I just did a side by side smoke of a salmon filet (caught in Michigan by neighbor, froze fresh, some sort of white variety) and some Atlantic Salmon (pink variety, bought at the local grocer) and the difference was amazing. The MI salmon was VERY moist and much better taste, the store bought Atlantic Salmon was rather dry. Is this because of the type of fish was different?, was it because we live so far from any coast? Both filets were of roughly the same size. Any Ideas?

I'm no Salmon expert,but I'd guess the Atlantic is farm raised on pellets to make them pink,no fats,no flavor,and often not worth the trouble of a long smoke.

Since they no longer are shipping the Alaskan to the chains here,I've given up on anything other than a quick grillin'.

Just my $0.02.

Farm raised salmon don't the same type of exerise wild salmon do and because they are raised in pins made of nets they need to be protected from current so polution is a problem.
Alantic salmon are ok at best when compared to other strains of salmon. Some of the best salmon can be pink in color but the oil build up is from the need to make very hard swims to their spawning ground up river. Farm raised salmon just doesn't reproduce this type of quality fish.

There are studies going on now that are saying farm raised fish may be a health risk but no final word has come out.
Fish farming is big business on both coasts.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Jim

Indy - the difference between the 2 lies in how the fish are raised. Michigan offers both Chinook and Coho salmon, however they primarily come from hatcheries, and are freshwater. The reason that they are white is because of their un-natural diet. 75% of ALL store bought salmon in the US is farm raised, and also white, but fed a diet with chemicals to make the fish turn pink. If not, it would be white when you bought it at the market. There is not a huge difference in the 2 fish species that you ate, other than the fact that one was fresher that the other, and that it possibly had more room to run in it's lifetime. Now for the REAL difference. Not sure where you live, but what you really need to try is fresh saltwater salmon, preferably from Alaska. It is night and day from farm-raised. I smoke my share of farm-raised, but I cure it first with salt, brown sugar, and teryaki sauce. Forms a nice crust before smoking, and feeps the fisk from absorbing too much smoke. Hope this helps.

Was the Michigan one from Lake Michigan? Maybe it was lake trout instead of salmon?

Also suspect some of the frozen grocery store stuff just dries up from sitting around in storage. Recently got a few halves of "wild Alaskan salmon" frozen for $.99/lb, worth all of that but not too much more.

When I lived in Ann Arbor (Go Blue!) it was the wild-caught coho salmon that were condemned. Mercury or some such accumulated in their tissues. But then again, the Detroit River caught on fire when I was up in Michigan.

Hope things are better now.

Meanwhile, as you might have heard, the salmon farms in Chile and elsewhere are terrible polluters. Concentrated salmon poop and other debris.

Life is tough on this planet.

I saw a story about the chemicals they add to Salmon to make the farm fish "pink". If I can find it, I'll post it.

But, I'm still smoking them anyway

Same here Smokin'...I still smoke them anyway. I immagine that there might be a difference when smoked to the Kippered stage but I smoke mine to Squaw Candy and can't tell the difference in texture or taste. Besides, the only salmon run that we have here is at Costco or Sam's
CB

chate-toe

do you go after them with " lite tackel" a shoping cart, or do you use " heavy tackel " a floor cart???

the bigguy dave

Definately heavy tackle 'cause I often snag something on the back cast.
CB

You guys are sick sick sick

I love salmon that I buy at the grocers. I was told it was no match to the fish you can catch in Alaska. As it's too far and too expensive to go to Alaska, to not catch a fish,(I usually catch garfish and nasty things when I fish here in Florida), I guess I'll just go with what I can get. GO, SMOKED GARFISH!!!!!