A morning fishing trip with my son, and a suprise!

[C-Money]

My boy and I went fishing at a local pond around Moses Lake, that is fed by the irrigation canals. We had a great time catching some largemouth bass and some bluegills. One time, after re baiting my sons hook, I casted out a small crappie jig and began working it back. SLAM! I hook a fish that began zipping off line from my little ultra light set up. Well, it ended up being a little salmon of some kind. It was 17'' long, had a black tongue, and a few spots on its back. Not sure if it got lost coming up the Columbia and ended up in the canals or if it ended up in the wrong raceway at a hatchery and ended up in this pond some how. Anyway, I guessed it is a sockeye, but also looks like a pink. Being an even year, I am not sure if its a pink. Maybe someone with more salmon experiencecan identify? I know it is not a trout. It also has a clipped adipose fin.   

[pianoman9701]

Kokanee?

[Goldeneye]

To be honest with you it looks a lot like a hatchery jack king salmon.  It's got the spots of a chinook, the black tongue, and a clipped fin.  Must have got into the irrigation canals from the Columbia there somewhere.  Definitely not a Kokanee.

[BigGoonTuna]

that's definitely a king.  weird to see one out there

[Sneaky]

Hatchery Chinook that got sucked up from the columbia. Rare fish and cool story!

[rasbo]

bonus catch,and a good time had,love to see parents doing things with their children

[Longshot_34]

A friend of mine who works at GCPUD told me the following:

"Hatchery summer chinook. Chelae PUD raised a couple hundred thousand extra fish for WDFW.   They couldn't kill them nor could they release them in the river, so they released them in Banks Lake. "

He also said they could be anywhere in the irrigation system.

[woodywsu]

A friend of mine who works at GCPUD told me the following:

"Hatchery summer chinook. Chelae PUD raised a couple hundred thousand extra fish for WDFW.   They couldn't kill them nor could they release them in the river, so they released them in Banks Lake. "

He also said they could be anywhere in the irrigation system.

A friend of mine who works at GCPUD told me the following:

"Hatchery summer chinook. Chelae PUD raised a couple hundred thousand extra fish for WDFW.   They couldn't kill them nor could they release them in the river, so they released them in Banks Lake. "

He also said they could be anywhere in the irrigation system.

That's exactly where it came from. I think wdfw released them a little over a year ago. There should be a few left that the walleye and smallies didn't eat

[C-Money]

Very glad they did not kill them. Heck, in a few years we will probably hear of a 10 or 15lb Chinook being caught out of Banks, Moses Lake, or the Potholes! Very neat! Glad to have the mystery solved!