Eating Grayling

[RuralMT]

Good afternoon all. I hope all is going well and that your ice is thicker than mine up here in the northwest corner! As I continually scratch the itch to get on the ice, I was curious about everyone's thoughts on grayling as table fare? My girlfriend and I kept a batch from a lake up in my neck of the woods last summer and fried them up like we would any other fish (battered and fried in bacon grease or butter) and both of us found them quite delectable. However, like most things, I've heard different opinions about them, most of which were negative. Do you think it's lake specific, or do you think grayling just have an unwarranted stigma?

[huntinfool18]

I’ve only eaten it once, it wasn’t really a white meat like walleye but wasn’t really pink meat like trout/salmon either but the taste reminded me a lot of trout. So if your into that kind of thing I’m sure you’d enjoy it

[RuralMT]

it wasn’t really a white meat like walleye but wasn’t really pink meat like trout/salmon either but the taste reminded me a lot of trout

That's what intrigued me the most. The meat neither looked nor tasted like any trout or white-fleshed fish I'd eaten in the past. I actually preferred it to trout, which I don't mind eating at all. I've heard/read that they don't freeze well and perhaps that's why they turned out good; we filleted and fried them up the same day we caught them.

[PyroZuki]

I ain't never had one that was delicious.
I reckon it's just like any other fish, some probably don't like it.

Pyro

[RuralMT]

Well, I've never been accused of having a refined palate lol. I suppose I should hop on the bandwagon and decry them...more for me that way 

[BigSage]

They are a member of the whitefish family

[MtPike_Master]

I absolutely love grayling. Just fillet, roll in favorite batter and fry. Or, gut and wrap in aluminum foil with butter, lemon pepper and a slice of lemon and bake in the oven

[RuralMT]

I absolutely love grayling. Just fillet, roll in favorite batter and fry

Agreed. I do the same thing with whitefish (mountain or lake variety) and find them equally tasty. I find our cultural mores surrounding food to be fascinating.

[BloodShotP]

To those frying whitefish/grayling - are they bony? Ive heard they are super bony, not like perch or walleye where you can get boneless filets?

[mt-mike]

lots of bones.

[RuralMT]

They seemed to cook up just like trout fillets, and I don't bother to do anything special to their pin bones. Perhaps it was because they were on the smaller side (like the trout I keep for the pan), but they softened up enough to eat.

[slickice]

Three times in my life.  Yuk!  Soft white meat and bony.  Three strikes and you're out.  As honest Abe said "If you don't learn from history, you're destined to repeat it". 

[RobG]

Three times in my life.  Yuk!  Soft white meat and bony.  Three strikes and you're out.  As honest Abe said "If you don't learn from history, you're destined to repeat it".

The ones out of Hyalite, back when you could keep them, were softer than trout. I didn't care for them. Other areas must have better fish.

[whitetail]

Not much of a fish eater, but ate a lot of them in Alaska. One of the few fish I will eat and like. After fried the bones are easy to pic out. Always skinned them . After gutting ,cut through skin full length of back. Then from front grip a small piece of skin between knife and thumb. The shin peels off like a sheet of paper. Easiest fish to  skin.