Cooking Goldeye

[fisherwoman]

So today I caught my first Goldeye in the Old Man River near Lethbridge:sHa_shakeshout:. It was of decent size so I thought I would keep it for supper. I didn't know if I should gut it like a trout or fillet it like a walleye, so I filleted it. Then I put it in tinfoil with oil and sprinkled on some dill and lemon pepper. Topped it off with some lemon slices and BBQ'd it.
The meat was pretty muddy even with all the spices and lemon:sign0161:. Any tips?
Should I gut them instead?
Soak the fillets in milk?
Smoke the fillets?
Throw them back in the river??

And also do goldeye really travel in schools? Or have I been lead astray?

[howlin]

you have to smoke goldeye ,thats the only way to make it palatable.natives figured that out 1000s of years ago.

[fisherwoman]

you have to smoke goldeye ,thats the only way to make it palatable.natives figured that out 1000s of years ago.

Guess they would have had to. They didn't have BBQ's! :sign0161:

[howlin]

they had the original bbqs.i do have a good recipe for smoked goldeye if your interested.

[fisherwoman]

they had the original bbqs.i do have a good recipe for smoked goldeye if your interested.

Very interested

[Guitarplayingfish]

So today I caught my first Goldeye in the Old Man River near Lethbridge:sHa_shakeshout:. It was of decent size so I thought I would keep it for supper. I didn't know if I should gut it like a trout or fillet it like a walleye, so I filleted it. Then I put it in tinfoil with oil and sprinkled on some dill and lemon pepper. Topped it off with some lemon slices and BBQ'd it.
The meat was pretty muddy even with all the spices and lemon:sign0161:. Any tips?
Should I gut them instead?
Soak the fillets in milk?
Smoke the fillets?
Throw them back in the river??

And also do goldeye really travel in schools? Or have I been lead astray?

Goldeye are everywhere in the old man. I have caught like 50 already this year, not even trying to catch them. Some of them are actually quite big. I don't know if your going to be able to get away from the muddyness, a friend of mine kept one and got the same thing. Regardless though, I don't know if you heard or not but the oldman is getting pumped full of estrogen, and tons of fish are turning female and/or sterile. Don't forget mercury. Its not your fault the fish was no good, its the people who have been polluting the river for as long as I can remember. The general public is stupid, and most of them could care less what happens to our rivers and streams. Just a heads up. Congrats on your first goldeye though, they can be quite the scrappers, especially on an ultralight rod.

[S-in-Cochrane]

x2 on smoking the goldeye. My mom who won't even go near fish, will eat smoked goldeye.

[Coulee]

Scale and gut the fish then rinse with cold water. Fill a hot frying pan with butter and fry the fish with a generous amount of salt and pepper, until it is deep brown, on the verge of being black. Remove fish, the bones come out with one pull of the spine. Dip pieces in ketchup or tartar sauce if you please. I call this my "Black Butter Goldeye". And don't let me catch you eating it without a cold beer on hand.

[Sundancefisher]

Best recipe.

CLEAN...COOK...THROW OUT.

I have never had cooked goldeye that tasted at all palatable. I release all mine. Fortunately perch taste good or I would starve.

[howlin]

i got a few pms for my smoker recipe and as its no secret ill post it here.first gut and scale ,wash and prepare the brine.1cup salt(non iodized only,sea salt works good)to 1 gallon water or enough to float an egg or potato(this basic brine works for any fish.i like to add about a half cup brown sugar(u can use white and dont be to anal about measurements)i find brown has more flavor.as i cold smoke i also add about a teaspoon mortons cure for to salt peter for safety(nobody like to get ill)put the fish in the fully mixed brine in a glass or plastic bowl(dont use metal as the salt will react giving you a metallic taste to the fish)put in fridge overnight (longer if u like it salty)in the morning rinse the fish under cold running water pat dry and throw on racks to dry.what were trying to achieve here is called the pellicle,a nice shiny dry surface that takes in the smoke but seals in the juices.now the smoking part ,i like to slow smoke so low temps (around 80 c)3 pans of wood chips,(i use them dry but u can soak half for a little bit more moisture in the fish)i try to shoot for 5 to 6 hours (or more ,your looking for a nice flaky flesh .i let cool in the smoker as well ,it seams to let the smoke penetrate more.this is just a basic way and you can do trout or salmon this way,just change woods, hickory works good for goldeye and i use alder for the salmon(hickory is the bomb for whitefish and its the only way ill eat it)feel free to add spices to the brine as well.i also have dye from gimlies in winterpeg that gives it that cool red color.the longer u cant smoke it (low heat long time ,keep your dampers open)the better it will taste ,altho ,and this goes for anything being smoked ,to much near the end ,will result in bitterness.hope that helps and that i havent missed to much.enjoy:)

[fisherwoman]

This smoking recipe sounds great! Thanks for posting it! I caught 2 more nice ones today:sHa_shakeshout:, but was too lazy to clean fish tonight, so I didn't bother keeping them. I will have to try again this week so I can try this recipe!
I think the brine might help with the muddy taste problem. Worth a shot!

About the polluted-ness (I know, not a real word) of the river; yah I know it is getting worse every year. I try not to eat too many fish from the river, but once in awhile doesn't seem to cause any harm.

The pan frying recipe sounds good too, but I think these fish would still taste muddy... but for rainbow trout I do something quite similar. Gotta use a cast iron though, makes all the difference in the world!

[fisherwoman]

Does anyone know, do goldeye swim in schools?

[slingshotz]

The pan frying recipe sounds good too, but I think these fish would still taste muddy... but for rainbow trout I do something quite similar. Gotta use a cast iron though, makes all the difference in the world!

I pan fry them all the time but it really does make a difference when and where you catch them. We used to catch them all the time many years ago just to the east of RD and the water there was very clear and clean, hence the goldeyes tasted awesome. I caught a bunch last year downstream from Drum and pan frying them was not as good but smoking them was awesome.

[Coulee]

Slingshotz is right. My goldeye come from just downstream of Red Deer where the water is clear and cooler. So that may affect the taste, because mine always taste good. And yes, goldeye are very much a school fish.

[Pudelpointer]

FWIW, the only consumption advisory on the Oldman in this years regs is for Pike over 3lbs. Maybe the mercury levels are going down?

[fish-man]

CLEAN...COOK...THROW OUT.

Yup. They taste, as someone once explained it to me, like cotton balls soaked in kerosene. Yuck.

Does anyone know, do goldeye swim in schools?

Pretty sure they do. Where you catch one you can usually catch several.

[duffy4]

For people interested in catching many different species of fish, have a good look at your "goldeye". You may catch a "mooneye" (a different species) and not know it if you don't look closely.

I have never tried smoked goldeye but have tried cooking them once or twicw and not enjoyed them.

Once I killed two goleye and hung them in a tree while I continued to fish. I forgot them there but returned the next evening (after a really hot day) and the fish were dripping oil that had rendered in the sun. I lit one on fire and it sputtered and burned and dripped oil for a long long time.

[fisherwoman]

For people interested in catching many different species of fish, have a good look at your "goldeye". You may catch a "mooneye" (a different species) and not know it if you don't look closely.


I have heard of mooneye, but I dont think I've caught one. They are supposed to be smaller I think. Do they also have golden eyes? How would you tell them apart?

[The Copenhagen Kid]

I have a recipe my grandfather told me about for goldeye....as follows:

place a large pot of boiling water on the stove, key is to boil water for ten minutes if using muddy river water where the fish came from (to kill all bacteria)...throw in whole fish, and one old rubber boot. reduce temperature, and simmer for another 5 minutes. remove both the fish and boot, throw away the fish, and eat the boot! it will taste better! :)


All joking aside, I have smoked a couple from the red deer river, and they were not that bad, however not my first choice of fish to eat!

[slingshotz]

I have heard of mooneye, but I dont think I've caught one. They are supposed to be smaller I think. Do they also have golden eyes? How would you tell them apart?

Like the name implies, their eyes are not gold colored but white/silver like the moon. Otherwise I think they look almost exactly the same.

[Sundancefisher]

Like the name implies, their eyes are not gold colored but white/silver like the moon. Otherwise I think they look almost exactly the same.

out of about 400 goldeye I caught in Edmonton one summer only 6 were mooneyes.

Out of close to 100 walleye...only 8 were sauger.

Always neat seeing something different.

[fish-man]

I fished the river for years and barely caught a sauger.. then I got two 4-5 lb ones out of the same spot on the same day. Figures.

[aulrich]

Goldeye being down the food chain should have less mercury than an apex predator like a pike, and I suspect they are shorter lived and there for less contaminated.

The muddy flavor is purely the water they come from, growing up in Manitoba goldeye fishing was a classic August activity though they were around all year. I did lots of fishing in the Winnipeg river system those goldeye were fantastic (nothing but smoked) but one day I fished a bucnch out of the Red river at lockport those were very muddy and best used for catfish bait.

I'll be hitting the Red Deer for my first batch of Alberta goldeye in the next couple of weeks.

Prep wise I only ever had them smoked, whitefish are oily too and people eat them other than smoked what sort of prep do they take?


Most definetly a schooling fish, when the bite was hot you ould barely keep bait on your hook. Numerous times I have had the bobber hit the water on a cast and not come back up.

[fish-man]

I agree with you on one thing- fishing in a school of hungry goldeyes is a blast!

[fisherwoman]

Well then I know I have never caught a mooneye, yet. The goldeye I have been catching all have golden eyes.

I tried smoking my next batch of goldeye. Used a recipe similar to the one posted, just adjusted the recipe to the supplies I had on hand. And cut the salt down to a third of that recommended. I'm not a salty person.

Anyways the smoked fish were good. But not as good as any other species of fish would have been smoked. For all the work to gut them, brine them and smoke them, I think I will smoke other fish, and let the goldeyes swim another day.

[howlin]

dont mess with the brine ,its there for a reason .also try that recipe in the spring when the fish are better.

[fisherwoman]

dont mess with the brine ,its there for a reason .also try that recipe in the spring when the fish are better.

Yes, I know why the salt is there: to cure the meat. But when you are eating it that day, it is ok to cut down the salt. If you want to eat it over the next week or so, use all the salt or you will get sick.
Even when I smoke salmon or trout, I always cut down on the salt... IFF I'm eating it while its hot. And I used ionized salt, it was all I had on hand.
And I did not cold smoke the fish, if that is the plan, the salt is a must. I cooked mine at 200F for 2.5 hours.

[howlin]

the point with goldeye is to smoke it slow ,its different from salmon trout,it needs that brine too ....aw um just forget it. cheers ,do watcha like

[fisherwoman]

the point with goldeye is to smoke it slow ,its different from salmon trout,it needs that brine too ....aw um just forget it. cheers ,do watcha like

No, I agree with you. I would have done it slower, but I also didn't have enough time that day. And I think fish are better fresh, so I wanted to smoke em that day. But I wont lie, smoking did make them much better. It's the texture of the fish that I disliked. No offense to you, I'm very glad you shared your recipe. And maybe when I have the time and ingredients for your recipe I can try it. I did print out a copy for my recipe book.

[howlin]

No, I agree with you. I would have done it slower, but I also didn't have enough time that day. And I think fish are better fresh, so I wanted to smoke em that day. But I wont lie, smoking did make them much better. It's the texture of the fish that I disliked. No offense to you, I'm very glad you shared your recipe. And maybe when I have the time and ingredients for your recipe I can try it. I did print out a copy for my recipe book.

yep next time you have more time try it slow ,makes all the difference with the texture(thats what forced people to start smoking them in the first place)also im sure early season goldies would taste better.cheers

[slingshotz]

And I used ionized salt, it was all I had on hand.
And I did not cold smoke the fish, if that is the plan, the salt is a must. I cooked mine at 200F for 2.5 hours.

That really messes up the flavour if you use ionized salt. The brine needs to be that salty to change the texture of the meat, as long as you do not leave it over night, the fish doesn't really absorb that much salt. Also it makes a big difference if you can dry the surface of the fish out after the brining. Buy yourself a big bag of sea or kosher salt for brining, it makes a huge difference. I love smoked goldeye but I also love oily fishes like mackerel and herring, but I'd agree it's not everyone's cup of tea.

And the scientific reason for brine for those geeky types is the following (completely plagiarized from another site :)):

Of all the processes at work during brining, the most significant is salt's ability to denature proteins. The dissolved salt causes some of the proteins in muscle fibers to unwind and swell. As they unwind, the bonds that had held the protein unit together as a bundle break. Water from the brine binds directly to these proteins, but even more important, water gets trapped between these proteins when the meat cooks and the proteins bind together. Some of this would happen anyway just during cooking, but the brine unwinds more proteins and exposes more bonding sites. As long as you don't overcook the meat, which would cause protein bonds to tighten and squeeze out a lot of the trapped liquid, these natural juices will be retained.