It's my understanding that salmon eat eggs because they want only their families lifeline to continue. True or not? I'm not sure but it's always what i was told

 

I am not sure if it is a "want" kind of thing in regards to having only their family lines to survive. Salmon aren't capable of wanting. However, from an evolutionary / competitive point of view it makes sense that a fish which eats the eggs of the other fish it runs with would be more likely have its progeny survive. Thus the egg chewer's DNA survives; meaning we have more egg chewers.
Another thought is that smolt are notorious egg eaters because eggs are full of nutrients which help them grow. It may be that the adults "remember" this and grab hold of the eggs that roll past them in the stream.

 

I don't know if this is true or not but is the most reasonable explanation that I've heard;
The salmon aren't intentionally eating the eggs but instead are picking them up as they are drifting down river to move them to slower gravelly water where they will have a better chance at hatching. they will incidentally ingest some eggs in the process.

 

Negative, jawbreaker. After fishing the pools in the upper river, I can tell you that chinook are masters of sucking eggs off your hook without you knowing it. They suck in the eggs and spit out the hook. All you have left is the egg membrane hanging on the hook. They are not moving the eggs, they are destroying them.

 

I agree mostly with what SandySteel posted. I remember reading somewhere that the tendancy to bite eggs in the rivers evolved over the milenium when the rivers were usually crawling with an abundance of fish and competition for spawning gravel. The instinct to clobber the competition's eggs is a theory some fish biologists portend. But I can't help to think fish also recall "imprint" of the smell and taste of their very first food and that comes into play when they mouth the egg clusters and get a taste of the goods. I think both are bite factors.

Why do you guides out there think these fish swallow eggs cured to taste different from other fishermen's eggs and different than the original egg sack they fed and imprinted on as fingerlings? We may never know the answers but it's fun to speculate. ----- Charlie

 

I thought of another thing. Aren't fish historically used to seeing loose single eggs floating in the rivers as these instincts evolved? Egg clusters look different so there likely is also a curiosity bite factor. Maybe it would be a good idea to try putting 3 to 5 cured single chinook eggs on a long shanked hook to drift or float fish thru water that isn't so rough as to knock them off. Maybe this would actually look more natural to the fish's developed instincts? Could work with opaque single Jensen Eggs for this with some egg scent paste added on to them. They would stay on the hook better. ----- Goodnight. :smile:

 

I believe they eat them because in the river any egg they ever see will not make it and is a great source of food. You are all assuming that they know that an eggs is the source of their life, but how would they. A fish sees an eggs as a food source, to a fish anything it can fit in its mouth is a food source.

 

I don't think they are feeding on them ,but more of a natural instink to crush them. Out of all the salmon I have hooked bobber fishing only two have been buiried down deep, but then again when running diver and bait if you let them take it they will always swollow the bait so you can't even find your hook,so who knows

 

AH your all wrong! Everyone and everything likes eggs for breakfast :smile:

 

Who really cares !?!

I'm just glad they EAT THEM!!! :grin: :tongue: :grin:

 

Originally posted by Excuse Me

I thought of another thing. Aren't fish historically used to seeing loose single eggs floating in the rivers as these instincts evolved? Egg clusters look different so there likely is also a curiosity bite factor. Maybe it would be a good idea to try putting 3 to 5 cured single chinook eggs on a long shanked hook to drift or float fish thru water that isn't so rough as to knock them off. Maybe this would actually look more natural to the fish's developed instincts? Could work with opaque single Jensen Eggs for this with some egg scent paste added on to them. They would stay on the hook better. ----- Goodnight.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helv">Why? I have no problem hooking dozens of nookies each fall when I backbounce the ol' proverbial golf ball sized wad into their faces. :grin:

I am a firm believer that they bite anything in rivers out of a feeding instinct. Look at how many springers get caught in the Willamette on herring. The fish supposedly aren't actively feeding in the willamette but they will sure slam a herring.

 

I have always thought that they are'nt eating them they just mouth them to put them back on the river bottom, kinda helping their fellow fishes because they know they don't belong floating around they should be on the bottom
my .02

 

I believe that salmon that are caught in rivers are taking bait out of either aggression or out of feeding instinct. The sense of smell that fish have is incredibly advanced to the point of having the ability to sense parts per billion. I would say that most cured eggs out there are cured with agents that either stimulate the feeding instint or trigger an aggressive reaction. This is my opinion only.
John