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Pacific Salmon

Introduction

There are six species of Pacific salmon: chum or dog salmon (oncorhynchus keta); sockeye or blueback salmon (oncorhynchus nerka); humpback or pink salmon (oncorhynchus gorbuscha); coho or silver salmon (oncorhynchus kisutch); chinook salmon (oncorhynchus tshawytscha); and kokanee (landlocked sockeye salmon lacking anadromous instincts).

Chum or Dog Salmon: Most chum or dog salmon weigh between ten and twenty pounds, while some run over thirty pounds. Most chum salmon are caught using fluorescent spoons and spinners by anglers fishing for other salmon. These fish are caught in November and December when they spawn at the mouths of the B.C. northwestern streams that enter the ocean.

Sockeye or Blueback Salmon: Sockeyes are commercially valuable fish averaging between four and eight pounds. Sockeye salmon range throughout the northern Pacific Ocean and are found as far south as the Columbia River. The fish swim to lake-fed rivers in late spring and summer, and spawn in the lakes from late summer to December. The young fish live in the lakes where they were hatched, and in a few years migrate to the ocean with the spring freshet. Most anglers catch sockeyes while fishing for steelhead and other salmon species.

Kokanee Salmon: The kokanee is a small landlocked sockeye with a record weight of four pounds. The fish is popular with trout anglers who catch them using small spoons and spinning lures. Kokanee are stocked in lakes in southern Canada (western provinces) and the northern part of the United States. The fish grow larger in the warmer southern waters where zooplankton, a staple food source, thrives. The northern stocked salmon barely reach lengths of ten inches, while the slightly warmer southern waters produce kokanee over twenty inches in length.

Humpback or Pink Salmon: Humpback salmon are small members of the Pacific salmon family, averaging between four and six pounds and reaching a maximum weight of ten pounds. Humpbacks generally spawn in the early fall. Humpbacks are popular sportfish around the Queen Charlotte Islands and Puget Sound, taken on spoons, cut bait, and by commercial trawlers.

Coho or Silver Salmon: Cohos are very popular in the Pacific Northwest, and have been successfully stocked in the Great Lakes where the fish reach much bigger sizes - a record thirty-three pounds in Michigan compared to over ten pounds on the West Coast.

Ranging from California to Japan, cohos spawn along the gravel riverbeds near their usual ocean territories. The year-old fry swim to the sea but remain at the mouth of their river and feed on crab larvae until reaching maturity two or three years later, when they are large enough to eat bait fish and squid.

Coho Fishing Techniques

Light tackle is sufficient for these surface feeders, and trolling streamer flies and small spoons does the trick. Troll a streamer fly (a long-bodied No.6 in silver or blue) with a medium-weight fly rod and at least two hundred yards of ten-pound test backing.

Schools of feeding fish are wary at the surface, and it is a good idea to troll the edges of the feeding frenzy with a long line and a small silver spoon or a streamer fly. When casting to a feeding school of cohos, use light or medium-weight spinning tackle, two hundred and fifty yards of ten-pound test line, and a functional reel drag mechanism.

For other coho fishing techniques, refer to those described for the chinook salmon.

Chinook Salmon: A chinook (oncorhynchus tshawytscha)salmon weighing over 125 pounds was caught by a commercial vessel, but most fish are between 15 and 35 pounds.

Chinooks spawn from the beginning of summer to November in large rivers flowing into the Pacific. Recently constructed dams have restricted spawning salmon access and therefore have caused reductions in chinook populations.

Chinook fry swim to the sea and grow at an exceptional rate of three to six pounds a year, feeding on anchovies, herrings, crustaceans, and squid. After swimming thousands of miles five years later, the chinook return to their home rivers to spawn. The returning fish do not feed in fresh water, but will strike bright lures and flies. Fish for chinook when large schools hold in estuaries, acclimating themselves to the fresh water.

Chinook Fishing Techniques

Offshore fishing equipment and techniques vary. In the spring, deep trollers use down riggers or cannon balls for the deep cohos and chinook. The fish move toward the surface as the season advances, and peak fishing occurs in late summer. When the fish are in the ten to twenty-feet-deep range, try plastic or metal diving planes.

Offshore salmon bait and lures are matters of individual preference; the same bait or lure may work regardless of the fished depth. Try rigging small herring or anchovy bait. To ensure that the bait does not spin and twist the line, pull the eye of the hook through the anal vent, through the center of the body, and out of the mouth, and then sew the mouth of the bait firmly to the hook.

Other baits and lures to try are smelt, cut mackerel, squid; silver or gold spoons, shiny lures of any colour, and shiny long-bodied streamer flies for surface-feeders.

"Mooching" for salmon consists of an exaggerated jigging motion while over an area believed to hold fish. Use an eight or nine-foot boat rod with a fast tip, a good backbone, a medium-weight star-drag reel with at least 200 yards of 20 to 30-pound test line. Add less than an ounce of weight one and a half feet above the bait (plug-cut baits or whole herring, for example) or spoon and lower it to the desired depth (usually 20 or 40 feet). With the reel in gear, sweep the rod upward in long arcs from the water level to above your head. The salmon in the area often take the bait.

Salmon Fishing the Great Lakes

Great Lakes salmon fishing is equal to or surpasses that of the West Coast. Since the 1960's and 70's salmon stocks have been thriving in the warmer waters, and especially in Lake Michigan and adjoining river systems. In the Great Lakes, over fifteen pound coho, chinook, Atlantic salmon, and brown and rainbow trout, are common catches.

Depth finders and temperature probes are helpful aids in locating likely schools of forage or game fish or in finding waters at temperatures of 55ºF. When the fish or desired temperature range is found, use conventional trolling or mooching techniques. Also use big crank baits - try six-inch Rapalas, Rebels, Tadpollies, and Headhunters.

Closer to fall, troll the shallower depths of stream and river entrances. Fall fishing using traditional steelhead techniques can land large salmon and lunker browns.

The Great Lakes' salmon populations are increasing in size and number, and there are many fishing accommodations and services available for those unfamiliar with Great Lakes fishing.

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