Species identification! Words to live by...

[Mr. Fisherman]

I fished the CR opener on July 1st and wanted to offer these words of warning concerning species identification.

There were SEVERAL violations regarding proper identification of King (Chinook) Salmon. The violators received a hefty $299.00 fine for the mistake.

In my openion this could have been avoided by insuring that any fish caught simply matches the most strigent harvest guidelines. In this case that's 24" and fin clipped. (Over 24" for Kings and fin clipped for Silvers).

There are over 1.7 MILLION fish waiting for a dinner invitation with a string attached. Why take a chance.

There are several Chinook up shallow (10 to 20 pulls) and they are lighter colored than the ones down deep. I think this complicates identification. If there is any doubt release the fish unharmed and catch another one.

At times we all get wrapped up in limiting the boat, however, let's not get too carried away and cross the line.


Be safe out there and have fun this trip AND the next. I don't know about you but a $300 fine would put a SERIOUS damper on my kitchen passes.


On a positive note, I was chatting with the fellas at the dock in Hammond. They are upgrading the estimate from 1.7 million fish to 3 MILLION! Getcha' Some [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img].

Tight lines for all,


Mr. F.

[ 07-03-2001: Message edited by: Mr. Fisherman ]

[Hoosier Daddy]

Good advice.

[Pilar]

They call Chinook 'Black mouth' for a reason. All black gums is a dead giveaway. Also the chinook have huge spots, I call them 'spotty tail'. One last thing I do is admire the fish in the water while we do the net dance. This is real subjective but spotty tail always flashes purple and gold in the sun, Coho is blue and green. Once you learn to tell the difference it's pretty easy not to get burned by the man.

Take your time and make sure you know before you bonk em on the head.

Bad salmon! now go to your room.

[potter]

As Pilar said, Chinook are called "Blackmouth." Chinook have black on their tounges and on the gums around the base of the bottom teeth. Spots are a little harder to use as a guide because some coho have more spots then others on the tail. Usually the spots on a coho tail are on the upper lobe but not always. A better way is to also look at the gums. A coho always has white bottom gums and no black on them. Hope this is useful.

[Pirate]

Potter
We've bonked a coho at Buoy 10 thinking it was a small Chinook, because of the black gums. Upon closer examination it had white surrounding only the teeth. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Fortunately it had it's fin clipped.

[boater]

if you grab a silver by the tail it will slip through your hand, a king will not, where the tail starts to form on a king there are little knobs on the top and bottom and you can get a grip and it will not slip through your hand..

[Oregon Angler Magazine]

Hey everyone , if your not sure before you go take a look at one of the pages on my site that has photo's of the head and mouths of both fish. www.oregonangler.com/fishid.html
I hope this helps

[willierower]

I cant believe how many people there is that cant tell the difference between a silver and a chinook. There are people who cant tell a salmon from a steelhead. I feel there should be a fish identification class just like the class goose hunters have to take. If you cant indentify the species you cant fish! That would save a lot of trouble.

[boater]

after fighting a fish for a few seconds i can tell what it is, i`m sure other people here are the same way.

[Mr. Fisherman]

OOM,

Good pics.

I really hope that this thread helps out.

Nobody should have to face the $300 mistake.

Be sure before you bonk.

Later,

Mr. F.

[Hummingbird]

You can also tell by the shpe of the scales if you get a good look. The Silvers' scales are Bigger and more rounded while the Chinooks scales are more oval like and smaller. The black mouth is your first clue though. Tom

[Orca]

As Pirate said, the Coho have dark mouths also, but are white, or grey around the teeth. The kings mouth is just black, black, black.

I caught a 20 lb King on Saturday that had some spots down the back, but no spots on the lower tail and it didn't have the greenish back. Opened up the mouth and saw only black so it is now in the freezer.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Folks,

People out there are still getting fined for misidentification.

Please take your time, read the posts above and check twice. Don't get caught making this mistake out there.

I really hope that this post helps Ifisher's from misidentifing fish.

Later,

Mr. F.

[HOGTIDE]

One quick ID clue is that Chinooks always have a very immediate and pungent smell, with an extra slimey coat. Coho have a faint smell and leave a generous amount of scales everywhere.

Ooops ...bad method...they might have to be on the deck to notice this. Never Mind.

[Navigator]

Hmm. The hold by the tail approach may not work. If it is a coho, if slips through back in the drink when you could have kept it (finclipped of course).

If it is a small Chinook, it doesn't slip and you get fined if you keep it.

Stick with the mouth. That works.