King Salmon are awesome…and the truly giant ones are unbelievably special creatures. Here’s a list of 10 (15 actually) massive kings that will make you weak in the knees…
Over 100 Pounds!
In August of 2021, Gayle Gordon caught just may be the largest sport-caught king salmon (present day) ever. The monster bit a trolled herring in the saltwater of British Columbia’s fabled River’s Inlet. After a couple quick measurements, she amazingly released the brute go so he could spawn.
Because she let the fish go, Gordon don’t get an official weight on the salmon but when put it into the ol’ tried and true 750 weight formula (Weight = Length x Girth x Girth /750) and it came out to 105.9 pounds!
Watch the VIDEO
South American Beasts
South America seems to be the place for giant kings these days, specifically Patagonia. In 2018, Rogerio Audbert from Brazil caught and released this 90-pound class leviathan on a fly in Argentina. In the photo below, Jasper Pääkkönen from Finland (you know him from the hit TV show Vikings) caught one in the upper 80’s in the same area. And would you look at the size of that adipose fin! Sadly, a soon to be built dam will block off the spawning habitat in this system so this new fishery may already be headed towards a thing of the past :(
Read more at https://www.solidadventures.com/glacier-king/
108 Pounds!!!
(San Juan Island Historical Museum photo)
Chrome Kenai Monster
Steve Huckey of Arizona caught and released this beastly king on the Kenai River with Greg Brush of EZ Limit Guide Service. It was 55.5″ x 34″ and estimated to weigh in the mid to high 80’s.
Close to 80 Pounds!
The Kenai River in Alaska has pumped out more monster Chinook than anywhere. This massive 53.5″ x 34″ buck weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 pounds!
Potential Record…Released!
On July 15, 2009, angler Joel Atchison caught this massive Chinook on the Kenai River in Alaska. Guide John Whitlatch of Reel Adventures says he’s not sure if the fish was a world record or not…because he and Aitchison decided to forgo their own glory and instead let the big beast go and make babies. Very, very cool!
The Biggest of All!
The biggest king salmon ever caught was this 126-pound monster that was caught in a fish trap near Petersburg, Alaska in 1949. My friend and fellow Alaska guide, Chris Sessions, sent me this pic and said that a friend of his has one of the three replica mounts of the behemoth on his wall.
All I can say is OMG!!!
The King of Kings
No list of massive king salmon would be complete without the current All-Tackle IGFA All-Tackle World Record 97-pound, 4-ounce king caught by Les Anderson in the Kenai River back in May of 1985. The record fish measured a mind blowing 58.5″ x 37″ and was probably a 100 pounder considering it wasn’t weighed for several hours after it was caught.
You can read the whole story HERE
Sacramento Monster
Imagine the surprise of California Department of Fish & game biologists when they found this Godzilla-sized Chinook carcass in Battle Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River, nearly 300 miles upstream, from the ocean! The fish was almost 51 inches long and estimated to weigh 88 pounds… dead! In his prime, out in the salt, the fish could have been pushing 100 pounds!
See more photos HERE
83-Pound BC Beast (Released!)
Deborah Whitman-Perry of Newmarket, Ont., caught & released this huge king that weighed 83 pounds, three ounces in August 2012 at River’s Inlet, BC while fishing with guide Tyler Mills of Good Hope Cannery. Again, I’m loving the fact that people are letting these hogs go! Read the whole story HERE
The Good Ol’ Days: Columbia River June Hogs
Before all the dams royally messed the Columbia River up for good, it had some monster Chinook! Bound for the upper end of the watershed, “June Hogs” sometimes topped 100 pounds. The construction of Grand Coulee Dam, which has no fish passage, ultimately did these massive beasts in for good. :(
Saltwater Slab
So, considering I’ve never caught a king remotely as big as this 80-pounder from River’s Inlet, BC… I can only imagine how ridiculously massive the fillets off a fish like this are! Kudos to the netter too… I’m thinking I’d have a sudden case of the shakes when this bad dude came to the surface!
85-Pound June Hog
Here’s another one from the “wish I had a time machine jet sled” files… An 85-pound Columbia River June Hog caught in 1925 at Astoria by Tony Canessa. Man, those fish were soon awesome!
Are you a steelhead junkie?
10 Mind Blowing Giant Steelhead
Being both an angler and a baseball player, I love when my two worlds overlap. Between the Minor Leagues, small colleges and traveling teams, there are some cool fish-based baseball teams out there. Sure, MLB has the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Rays (yawn!), but the lesser known teams like the Bridgeport Bluefish above are way more interesting. Here are some other fun fish teams…
The Charlotte County Redfish are an Independent Minor League Baseball team in the South Coast League. Founded in 2007, the Redfish are one of the founding teams of the SCL. The Redfish play their home games at Charlotte County Stadium in Port Charlotte, FL.
The Independent League Sacramento Steelheads played a couple seasons in Sacramento and then a year or two as the “Solano Steelheads” before folding. The biggest story to come out of the franchise was when former National League most valuable player (played with the Giants) Kevin Mitchell, who was playing at the time for the Sonoma County Crushers, punched the owner of the Steelheads in the face after an on-field brawl in Vacaville.
The River Falls Fighting Fish are, as near as I can tell, an adult rec league or semi-pro team in Saint Paul, Minnesota. All apologies to the Fish if I’m wrong about that…
Wisconsin’s Kenosha Kingfish play in the independent Northwoods League.
Also in Wisconsin (based in Mequon)are the Lakeshore Chinooks, who play in the Northwoods League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The Chinooks play their home games at Kapco Park on the campus of Concordia University Wisconsin.
Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish are an NCAA Division 2 baseball team out of Florida.
The award for the the least fishy-looking logo goes to the Columbia Blowfish, which is a proud member of the Coastal Plain League, the nation’s hottest summer collegiate baseball league. Celebrating its 15th season in 2011, the CPL features 15 teams playing in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. The CPL gives college players the chance to refine their skills with the use of wooden bats.
The Hiroshima Toyo Carp is a professional baseball team in Japan’s Central League. The team has not been in serious contention since their last championship in 1991. They remain the only team in the league to have never been above third place since the year 2000.