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You are here: Home / Photos and Video / Cool Photos / Do you know your Pacific Salmon?

Do you know your Pacific Salmon?

July 13, 2012 By JD 18 Comments

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?

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Filed Under: Cool Photos Tagged With: Salmon

Comments

  1. sV says

    July 18, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    A couple years back i caught a Sockeye in the Feather River that looks identical to the one pictured in #3.

    Reply
    • JD says

      July 18, 2012 at 9:27 pm

      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!

      Reply
      • sV says

        July 19, 2012 at 8:48 pm

        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!

        Reply
  2. allen day says

    July 14, 2012 at 11:24 am

    #5 good canned
    #4 tastey pickled
    #3 yummy over a camprire
    #2 great cooked anyway
    #1 awsomely delicious

    Reply
    • JD says

      July 14, 2012 at 12:35 pm

      Well said, Allen!

      Reply
  3. JD says

    July 14, 2012 at 8:09 am

    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. :)

    Reply
    • Ray Fairfax says

      July 14, 2012 at 11:14 am

      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.

      Reply
  4. eric says

    July 14, 2012 at 7:42 am

    5 chum 4 pink 3 sockeye 2 coho 1 chinook

    Reply
  5. Todd says

    July 14, 2012 at 7:08 am

    5. Chum
    4. Kokanee
    3. Sockeye
    2. Coho (Silver)
    1. Chinook

    Reply
  6. tom says

    July 13, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    #1…..King (Chinook)
    #2…..Silver (Coho)
    #3……Sockeye (Red)
    #4……Pink (Pink)
    #5…….Chum (Dog)

    Reply
  7. Dean says

    July 13, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    5)Chum
    4)Sockeye
    3) Pink
    2) Coho
    1)King

    Reply
  8. Todd says

    July 13, 2012 at 6:01 pm

    5. Silver
    4. Kokanee
    3. Sockeye
    2. Coho
    1. Chinook

    Reply
  9. Ray Fairfax says

    July 13, 2012 at 4:38 pm

    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.

    Reply
  10. No snaggn says

    July 13, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    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!

    Reply
  11. ShadMan says

    July 13, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    Kreb, I think you did nail it. #5 is probably the hardest.

    Reply
  12. Kreb says

    July 13, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    5)Chum
    4)Pink
    3)Sockeye
    2)Coho
    1)Chinook

    Good fun, I better have nailed it!

    Reply
  13. jake says

    July 13, 2012 at 1:28 pm

    pink, chum, sockeye, silver, king

    Reply
  14. Beertruck says

    July 13, 2012 at 1:26 pm

    5) chum
    4) coho
    3) sockeye
    2) chinook
    1)pink

    Reply

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