When hunting season comes to a close, I put away the shotgun and rifle and I break out my rod and tackle box and go fishing. I like to trout fish with a simple hood, sinker, and a couple of kernels of corn. It’s not fancy like some trout fisherman, but it works. Freshly caught trout is one of my favorite meals to cook on a camping trip. There is a satisfaction to catching, cleaning, and cooking fresh fish that adds to the overall enjoyment of a meal. This is one of my favorite trout recipes. It’s simple, delicious and people seem to enjoy it.

Disclosure: Adam’s Garden of Eatin’ participates in affiliate marketing programs. There are some affiliate links below and I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post, but these are all products I highly recommend. I won’t put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.

Ingredients:

Trout

1 Stick of Butter

Lemon

Nature’s Seasoning (My seasoning of choice. You do you.)

Cedar Planks

Sharp 4” Fillet Knife

Step 1: Soak Your Planks

Take your cedar planks and soak them in some water for at least 1 hour. Overnight if possible.

The longer the planks soak, the more smoke they will generate while cooking. Smoke is what you’re after.

Step 2: Clean Your Catch.

Thoroughly clean and gut your trout. Trout are very easy fish to clean. Slice open the belly and remove all the entrails. Make sure to remove the dark blood that runs along the inside of the spine. Wash it out. Done. Ready to cook.

Step 3: Filleting

Filleting your trout is an optional step, but I recommend doing it. You can find how I fillet my trout here. Filleting the bones from a trout does sacrifice a little bit of the meat, but it makes for easier eating in the end. So I think it’s worth the extra effort.  Small trout are harder to fillet than bigger ones, so it does take a little bit of practice. I definitely have ruined my fair share of fish trying to get it right. If you fillet trout or other small fish a lot, I suggest getting some boning tweezers. They make picking out pin-bones and ribs a little easier.

*I like to save the heads and scraps after cleaning fish. It makes great fertilizer for my garden beds.

Step 4: Slice, Stuff, Season

Slice up some pads of butter. Cut your lemon in half and reserve one half. Slice the other lemon half into half-moon slices.

Stuff each fish cavity with a pad of butter, lemon slices, and close.

Lightly dust both sides of the trout with Nature’s Seasoning and place trout on your soaked cedar planks.