For how long do salmon stay bright?

[212hjet]

How long does it take them to get to Idaho....if you need proof (quite siver) I will dig out some pics from the last two seasons on the Salmon and Clearwater Rivers. You were probably asking in reference to shorter river systems, and I can attest to Alaska experiences that they seem to turn much faster in a short stream where they basically enter ready or nearly ready to spawn. This has been my observations over the years. Perhaps someone with more of a biology background could do better.

[David Johnson]

It depends on the stain of fish.

Fish from longer systems (Columbia, Willamette, Idaho, Deschutes.......) stay brighter longer, especially spring chinook.

On some short coastal rivers some fish even spawn before they get dark, I've seen this happen with Big Cr and NF Nehalem winter steelhead and December chinook in the Tillamook systems.

Usually it's the hens that are bright spawners and in the case of steelhead they still have good meat.

[David Johnson]

Contrary to what some people beleive it's not the fresh water that makes fish turn dark, it's the transformation to death as they near the end of their life cycle.

Tule chinook turn dark even in the ocean, so do most chum, pink salmon also tend to start darkening out there. All these fish spawn in the lower ends of the systems they are headed to.

Bucks also start to color up sooner than the hens.

[fishon]

Thanks for the info David I thought that it was the fresh water that made the salmon turn dark but I guess it just depends on the fish. Thanks.

[crabbait]

Until they hear "BONK"! :grin:

[David Johnson]

It's the length of day, called photo periods, that trigers a hormonal change in the fish and that is what causes them to sexually mature.

[fishon]

I dont know if anybody knows the answer to this question but lets say it rains pretty hard for a couple of days and there are some salmon that come into the river from the ocean and they dont spend much time in the bay or tidewater they just shoot straight up into the river. I was wondering for how long will these salmon stay bright? Like how many days does it take until they become to dark to keep? Thanks.