Northwest Fishing Reports

Whats the deal with chum salmon? I heard they are good smoked but that they are called dog salmon for a reason. Still, I mostly C&R anyway. Are they a fun fish to target?

Yea they are fun to target on a nice November day. Edible? Depends on where you are fishing for them..Some of em get real gross by the time they get up the rivers a ways. I thought they were fun to fish for last fall, cause they are pretty easy to catch and they are pretty plentiful, and can get quite big. I've seen some 20+ lbers dead on the sides of the rivers, and landed this 15lb very dark and colored Chum:

They are the meanest, toughest, ugliest salmon to swim in the rivers and an absolute blast to catch. But once they start turning I wouldn't bother with eatign them. I remeber the first time I caught chum I dragged out two huge fish, 15-20 lb each. They were as dark as could be. I'll bet the regulars had a good laugh. I actually paid to get one smoked up. It wasn't too bad, but never again!

Yea that fish pictured above would not be the one to keep...They say if you see any of the vertical bars on the fish, throw it back...

They do turn really quickly. I went fishing by Hoodscanal hatchery one day last year and my friend and I both caught really really dark ones (I'm with ya Mike on regulars having a laugh at my expience because I thought my zombie salmon were a huge deal)! But, anyway I was told when still in salt like hoodscanal you're more likely to catch a silverish one if you use bait. I was using herring under a bobber, so that didn't hold true for me, but I'm looking forward to testing that theory this year.

That's a really nice picture/fish Sam! Chums are breath-takingly beautiful. I love how their mouths go into total jaws of death mode when they go into their spawning phase.

Yea that was a pretty cool picture with the fading sun...It was really late in terms of run timing, so I think early december, we had been out all afternoon for about 3 hours with nothing to show, freezing cold and finally at dark I hooked into that fish. My hands were about frozen in that picture and I look pale white cause it was so cold (this was right after the snowstorm last fall) so we were so relieved to turn the heat on in the car when we got back...

It depends who you talk to(like my girlfriend)some people say the are the best Salmon to smoke.I think they are pretty easy to catch probably because there are so many of them.They are mean if you get one out of the water and go to it back some times you'll hear them grunt and hiss.I've caught them onspinners,herring and my favorite way and by far the best fight is on a fly.That is a battle.But unless they are silver I don't keep.My girlfriend on the other hand doesn't really care.You know how it goes I'm lucky just to have a girlfriend who goes fishing.

shawn wrote:You know how it goes I'm lucky just to have a girlfriend who goes fishing.

Can't complain about that..

that is a beautiful picture, still trying to figure out who is uglier tho?
i kid i kid!

great picture Sam! it looks close to Monroe? am i correct or far far off? beautiful sky. and december? buuur, i'll be up in the mountains then

That was at the mouth of the Wallace where it flows into the sky...I should have been up skiing. It was about 35 degrees when that picture was taken. I was pale white and ready to run back to the car...

I think the fish is the better looking one of the two...

Has anyone considered mounting a Chum? I think that if you got a pretty good sized and fairly decorative fish it would make one of the sweetest mounts, but thats just my opinion. Great fish Sam, I hope to catch one of them bad boys in a few weeks.

I've actually thought about mounting a whole room full of every salmon in it's chrome (ocean) colors and then some in their "spawning" colors as well. Would be cool to see the spawning colors right below/next to the chrome version.

Of course I'd have to catch em all and have them repro'd just like the pics...

I think I'd only have to get a sockeye from the river and a Chum from the ocean, and a river king too....

That would be a site to see! but very expensive and could take a while

Yea I'm more worried about getting the repro mounts paid for then how long it would take to catch them.

hey, i was just wondering on what the best lure/bait to use for these awsome fish? i missed the pink and silver run this year and i am hoping to get some chum action

Fisherman_max wrote:hey, i was just wondering on what the best lure/bait to use for these awsome fish? i missed the pink and silver run this year and i am hoping to get some chum action

Dont give up that quick. You can still catch both pinks and silvers. All the pinks are pretty nasty, my neighbors went out on Tuesday and they caught 5 or 6 pinks, but they were really ugly. And silvers are still in pretty thick and are still in good shape. In fact I havnt seen one that was in its spawning stage yet. I still see kings from time to time as well, but they all seem to be pretty ugly like the pinks.

Yea silvers are in full throttle now from what I hear, a bunch of fresh fish you could get out and keep for the bbq...

i just caught the fish in my picture on the left last sunday had it for dinner tuesday it was very very good!!!

oh ya and i caught it near lower granit dam

quick question for well any1 were is the closest spot to lower granit dam u can catch those chum salmon it looks fun