are summer chinook are just late springers

[hookem]

Is there anything to this? Is there anything about hatchery release that can be called, this is summer fish and this is a springer? I'm at work today just thinking about stuff.
Has anyone throught are summer chinook are just late springers? :shocked:

[k9jeff]

Nope,, its a run destin for Idaho.

[David Johnson]

They are similar (especially on the table) but there is a distinct run of summer chinook appart from springers.

[Lund]

I am not trying to stir the pot here, but if the fish in the columbia are summer ch. then so are the ones in the willy.

They are just a late springer, coast springers are still coming in until Aug. They will all spawn at the same time in late Sept,Oct. If they were a different run then how are they different.
look at summer steelies, they come in in March through Sept. are they two different runs too.

The true summer chinook come in Aug. like Nehalem fish. Nest used to have one too.

[ 07-04-2003, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: lund ]

[Salmonator]

Originally posted by lund:

look at summer steelies, they come in in March through Sept. are they two different runs too.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">One run comes in and spawns within weeks or days. The next comes in and doesn't spawn for several months. Yea, I think they're different runs. Also, it's often easy to tell the difference between the meat of the brightest winter fish caught in november and the brightest summer fish caught in march. The november fish doesn't compare.

[ 07-04-2003, 08:30 PM: Message edited by: Salmonator ]

[WildHawg]

For the record--the true summer run fish in the Columbia do not enter the river until June, and typically spawn quite high in the system--Both Idaho and NE Washington.
The true June Hogs were exterminated by the completion/construction of Grand Coulee Dam in 1938. Netting and especially fishwheels had done serious damage much earlier however. Some of these fish could exceed 80 pounds, with claims of 100 pounders.
I suspect these fish are a vestige of natural spawning runs that spawn in smaller tribs and weren't halted by the dam. Another possibility is these may be remnant populations of those same fish that have adapted to different environments due to the dams. Happened with the Toutle (the fish spawned elsewhere), so it's possible.
Fish have their own calendar though. To try and label them is silly. Is a chinook I catch in late December a fall or winter fish? Are the steelies I catch with semi-mature eggs in mid april to early June ealry spawning summers or late winters?
Kinda silly really. If they're here in the summer (chrome bright upriver bound fish, not gun barrel gray fish), then they're summers right?