What to do w/a 16lb. trout?

Wow, that is some fish! Good work. :D

How about curing a fillet? Here's a thread on Gravlax and another on curing salmon that might provide some help. The only thing is, after you cure the fish, iirc you've got to cook it, since it's freshwater. When I tried it with trout, it came out really well. Unfortunately, I don't know how well it would keep, 'cause we ate it all up fast! But I suspect that between the curing and the cooking, you should be able to hold it for a while.

Nice fish!

Gravlax is great stuff, h/t to Suzanne and her friends. Still... Gravlax is a short-term salt/sugar cure; from a parasite standpoint the product is not substantially different from sashimi and similar safety rules apply. I'd be leery of doing any fish from Irvine Lake. On the other hand, it's awfully good.

Meanwhile, back at your trout. Cleaned, head and tail gone, bones out, fullly trimmed you'd be looking at something like 7 or 8 lbs -- so let's call each filleted side about 4 lbs, dressed. That's large enough to feed 6, maybe eight.

I'd smoke one side, using part of it for one dinner, and the remainder for smoked trout pate -- some of which I'd freeze.

I'd cut the remaining piece in half. Portion one half, and saute in a very hot pan for very crispy skin. Trout likes piccatta a lot, meuniere too, maybe even a beurre blanc finish. The other half, I'd roast hot, covered with herbs, cook until just done, and serve hollandaise.

Considering the unusual size of the fish, it might be fun to steak a few pieces before filleting the sides, "pinwheel" the steaks, and simply grill over charcoal. While I've had plenty of grilled trout, I've never had trout steaks.

The head looks big enough for spicy soup with daikon.

BDL