Went and got my new licenses for the year and decided to get out and do a little bit of fishing this weekend. Hit one of my favorite spots on the Missouri to check out the progress of the rainbow spawn. I saw some redds cleared out but didn't see trout on them. I fished for a few hours and pulled out this big boy.

He was about 23" and roughly 4 lbs. Filleted and brined him last night to get him ready for the smoker. Looks like they are getting ready to spawn.

Sorry but that is the ugliest rainbow I have ever seen.. damn thing looks like a spawned out salmon

Then you must not have a lot of experience with spawning rainbows because that one isn't even fully morphed. They are salmonoids, so they undergo the same changes as salmon, such as hooked jaws and curved backs.

less to share then

never had smoked trout, we just flop em in some cornmeal with a buttered pan. when they are done we just put the fillet on toast with salt/pepper, sometimes lemon.... the trout rarely make it back to the house

It's quite good and my preferred method of eating them (or salmon) when they are spawning as their meat starts to turn color an get soft. I keep the non spawning silvery ones for roasting/frying. I hope the weather improves soon so I can get back to smoking as I have a large amount of kokanee salmon I caught last fall during the snagging season I need to smoke.