Salmon Fishing

Characteristics and Size Range
Chinook salmon, also known as King salmon, boast striking blue-green coloring on their backs and heads, complemented by silvery sides and white bellies. These majestic fish feature distinctive black spots on the upper half of their bodies, accompanied by gray or black mouth coloration.

Chinook salmon exhibit a remarkable size range, with recorded lengths extending up to 58 inches and weights reaching an astonishing 129 pounds. However, their size can vary widely, typically ranging from 5 to 70 pounds, depending on the season

This species is usually 18-24 inches in length and 8-12 pounds in weight. The head is conical with a snout bluntly pointed but greatly extended, thickened and turned down in breeding males. These breeding males are characterized by their inability to close their mouths. Adults in the ocean are colored a steel-blue to slightly green with silver sides, white bellies and small black spots on the back.

Silvery sides with a green or blue back and white tips on the ventral and anal fins. Sockeye have no large spots on back or tail, but some may have speckling on the back. The color gradually changes from silver with a dark back, to spawning colors dominated by a typical sockeye color pattern of a bright red body with green on the head and tail.

The pink salmon is metallic blue-green in the water from above and silvery from below; black spots on back and on the caudal fin. When spawning, males develop humped backs, hooked jaws and reddish-yellow sides. The females tend to be more greenish. Up to 30 inches in length and weigh up to 12 pounds; pink salmon usually weigh from 3 to 5 pounds.

A mature adult chum is usually about 25 inches in length and 10 pounds in weight. The snout is bluntly pointed but greatly extended, compressed and turned down in breeding males; the lower jaw is enlarged and turned up at the tip making it impossible to close this sharp toothed mouth. A steel-blue and the back and upper sides with fine black speckles turning into a silver-white on the belly characterize the chum.