The goldeye (Hiodon alosoides) is a freshwater fish found in Canada and the northern United States.

There are teeth present on the tongue,[6] the roof of the mouth on the parasphenoid bone and the palatopterygoid arch[7] and along the jaws.

[12] The goldeye is considered a good fly-fishing fish, but not popular with most anglers because of its small size.

[14] Its fresh flesh is considered soft and unappealing, so it was only taken randomly in gillnets and (in the past) sold for dogfood.

Its commercial viability was realized by Robert Firth, who immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba from Hull, England in 1886.

Firth was carrying on a mediocre trade in cold-smoked goldeye, when he miscalculated the heat of his smoker and accidentally developed the now-standard method of hot-smoking it whole.

[11] In 1926–29 the annual catch exceeded a million pounds, but stocks declined from 1931 and little was fished from Lake Winnipeg after 1938.

[16] A small amount of the commercial harvest is shipped to the United States, but most is consumed in Canada.