. The salmon you got are excess fish over the 600 they kept and they do not need them for spawning and would just end up dieing trying to get into the hatchery.

Enjoy your fish and maybe next year you will be able to hook and land one of those monsters. It is a blast.
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OK. I wonder if they are doing that in the Boise area?
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All that I have heard of is in Idaho Falls and in Salmon.
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No fair!!!

Sound just like my kids used to!

Guess I'll have to get mine the old fashoned way[fishin]
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trust me you don't want to eat the ones they actually spawn. First they have to wait for the salmon to get properly "ripe" before they spawn them out. Sometimes the fish are ready to go, but the more mature the eggs are before spawning them the better.

So the actual fish they use to spawn have pretty much gone over the hill and the meat has turned mushy and not good to eat.

It is too bad they can't just chuck the fish over the ladder and let them go on their way to spawn more "wild" salmon.
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I wish they would spawn them out and then put the eggs in other creeks and rivers and start a few more places where "wilds" would return to.

Salmon ready to spawn are not good to eat. Very soft mushy meat. Usually if the eggs are loose, then the meat is very close to being mushy. I have heard if you smoke them, they taste ok, but have not tried it yet.
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