Hi everyone,

I'm wondering if any members have any experience with trout fishing in Colorado? More specifically, I'm looking for any tips for cleaning trout. If you want to go even deeper and give some tips about how to season/cook them, that'd be cool too.

I did find a pretty simple, straight-forward video on YouTube about cleaning trout. Here's the link.

Should I stick to what this guy says? Anyone else got any other knowledge/tips? Any input is appreciated!

-Midwest Man (Soon to be Colorado Man)

I've only ever fished for trout in MN.

The way shown in the video is how I do them. I like to wrap them in foil with butter, a dash of garlic, a pinch of minced onion, and some seasoning salt and cook them over a fire. After they're done, you can pull the spine out and most of the bones will come with it.

If you have bigger fish, it's not too hard to filet them.

+1

If I cook them whole, that is the way I do it. I like add fresh dill and lemon inside the cavity along with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

MidwestMan: "...trout fishing in Colorado? "

Just compensate for the higher elevation. You should be good.

I grew up in Colorado and now live in the midwest, so we're swapping places. How the video shows is how I've always done it; I try to really get my index finger down the throat when I'm pulling the guts out. Make sure you rip the pectoral fins off with that pull as well (like he does in the video), sometimes one of them tries to stay behind, and everything seems to come out better if they both come with.

The only thing I do differently is I break the head off at the end; hold the fish belly up, grab the head in one hand, and the body close to the head in the other and bend down (sometimes with a little twist at the end). Butter and lemon pepper, wrap in foil and throw in a fire/on a grill. They are also very good beer battered and deep fried, but then you need to fillet them.

That's not too different from a walleye, except you have to cut out a chunk along the lateral line that has these little pin bones in it.

To clean then I just remove the guts and gills. To cook them I put them in foil with some dill and a couple of lemon slices. Cook Over a fire for about 10 min and check if done. Just peal the skin and bones off and eat.

Do the way in the video if they are smaller trout. If bigger trout, I fillet them but leave the skin on for cooking as it has fats which can add to flavor.

We carry a small gas grill. Put mesquite wood chips on the burner plate, seasoned butter on the fish and cook skin down.

For me it all depends on the size of the trout. Stream trout size, say less than somewhere around 12" (depending how big of a frying pan you have), my favorite way to prepare them is to simple gut and remove the head. Dust in seasoned flour and fry in a little butter. I would take wild brook trout prepared in this manor over any fish prepared by any other method. Just don't forget to eat the crispy tail fin as well ;)

For larger fish like lake trout, browns, rainbows, salmon, etc., I do the foil wrap technique like others have mentioned, and it is very good.

I've fileted, gutted and cooked in foil, and cooked directly on the grill grate. Depends on your preferences. Cooking a gutted and stuffed trout directly over the fire is great for getting the smoke flavor and crispy skin. Wrapped in foil is better for stuffing, easy even cooking, and holding in the juices. Fileted is for frying, with or without breading.

I just cut from gills to the butt hole. Then I slit through the thin skin under the jaw and just stick my thumb into the hole to the gills and rip everything out. Clean out the cavity and your good to go. You can remove the bones if you want but they come out so easily once cooked. It's more of a pain to do it when raw though.

One other tip, the cheek meat on the head is great and worth cooking the head for.

I pretty much follow that video for Cuts and Rainbow.

I usually am UL backpacking, so at that point I run a sharpened green branch through mouth and into the fish, and cook over a small open fire. Eat one side, peel/lift the bones out with the head...proceed to side 2. Don't forget the cheeks!

+1 HH & Mickeal

Thank you all for your responses! We made it to CO and I've been working on get my fishing license. It hasn't been easy at all due to a number of factors but you can bet I'm goin fishin the minute I'm legal!

I ended up getting my official CO fishing license this afternoon and landed my first CO trout by 4:00PM! Only caught one today but also only fished for a half hour or so. I walked a good long way from my apartment to get to a fairly remote spot. NEED a mountain bike here! Anyways, I'm going to try to upload a picture of the brown trout (I believe).

I went fishing early this morning. Got 5 total trout: 3 Brown and 2 Rainbow. Although both of the Rainbows would have been keepers (16"+ and maximum 2 fish per day), I only kept the last one. The last one measured at 19 3/4". It was my first time ever attempting to de-gut and cook a Rainbow Trout. It turned out really tasty. I had minimum condiments, so I used Olive Oil and Garlic. My dog, Ranger, loved it too.

Nice work MM! Looks like you're settling in nicely... Where in CO are you? I'm guessing Denver metro. I'm up near Conifer. Here are a couple spots in the mountains to serve your trout needs. Tarryall Reservoir, it's ice free now and trout are usually cooperative. Also check out Jefferson Lake, though ice out/road opening is probably a few more weeks . From Denver both are south on US 285, when you get to the town of Jefferson you head south to Tarryall and north to Jefferson Lake.

Thanks for the tips ledhead. I'm in Glenwood Springs.