Okay, you’ve seen my list of the 10 of the Biggest King Salmon ever taken so I figured it was time to have some fun and give the little guys a shot at being in the spotlight.

So, here’s my list of the Top 5 Smallest King Salmon Ever Caught. To qualify, the kings had to be of the sea-run variety. Landlocked salmon were ineligible.

Have you ever…er…topped any of these?

#1 He May be small but at least he’s dark!

I had a client catch this ocean-run king in Alaska while we were fishing for trout. I’ve see a lot of small jacks in my days but this one got high marks for being extremely brown too!

#2 Eyes bigger than his stomach

Well, you gotta admire this Klamath River micro chromer’s desire! For scale purposes, that’s a 4.5-inch long plug he latched onto. Could be that he thought it was his mama…

#3 Not much longer than a tube of sunscreen

You know they are small when they can be measured with facial product containers! We caught this brown guppy  on California’s Trinity River.

#4 Fly-caught mini record

If they kept records for such things, Tristian Lund may have a plaque on his wall for holding the record for the smallest fly-caught king of all time. A natural born angler, the kid even has the classic fly rodder’s “rod in mouth because my fancy gear should never touch anything but skin or velvet” pose down pat!

#5 Crazy weight to length ratio

The kings on Alaska’s Nushagak River tend to be very heavy for their size, as evidenced by this 15-inch, 31 pounder!