Silver with white meat?

[ivan8r]

I caught a silver today, and when I filleted it, I noticed that the meat was not pink. It was a creamy white color. The meat looked similar to trout, and did not appear to be bad. The fish had started to blush, but wasn't all that far along.

I've heard of white kings before, but are there white silvers too?

[Bob Ball - Piscatorial Pursuits]

hen or buck? Hens with any color will be too far gone in my book ... just the nature of the processes that get the eggs to full maturity.

Blush bucks will outcut most "chrome" hens most of the time ... especially true with silvers.

If a smaller buck, it's not uncommon to see lighter color flesh amongst all small bucks of any species ... I think it's a matter of both food sources at that size and getting old enough for the body to have everything together to make the orange flesh that we are all used to

[northriver21]

I totally agree with Bob. Female silvers deteriorate much quicker than any other salmon. Kings are not far behind.

I have seen many silvers thet were only pink that were to far gone. Take a red and silver in the same color phase and see how much darker the meat from the red will be, you will be surprised.

[ivan8r]

This one was a hen, as you guys guessed.

You're also right about sockeye at this same stage of coloration... the meat was very dark, even though the fish was of similar coloration of this silver that I caught. The only reason I kept this silver was because the color was similar to some reds I kept earlier this summer.

I'll probably give these fillets to my neighbor's dogs, since this meat sounds like it may not be as appetizing as I would have liked.

[negative50]

is the meat still good?

My buddy caught a buck that had much lighter meat than the rest of silvers we caught this weekend. In fact thats how we knew it was his after we fileted it out. So is the meat still good to eat or smoke?

[skydiver]

Maybe it was a king

What you caught was probably a small white king. Happened to me a few weeks ago. Thought it was a large silver. Cut into it and it looked like halibut meat. Looked closer at the fish and realized that it was a king. No pinkish meat at all.

[homerdave]

kings/silvers on deck

if you have a bunch of fish of the same size it is quick and easy to find a "hidden" king by the smell....kings don't smell at all like silvers. sort of metallic....check it out, if you have never noticed, once you do you will always know.
of course, they don't look that much alike on close inspection...

[Water_Gremlin]

Man, and I thought they all smelt slimy to me.

[Oteenneeto]

I'd agree that it may have been an early return white king, last week we were trolling the narrows out of Valdez and picked one up. Spots on tail and black gums were the only way we could tell the difference between the king and the silvers we were catching. When we filleted it out the meat was white and firm, and **** tasty.

[skier]

Not that I know much, but.....

I have an old friend who guides in the Kasilof area for Salmon. He knows his fish. Anyways, back in college he would bring home "white" silvers and talk about how rare they were and serve them up as a delicacy. I'm an interior dweller whol harvests fish in Chitna. My opinion is reds rule...you don't have to do anything to them. Silver's are great if you like to make your fish taste like something else. There flavor is not as strong as the reds therefore it takes a little extra spice to make them delicious. That said, keep them all. People up here eat fish that came 800 miles and love it!!
BC