Whitefish?

[oogle]

Heading to Canada in June and the lake we are going to has
whitefish in it and the camp says they catch them there.
My problem is I have never seen a whitefish, never fished for them,
and never ate them. My wife had whitefish once in northern Wisconsin restaraunt and said "Never Again".

From what I have read though these fish can be quite tasty. Any comments about how to fish for them and prepare them would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Thumper]

Whitefish are great eating. We catch them in the fall when they spawn by netting them. It is legal and the fish are easy to get. We smoke them and IMHO are the greatest smoked fish you can get. I have had them oven rosted and barbequed and are good as well. They are an oily fish and the Omega 3 fatty acids are really good for you. I have never targetted them in the summer but have caught them as bonus fish when targetting Walleye and Trout. Winter guys take them with jigs and minnows. Do a earch using google for "Whitefish fishing" and you'll come up with lots of interesting hits, Good luck.

[swede]

I live in NE Wisconsin near Door County where the "rich" congregate in the summer. Their big thing in dining out is whitefish. They have "fish boils" using whitefish. The most popular thing is whitefish done 4 different ways in the better up-scale restaurants; beating out perch and walleyes. They are always broiled, but I have had them different ways. A little too fatty, hence they are better smoked and broiled. Smoked they are better than chubs(too oily) sturgeon (more flavor) and equal to paddlefish.
They are hard to catch no matter what people say. I have caught my limit of 25 1 time on late ice in Ontario, 3/14. Used 3 " swedish pimples and got 50 in 2 hours. We were fishing for trout but the whitefish were cooerative. Most of the whitefish I have caught in the summer was the same way. Jigging on the bottom for lakers. They take them on the surface with a flyrod and they say thats a lot of fun.
When you get a few they will weigh in at3-4# and you have excellent eating.

[szopster]

Been going to a fly-in out of Red Lake for the past twenty years for the walleye opener. We would accidently started catching whitefish while fishing for walleyes.

Early in the year they are still fairly shallow. Our best luck when targeting them is below rapid or falls. Small crappie jigs (tube jigs/road runners) work at this time of year, our best lure is a 1/16th ounce cicada, a little blade bait from Reef Runner lures. Tried to catch them on a 6 wt fly rod but didn't have any luck, besides, my boat buddies get real nervous with someone fly fishing in the other end of the boat.

They are incredible fighters. Don't horse them, because of their soft mouths. Use a long limber rod. Tangling with a 4 pounder will make you forget about walleyes for a while.

Whitefish are good eating, but like most oily fish, they get fishy real fast if you freeze them. I wouldn't hold on to them for more than a week or two. Smoking - blackening - grilling are my preferred way to cook them.

Good luck.