So I'll be harvesting some stocked trout over the next week (note the optimism). I have yet to find a recipe for rainbow that I like. I have tried frying in butter or a mix of butter and oil with a cornmeal or flour coating - not so great (prefer crappie, bream, catfish or sea trout if it's fried). Any suggestions for a recipe? Maybe something baked or grilled?

I put mine on the smoker, pick the meat then vacume seal it in 1/2 cup lots and freeze. When I'm ready I combine one block cream cheese, one finely chopped shallot, 1/2 tbsp fresh thyme and some fresh ground black pepper. mix well then fold in the trout. Serve on plain water crackers for an appetizer.

Most of these stocker trout are so small, it's hardly worth frying em.

Thanks, Spiny Norman, that's very similar to how I cooked/served some small lake trout that I caught in Maine a year ago (used apple wood for the smoke - very mild smoke taste). I'll give the smoker a try with the rainbow.

1.Take the trout. gut it,scale it, cut the head, fins, and tail off.
2.on a piece of aluminum foil. place down lemon slices and dill,
3. put olive oil, salt and pepper all over your trout. inside and out.
4. lay trout on lemon and dill.
5. Place more lemon slices and dill on fish.
6. Wrap up the fish
7. Get your grill nice and hot.
8. Grill on high heat about 6 to 7 minutes per side. It don't take long. fish should flake easy. Then its done.
9. Enjoy.

If you don't have a grill. Do the same as above. but put the whole thing in a baking pan.Put in an oven on 350. Wait 10 to 12 minutes. The baking pan is a must. If not, Your oven will smell like fish for weeks. Don't ask me how I know.

gut em, cornbread em, fry em, eat

Thats good eatin right there.

The real small ones, eat whole like a sardine outta the tin...

yup

Trout are pretty mild flavored and delicate meat. No need to scale them either.

Gut them, leave the head on, brush with a little olive oil. A little salt and pepper. Heat your grill good and hot, brush the grates with a little oil and grill the fish whole. Time will depend on the size. For a small (<1lb) about 4 mins then turn once for three. Done.

I went with Spiny Norman's smoker suggestion with the first batch of trout of the season. Smoked 8 trout from 9 to 15 inches for 2.5 hours using apple wood. Will serve some tonight on top of sliced french bread toasted over coals with a sauce made from yogurt, dijon mustard, dill relish and Lousiana hot sauce. Along with a nicely chilled riesling, of course.

+1...

And don't forgot, with a frozen Mug with beer...

who else has problems getting the meat off the fish without all those pin bones in it? no matter how careful I am I still get em in every bite it seems

If they're properly cooked, you can easily remove the bones.
In my opinion, the cornbread/deepfry overpowers the delicate taste of a wild-caught trout, but for these hatchery raised specimens it might minimize the muddy taste they have. I prefer to bake or panfry in olive oil or butter with a little fresh lemon juice.

You can remove the dorsal fin and bones by pulling them out.

Hold it by the head (or spine if you've beheaded them), carefully insert a fork at the top to the spine, slowly leveraging the meat away from the ribs. Once you have one side done, slowly lift the spine up from the other side, again using your fork to pull the meat away from the ribs.

You now have two boneless filets of trout!

+1 on reply above.

Butter, sliced shallot, canned tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stuff whole trout with all ingredients. Add salt, pepper, butter and sprinkle with shallots to skin side. I use squeeze butter to make things simple. Wrap in tinfoil and grill. Fish flakes right off without the bones. Skin should also peel right off. Good eats.

I know Im cooking them properly ( I dont fry them either) I broil them in the oven basting them with olive oil so they dont dry out. The bones I mentioned are so small ( about the thinkness of hair) no matter how delicately I try to remove the meat from the ribs and spine there are always some left. They are so fine that I dont choke on them or anything, its just unpleasant. Maybe its the size of trout that we get in dallas? pretty small

To eat, take a fork and insert next to the backbone. Pull outward, toward the belly of the fish and away from the backbone, pulling the meat off and leaving the bones behind.