SAMISH RIVER SOCKEYE

[jeepster]

The wife and I hit the Samish this past weekend and we got one fish.

It was pretty red when I landed it, and my instinct told me it was a chum, because i have never heard of a samish river sockeye but it has been keeping me wondering. It almost looks like a sockeye... it has a green head, red body, and dark tail with silver in the tail, has some teeth, but not like a snaggletoothed chum and the meat is neon orange, not pale pink or whitish grey like some chums can be, I have seen bright orange chum before, but not in Washington.

I did not know of a sockeye run in the Samish, so I had to eliminate sockeye from the list of possible fish, dog was next in line... until I read this....

I looked up sockeye in the Samish and WDFG says it happens...
 http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/sockeye/pugetsound_river.html
What do you guys think? There were net marks on this fish, so I thought it had something to do with the redness... I gutted it and froze it whole because I was going to smoke it later ( if it is a dog) but I noticed how red the entire fish is....

i had a nagging feeling it wasn't a dog, so at lunch today, i had to post it on hunt wa and see if I'm crazy or not.....

[CP]

sockeye

[h20hunter]

Agree with CP. Even a hen chum will get very colored up by that point. Not trying to start anything and haven't looked for myself but can you keep them? Could you be setting yourself up by posting that you harvested the fish?

[jackelope]

Sockeye.

[jackelope]

Agree with CP. Even a hen chum will get very colored up by that point. Not trying to start anything and haven't looked for myself but can you keep them? Could you be setting yourself up by posting that you harvested the fish?

Near as I can tell, it's mandatory Coho release. Everything else "salmon" can be retained, limit 2.

The wife and I hit the Samish this past weekend and we got one fish.

It was pretty red when I landed it, and my instinct told me it was a chum, because i have never heard of a samish river sockeye but it has been keeping me wondering. It almost looks like a sockeye... it has a green head, red body, and dark tail with silver in the tail, has some teeth, but not like a snaggletoothed chum and the meat is neon orange, not pale pink or whitish grey like some chums can be, I have seen bright orange chum before, but not in Washington.

I did not know of a sockeye run in the Samish, so I had to eliminate sockeye from the list of possible fish, dog was next in line... until I read this....

I looked up sockeye in the Samish and WDFG says it happens...
 http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/sockeye/pugetsound_river.html
What do you guys think? There were net marks on this fish, so I thought it had something to do with the redness... I gutted it and froze it whole because I was going to smoke it later ( if it is a dog) but I noticed how red the entire fish is....

[jeepster]

yeah Samish rules are:

Salmon: Min. size 12". Daily limit 2. Only fish hooked inside the mouth may be retained. Release wild COHO. open august 1st-nov30

[h20hunter]

Perfect. Looks like a LEGAL sockeye to me. 

[JimmyHoffa]

Looks like sockeye, the bottom jaw is light in color and think chums the whole head changes to dark. 

[Gobble Doc]

Are you planning to smoke it whole?

[lokidog]

Are you planning to smoke it whole?

Only if he can get it dry enough to light.....   

[h20hunter]

Hey man, puff puff give....don't be bogarting that fish!

[jeepster]

I smoke two fish in the morning, I smoke two fish at night, I smoke two fish in de afternoon makes me feel alright

[h20hunter]

Nice. 

[Sitka_Blacktail]

No way it's a chum, they don't turn red. It's either a sockeye which it looks like in this picture, or a coho, but hard to see some of the characteristics such as silver in the tail and spots on the back (coho). as sockeyes feed on krill, they have long gill rakers and more gill rakers than other salmon. They are closely spaced. I forget the exact number compared to a coho.

[jeepster]

no spots whatsoever


LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

I PRESENT TO YOU THE FIRST RECORDED SAMISH RIVER S O C K E Y E.........on hunt wa at least 

believe it or not, i have now caught all 5 pacific salmon species in the Samish river. king, coho, pink, chum... and sockeye!

I'm half tempted to see what a mount would run....