Some Useful About Salmon Species Classification
For most novice fishermen or ladies one of the toughest parts about salmon fishing is being able to obviously identify which particular kind of salmon that they have caught. Since fishing regulations are based on species it is highly critical that you can tell each from the other to stop being in violation of the license and most likely facing fines or more serious outcomes. Learning about salmon fishing and varied species is not too difficult, and the general descriptions provided below should be all that is needed to spot the salmon species.
The following tips about salmon fishing species identification will apply only to mature salmon and may not apply to minors and smelts.
Chinook - it’s important to recollect when talking about salmon fishing that many species go by different names. The Chinook is also known as the King and blackmouth. It’s the biggest of the Pacific salmon, and is simply identified by the distinct black coloration to the lower gums. They are olive or brown in coloration on the back with darker black coloration on the sides. They have many small, dark spots on the back.
Coho - AKA Silver salmon, are smaller than the Chinook or King salmon. They’ve a bluish green color to the skin on the head and back. Depending on the time of year the sides of the Coho could be wine coloured or even a particularly brilliant red. The cover of the gills will also be very reddish throughout the year.
Chum - one of the less common salmon it’s important to know about salmon fishing this species to be successful. They will typically not move far inland and will stay close to salt water. Chum is the second largest of the Pacific salmon species and are easily distinguished by their red to purplish blue color and horizontal bars. They also have a particularly particular and pronounced set of teeth.
Sockeye - this salmon is very red in color and may occasionally be mistaken for the Coho because of the coloration. Sockeye spend up to 2 years in a fresh water lake before moving out the ocean, and are unique in this aspect. They have any distinct spots and the female is less brilliantly coloured than the male. Male Sockeyes have a conspicuous hump on their back just before the dorsal fin.
Kokanee - this is the truly land locked salmon, living its complete live cycle in a fresh water lake, never venturing to the salt water. In physical description they are almost identical the Sockeye, being red in color and males having the dorsal hump.
When learning about salmon fishing and fish identification it is a great idea to bring a salmon identification book and remember to practice conservation and return fish to the water whenever boundaries are reached.
If you find this article useful, you should also check out cooking101.org to learn more about some easy techniques of cooking all sorts of quality meals, including recipe for bourbon salmon.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Fishing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.