Instructions: When salmon make their fall spawning run up the Feather River in Northern California, Andy Taylor and his 13-year-old son, Tim, will be in their 14-foot boat trying to entice at least one of them onto a hook.

If they succeed in boating a fish, it will be at least another day before the filets hit the grill, time enough for the salmon to spend nine hours in the marinade, the ingredients of which Taylor guards.

"I have people begging me for the recipe," says Taylor, who owns a cabinetry shop in Auburn. The marinade, whether used on the fresh fillets or the salmon he stocks in his freezer, produces his favorite meal. "Its even better cold the next day, but we never have enough left over."

Summer and early fall brings the bounty of the ocean to the tables of people who catch their own fish, then wonder - or perhaps their wives do - how to cook them so they arent chewy or fishy-tasting. Dry heat, such as grilling, baking, or broiling, presents more of a challenge because timing is everything. If the fish is overcooked, it dries out.

Steaming and poaching can still overcook fish, but cant dry it out, so half the battle is won.

Taylor grills his salmon in an aluminum-foil boat he fashions, leaving some marinade in it, which keeps the fish moist. He is not big on equipment, using foil as a kind of universal cookware. If hes camping in the mountains and catches a trout, he cleans it, puts onion and lemon slices inside it, wraps it in foil and cooks it over campfire coals.

Fish-cooking accessories are handy, but some are expensive. Practical accessories for a barbecue would be fine-mesh grills that can be set on top of a nasty old grill or flat wire baskets. Both will eliminate the hazard of turning a piece of fish with a spatula. and though even Jane Brody, author of Jane Brodys Good Seafood Book, advises that foil (or cheesecloth) can turn a roasting pan into a fish poacher, not everyone will want to go through the effort. She advises laying rolled-up strips of foil across the bottom and over the sides, then lifting the fish out with them when it is done. This is how one would present a fish in its glory, served whole on a platter.

People who dont want to bother with the make-do aspects of foil-poaching a whole fish should just go ahead and buy a poacher. There are a number available online, with a tray that lifts out, keeping the fish intact. But before you add a poacher to your shopping cart, consider how often youre likely to serve a whole fish.

More likely youll be like Andy Taylor, who freezes his fillets in meal-size portions. It is more likely to be eaten that way, even in winter, when grillers migrate indoors to watch TV. Then is the time to switch to the microwave.

Bill Utley of Harpswell, Maine, who has been catching fish for much of his 50-odd years, thinks his microwave is great for poaching. He cooks it in a quick fish stock he makes. "Its five minutes in the microwave and its done," Utley said.

Utley also grills fish in a basket over the coals in his front-opening woodstove in the winter. "Since we burn oak and maple all winter, we have a good bed of coals all the time."

Anyone who has experienced cutting fish knows that a very sharp knife is the most valuable tool to possess. It is especially crucial in filleting a fish, as Taylor does.

A sharp boning knife will prevent a filet from appearing hacked-up and will remove more of the meat from the skeleton. It also allows for the thin slices most desired for smoking, another favorite salmon preparation of Taylors.

Taylor uses a "Little Chief" smoker that cost about $75. He uses a different marinade in a long, involved process that produces delicious smoked salmon. It has proven cost effective, at least for his son. When the father asked why the smoked salmon was disappearing so quickly from the refrigerator, the son said hed been selling it at school - for $5 a bag. Ouch!

If you would like to email yourself the recipe for later use, or share the recipe with your friends or family, enter the email addresses below and this recipe will be emailed to you and others as well.