While we only have Chinook and coho salmon here in Northern CA (generally speaking) there are three other varieties of Pacific Salmon common to the West Coast…and which occasionally stray into Nor Cal’s waters. Can you name em?
Do you know your Pacific Salmon?
18 Responses to Do you know your Pacific Salmon?
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A couple years back i caught a Sockeye in the Feather River that looks identical to the one pictured in #3.
SV, I know of a few others caught in the Feather awhile back. I saw one swim by and guide Kevin Brock caught one. His bit roe which is weird for sockeye…what did yours hit? There are no spawning populations south of the Columbia River but we obviously get a stray now and then!
I caught it fly fishing with an egg pattern. I wonder if a few of them do spawn and sustain a small population, or if they’re simply lost individuals? Could they possibly be Kokanee washed down from Oroville Res? Kinda cool regardless, don’t need to go to Alaska to catch one!
#5 good canned
#4 tastey pickled
#3 yummy over a camprire
#2 great cooked anyway
#1 awsomely delicious
Well said, Allen!
Okay, Ray pretty much nailed this one…#5 is a chum salmon off the beach at Kalsin Bay, Alaska. #4 is a pink from the estuary of the American River on Kodiak Island…just down from the Olds River. #3 is a sockeye from Lake Rose Tead, which is technically the upper end of the Psagshak River, so you get points for that one too. The silver…which was #2, was from the Beach at Kalsin Bay, so technically you are right again…It was caught about a mile from the mouth of the Olds. #1 is a fall Chinook from the Sacramento River near Freeport, CA. But you are wrong about the location…that’s the floor of my OLD jet boat. :)
Spent some time a few years ago staying at Wayne’s World, aka Kalsin Bay Inn. I love the sign in the bar. “Don’t criticize the coffee. Someday you yourself will be old and weak.”
I’m prepping for an upcoming trip to POW, the other island, and should have a shot at all 5 species in their chrome state. Provided it doesn’t rain too much before our trip. Otherwise, the reds will be upstream “parrot heads” like the one in pic # 3.
Almost hard to leave, ’cause the Chinook are so thick in the Monterey Bay right now. I actually caught a couple recently mooching without using any lead.
5 chum 4 pink 3 sockeye 2 coho 1 chinook
5. Chum
4. Kokanee
3. Sockeye
2. Coho (Silver)
1. Chinook
#1…..King (Chinook)
#2…..Silver (Coho)
#3……Sockeye (Red)
#4……Pink (Pink)
#5…….Chum (Dog)
5)Chum
4)Sockeye
3) Pink
2) Coho
1)King
5. Silver
4. Kokanee
3. Sockeye
2. Coho
1. Chinook
I think Kreb nailed it. So I’ll add my geographical guesses.
5 Chum. From the beach. Monashka bay?
4 Pink. Estuary of the Olds?
3 Sockeye. On the Pasagshak.
2 Coho. The sand looks like that stuff you see in the Olds.
1 Chinook. On the floor of your jetboat.
5) Kokanee
4) Pink
3) chum
2) coho
1) The King Ding! Chinook
Hoping I get to go back to Alaska soon to catch some!
Kreb, I think you did nail it. #5 is probably the hardest.
5)Chum
4)Pink
3)Sockeye
2)Coho
1)Chinook
Good fun, I better have nailed it!
pink, chum, sockeye, silver, king
5) chum
4) coho
3) sockeye
2) chinook
1)pink