Whitefish Misunderstood Tasty Game Fish Rarely Gets Proper Respect
The mountain whitefish is like the innocent victim of vigilante justice: Condemned without a trial.
While casting dry flies for trout on the Yakima River one fall, I recall that my partner advertized a hook-up with a loud “Yahoo!”
His rod bent and trembled as the fish battled strongly in the current. But the big smile on his face dissolved as he brought the fish to the net.
“Just a damned whitefish,” he said in obvious disgust.
Later he admitted the whitefish fought nearly as well as the trout we had caught that day. He also noted he had never cooked or tasted whitefish.
“They just look like trash fish to me,” he said, trying to support his prejudice.
The response is fairly typical, even from the saviest anglers. Most people seem to put the whitefish in the category of suckers simply because it has an underturned mouth and large scales.
Most anglers haven’t looked close enough to notice that whitefish have an adipose fin the fleshy protrusion behind the dorsal fin which indicates that whitefish are in the same group of salmonids as trout, char and grayling.
Jim Ryan, a California Fish and Game Department fisheries manager, debunked the myth that whitefish are too bony to eat.
“It’s a fallacy,” he said. “Their bone structure is nearly the same as that of a trout, and their diet is virtually identical. They’re delicious whether you prefer them sauteed, deep-fried or smoked.”
After tossing back every whitefish I’d ever hooked during my formative years in Montana, I first tasted whitefish 20 years ago on a canoe trip in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters.
Several bald eagles sat fat and happy in a snag above dozens of whitefish carcasses, alerting my partner and me to the fall spawning run of whitefish staging in some riffles.
We each drifted a nymph along the bottom and hooked several plump whitefish in no time. We filleted them on the canoe paddles, fried them over a fire and scrapped for the last bite before we slumped back and realized why the eagles were too content to fly.
The few people I’ve ever known who tasted whitefish thought it was delicious. Yet few people fish for them intentionally, even though they outnumber trout in most Western rivers.
Surveys in Oregon’s Deschutes River found whitefish populations ranging from 1,345 to 3,114 per stream mile. Trout in many of the nation’s top fishing streams can’t come close to matching those densities.
Montana biologists contacted last week estimate whitefish to be two or three times more plentiful than trout in rivers such as the Bitterroot, Blackfoot, Clark Fork, Flathead and Kootenai.
A survey last spring on the Coeur d’Alene River from Cataldo to Enaville found 1,200 whitefish per mile, compared with only 800 trout per mile, said Ned Horner, Idaho Fish and Game Department regional fisheries manager.
Some researchers have speculated that mountain whitefish could be the most abundant sport species in Western streams.
The reason whitefish outnumber trout appears to be from a combination of factors.
* Mountain whitefish are relatively short lived, generally reaching sexual maturity at three years and living to an average age of four. Cutthroat tend to spawn around 4 years old and live to 5 or 6. Bull trout mature between 4 and 6 years old and live to around 15.
* Whitefish are broadcast spawners while trout have more specific requirements and dig nests (redds) for their eggs.
* Whitefish are not as heavily exploited by anglers.
Other differences apparent to anglers include the tendency of whitefish to be more oriented than trout to the bottom, although whitefish can provide great dry fly fishing at times.
Whitefish are gregarious, and much more likely than trout to bunch into large schools.
“All the whitefish in a mile of stream might be congregated in two or three places, while trout tend to be more widespread,” said Steve Pettit, an Idaho Fish an Game Department researcher who headed major whitefish studies on the Clearwater drainage three decades ago.
Among the key similarities between whitefish and cutthroats is their need for pure water. They’re among the first to go belly up when water purity is compromised.
We may never fully understand why most anglers will remain determined to catch trout while a bonanza of whitefish goes untapped in the same stream.
“I don’t think a lot of anglers have the patience it takes,” Petit said.
“I used to see groups of dedicated fishermen who liked going out in winter and catching a sack full of whitefish for the smoker. The fish are still there, but the angler’s are disappearing.”
Some anglers with open minds are seeing the opportunity and reaping the rewards.
Late fall and winter is prime time for catching whitefish in streams throughout the West. Mountain whitefish spawn from October through December. After spawning, large numbers of whitefish usually congregate in deep pools or runs. This stacks the odds in favor of the angler, even though whitefish can be finicky eaters.
Unlike trout, whitefish remain active during winter. Often they will have full stomachs in the coldest weather.
Whitefish feed primarily on the larvae of midges, mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies, except in the fall when they consume large numbers of their own eggs.
Research indicates that although whitefish have the same diet as trout, they seem to cohabitate streams with little effect on trout populations.
Fishermen generally match the whitefish diet items with a variety of imitation nymph patterns or bait such as salmon eggs, hellgrammites, stonefly nymphs and maggots.
Artificial lures and spinners generally aren’t dependable ways to take whitefish. However, some anglers have learned to work tiny jigs effectively. A fly trailed behind a Colorado-type spinner can be efficient, too.
Generally in winter, anglers should present their flies or bait right on the bottom, using light gear, long leaders and small hooks. Size 10-16 bait hooks probably are the most productive for whitefish.
Pettit’s studies found that whitefish migrate as much as 80 miles downstream in Idaho rivers to find deep holes for the winter.
“But they don’t like holes where there is no current,” he said.
Fly fishing can be effective for whitefish, although cold winter temperatures sometimes make fly casting difficult.
The size of the stream has a bearing on fly and line selection.
For instance, on rushing Montana rivers such as portions of the Clark Fork or Kootenai, large heavily weighted flies such as Montana Nymphs and Bitch Creeks are good bets.
On smaller tributaries, the whitefish feed selectively on mayfly larvae. Here the first choice would be small weighed mayfly nymph patterns.
It is more effective to fish a weighted fly rather than adding weight to the line, according to fisheries biologist and expert fly fisher Brian Chan in Kamloops, British Columbia. He also advises anglers to fix a Corkie or some other type of strike indicator at the end of their floating line, although some situations require a fast-sink tip line to get the fly down.
Anglers using bait or spin-fishing gear can fish weighted flies in similar fashion. Like a fly fisher, the key is to keep a straight, taut line to detect the gentle take of a whitefish. Some bait fishers use a float adjusted so the line hangs down and ticks the bottom.
One of the hottest baits, where bait is allowed, is a stonefly nymph fished with a split shot. Sparse whitefish flies and maggots also can be good.
Most streams, such as the Methow and the Little Spokane River, have holes known to hold whitefish winter after winter.
The last free-flowing stretch of the Columbia River downstream from Priest Rapids Dam is a dependable place to catch some of the region’s largest whitefish, averaging 15-18 inches long.
Serious anglers use boats to fish the swift current of this wide rumbling river. One proven technique uses 10-pound monofilament line terminating in a brass swivel and a piece of surgical tubing, into which you insert about 6 inches of pencil lead.
Tie a No. 10 whitefish fly on a 6-inch leader and fix it onto the main line about 12 inches above the lead. About 8 inches above the first leader is another leader, with an identical orange fly. Each of these flies are baited with a salmon egg. From November through February, the whitefish feed on eggs from spawning chinook salmon. Salmon eggs or imitation eggs are good bait during that period.
Earlier and later in the season, whitefish prefer brown or green flies, which more closely resemble their natural food at those times.
The trick is to bounce the weight vertically from the boat as you drift downstream. About the only time the fish are difficult to catch is from mid- to late-December, which is the general spawning period in this particular area of the Columbia.
And when one watches an angler battle 15 whitefish in an hour on the Columbia, any prejudice toward the species seems to melt away.
Whitefish have all the traits anglers admire in trout from fabled streams. They are naturally reproducing native fish with a selective eye. Their delicate strike demands skill to detect.
They are feisty fighters, they grow to pleasing sizes and they are fine fare on the table.
What more could we want?
Two sidebars appeared with the story: 1. WHITEFISH Delicate meat
Whitefish have delicate whitish meat that deteriorates rapidly when subjected to warm air or water. Connoisseurs say whitefish taste dramatically better when caught during winter or early spring than when caught in summer.
2. WHITEFISH Seasons
Where fishing for whitefish is allowed in Eastern Washington and North Idaho, the seasons generally close on March 31, except for the year-round season on the Columbia.
Specific waters open for whitefish in the Panhandle include the St. Joe, North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene, Little North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene, St. Maries and Moyie.
Eastern Washington streams include the Little Spokane River and Sherman Creek. Farther west, bait is not allowed for whitefishing in the Wenatchee, Methow, Chewuch and Entiat rivers, although bait is allowed in Sinlahekin Creek and Similkameen River upstream of Enloe Dam.
The daily catch limit in Washington is 15 whitefish. The limit in Idaho is 50.