columbia river

10 of the World’s Biggest King Salmon (2024 UPDATE!)

March 12, 2015 By JD 40 Comments

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 :(

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!

Kenai River King
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!

Reel Adventures Salmon
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

Giant Sac Salmon
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!)

83 Pound BC King
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

Astoria Giant, 100 pound kings
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!

Salmon Fishing Techniques

Are you a steelhead junkie?
10 Mind Blowing Giant Steelhead

Walleye: West Coast Style!

May 15, 2012 By JD 2 Comments

Now, if they only would pull a little string...

Though he spends most of his time chasing chrome winter steelhead and big wild Chinook along the coast of Northern California and has made many forays into exotic destinations for all sorts of big game, guide Tony Sepulveda is quite the “Midwest” species aficionado. Crappie, yellow perch, pickerel…you name it…and he’s into it.

And that’s especially true when it comes to ol’ marble eyes! Tony’s such a walleye junkie that, even on a busman’s holiday to the Columbia River recently, he took time out from chasing spring Chinook to try his hand at the river’s prolific ‘eye fishery.

“I’ve never been so excited in my life to catch something that fought so little,” he says of this gorgeous 12-pound walleye he hooked on a crawler harness with a chartreuse Mack’s Blade from just below John Day Dam. “It fought like a big, wet sock…I’m not sure what my fascination is with those things is, but I dig ’em!”

Wet sock or not, that’s one heck of a West Coast walleye! That should put a little more spin in any Midwestern angler’s Lindy Rig!

Columbia River sea lions: Time to pay the Piper!

March 20, 2012 By JD 15 Comments

State and federal biologists estimate that California sea lions have eaten between 1.5 and 4 percent of all returning adult Columbia River salmon at Bonneville Dam each year during the past eight years. But as of March 16, NOAA Fisheries has authorized the use of Lethal Force to curb predation.

I’m sure PETA and others will raise hell, but in my mind, those folks don’t have a leg to stand on until the start actually doing something that helps the animals…like restore habitat, etc. When was the last time you saw a member of PETA buying raffle tickets or auction items at a Ducks Unlimited, Rocky MOuntain Elk Foundation, Costal Conservation Association or Trout Unlimited dinner? Those cats are all the real animal advocates, not kooks who spray paint fur coats. But, alas, I digress…

Read more about the removal of Columbia sea lions at Underwater Times.com

The Greatest Fishing Trip of All Time!

April 13, 2011 By JD 2 Comments

I‘ve read several books about Lewis & Clark over the years, including a version of their Journals that was as thick as a Manhattan phone book. Not only was their journey one of history’s most epic road trips, but man, oh man, did they see some spectacular fishing! The numbers of salmon and steelhead they encountered on the Columbia-Clearwater-Snake river system were beyond imagination. When I finally get my jet boat time machine built, my first trip is going to be along much of the Lewis & Clark Trail!

Apparently, I am not alone in my fascination with the fishing that the dynamic duo and the Corps. of Discovery encountered…The Federation of Fly Fishers has created a virtual and physical exhibit on this very subject! Check this out: Undaunted Anglers: Fishing with Lewis & Clark

Chum Salmon reintroduced into the Columbia River

April 12, 2011 By JD 1 Comment

Chum salmon, long considered to be almost extinct on the Oregon side of the lower Columbia River, might again return to its tributaries if a cooperative effort of the Oregon and Washington departments of fish and wildlife proves successful.

The first week of April, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) released 106,000 juvenile chum salmon into lower Big Creek in the first phase of project attempting to re-establish the species, which began to disappear from the Oregon side of the river more than 50 years ago. While the reason for their decline is not completely clear, biologists believe that severe habitat degradation, among other factors, played a key role. Click here to read more…