smoking walleye

Got a question which may be a dumb one, would walleye be good smoked, and if so any good recipes

As a general rule, you’re better off smoking oilier fish.
Like catfish, lake trout, salmon, brown trout, bull heads…..

Walleye can be very good if prepared and smoked correctly…really good.

Smoking Walleye would be like putting ketsup on fillet mignon.

You, don’t know how good it is until you have it. I can still smell the fumes from the last batch. Here’s the recipe I made up:

Ingredients needed:

2 quarts water

1/2 cup non iodized salt

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4cup cinnamon

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon liquid smoke

1 teaspoon orange peel

1 teaspoon ground cloves

Walleye or Sauger fillets with the scales intact (about 8 fillets)

1/4 Butter or 1/4 stick of margarine

Some honey

Pour all of the ingredients above into the plastic bowl or bowl. Mix the mixture until ingredients are fully dissolved. Set fish filets into bowl with scale side up. Make sure filets don’t overlap. Cover bowl with cover or plastic wrap. Set bowl into refrigerator overnight.

Uncover bowl. Drain out marinade. Remove fish and rinse with cold water. Set fish onto pan and pat with a paper towel to dry fish. Let stand for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt butter in a bowl. Spread some white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon onto the fish fillets. Pour and spread some honey onto the fish fillets.

Cook fish in oven for 15 minutes or so.

Put the wood chips in the smoker and smoke for about 2 hours or until golden brown.

Try it, I like this better then fried walleye.

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Smoking Walleye would be like putting ketsup on fillet mignon.

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That’s what I was thinking. Why waste Walleye on that. The point to smoking and jerky is to make skunky meat tolerable.

Maybe the “CIGAR” size.

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2 quarts water
1/2 cup non iodized salt
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4cup cinnamon
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon orange peel
1 teaspoon ground cloves
Walleye or Sauger fillets with the scales intact (about 8 fillets)
1/4 Butter or 1/4 stick of margarine
Some honey

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Can you even taste fish?

Never done walleye,but my favorite fish smoked is nothern.Don’t care as much for the oilier fish.I just gut and gill,scald with boiling water{scales wipe right off}.Then cut in 2-3″ steaks.Then I don’t brine{when done it usually doesn’t see the next day} or add any sugar or over powering flavors.Just rub with olive oil and season to taste.When done it’s more like grilled fish with smokey flavor than jerky.When done meat will seperate at the y-bones,and can be pulled out several at a time.If walleye is what you want to try this method still lets you enjoy the taste of the fish.I would agree with usual smoking methods,just as well use a different fish.If you don’t brine you might run smoker a little hotter.I eat little to no salt useing brine salt is all I taste.

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As a general rule, you’re better off smoking oilier fish.
Like catfish, lake trout, salmon, brown trout, bull heads…..

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X2 and Carp

I have had smoked perch before and it was pretty good but then again is there any bad smoked fish.

Do yourself a favor….. get a couple pounds of catfish filets at the seafood counter and do them In fact, I will trade you 2 lbs of catfish for 1 lb of Walleye filets

big G

My brother smokes a couple of Walleyes a year and they are excelent!!!! He just takes them to the local fish house and has them do it. Don’t turn your nose up at them. If you like smoked fish, you will love them.

I sure as heck am not turning my nose up at them…. I am sure they are very tasty. But like said, don’t grind up a ribeye, to make a hotdog…

big G

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I sure as heck am not turning my nose up at them…. I am sure they are very tasty. But like said, don’t grind up a ribeye, to make a hotdog…

big G

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I sure as heck am not turning my nose up at them…. I am sure they are very tasty. But like said, don’t grind up a ribeye, to make a hotdog…

big G

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Exactly!

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I sure as heck am not turning my nose up at them…. I am sure they are very tasty. But like said, don’t grind up a ribeye, to make a hotdog…

big G

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This is something we do once every year or two. Walleye is the only fish we ever keep or fish for so it’s only logical for us. Don’t worry Gut, I won’t make you eat any of it.

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As a general rule, you’re better off smoking oilier fish.
Like catfish, lake trout, salmon, brown trout, bull heads…..

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X2 and Carp

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X3

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Got a question which may be a dumb one, would walleye be good smoked, and if so any good recipes

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Smoked walleye is the best smoked fish I’ve ever had. I can’t choke down much more than 2 cracker sized chunks of trout, salmon, whitefish, etc., but put a smoked walleye in front of me and you’ll have to fight me off to get any.

I have never smoked a walleye.. but I have a friend who since age of 14 has been smoking anything he can wrap in paper.

I’ll have to ask him.. he has smoked stuff from all over the world.. Thailand, Columbia, everywhere.. Hawaii…
if it was in a bag and he could wrap a paper on it, he smoked it..
he also is an excellent walleye fishermen.. do those go hand in hand?

I haven’t tried smoking walleye but I would bet they are pretty hard to keep lit.

Right on! Smoking some right now. Boo Hoo Hoo to the Walleye Purists. Smoke enhance the flavor, just like you were frying it over a campfire next to the lake or river where you caught it. MMMMMMMMMMm Gooood! Frying it in a pan in your kitchen is great, but, out in the open air cannot be beat with a stick.

Everyone’s taste buds are different so I’ll never knock what someone else thinks is great. For myself I think walleye are too great without other strong flavors masking their goodness. Go ahead and try it to see what you think. I have smoked about everything in the river in the past and prefer the oilier and stronger tasting fish to smoke. Sturgeon is my favorate followed by buffalo, Salmon, and carp. Even if I wanted to my wife would make a fuss if I told her I was smoking walleye.

Pictures look awesome. Are you cold smoking, or what temp are you running?

Bullheadfinder wrote:

Pictures look awesome. Are you cold smoking, or what temp are you running?

Pictures are from 2010. Doubt “slayer” is even on this forum anymore.

Always find it curious when someone reboots a thread from…like years ago?

I do like that though, reliving some history here. Might even think about smoking a walleye one day.

Cleaning out the Uncle”s freezer I came a a cross some walleye from last fall. I cooked some up and was not all that good, my guess been in the freezer to long.
I think smoking the rest may be the ticket.

I agree it is nice to see old post brought up. I was wondering what to do with the fish and this helped a great deal.

littlefishy wrote:

Walleye can be very good if prepared and smoked correctly…really good.

I rarely batter any walleye if I can help it. Keep it simple, butter lemon pepper and a nice crust in a frying pan. nothing better IMO. I can’t imagine smoking it would make it better but anything smoked is pretty irresistable. Carp is at the top of my smoked list.

The obvious comment, “tongue in cheek, here now” is…. “I catch soooo many walleyes that I HAVE to do something different once in a while !”