I do pickle sockeye. It's called lox. You can find many different recipies on the net for lox. Mine is simple and evryone who tried the lox said it was the best (all ingrediants MUST be the same as in the recipe - no substitutions, or the result will be different):
1. Fillet sockeye/coho (I use only 1/2 of the fish at a time)
2. Mix 2 handfulls of coarse salt, 2 teaspoon of white sugar, 2 teaspoons of freshly cracked WHITE pepper.
3. Wash and chop 1 buch of fresh dill.
4. In a rectangular Pyrex dish (the one with tall walls) sprinckle a bit of salt mixture on the bottom. Place one fillet skin down. Cover it with 1/2 of salt mixture and all chopped dill.
5. Rub the rest of the salt mixture into the second fillet and place it meat down. Sprinckle salt on top of the second fillet.
6. Cover with plastic wrap and press with pre-cut board (to fit on the dish) and some weight you find in the fridge (jam, etc.)
7. Keep at least 2 nights under the press. If the fillets are thicker and from the front half of the fish - 3 nigths are required. After that rinse the dill off (some pepper may stay as it will give more flavour), pick the small bones (if any), and slice it with the fillet knife. I start with bottom fillet. Will keep for one week in the fridge in the same brine.
Deadly on the freshly toasted Olafson's bagle with cream cheese. Reeb is optional
P.S. It's adviced to deep freeze the fish for at least 48 hours before makig the lox.