ID fish please!?

[shadowless_nite]

So the other weekend while steelhead fishing the Columbia I managed to catch what I thought was a small wild steelhead, with adipose fin  intact. I snapped a quick picture and sent it off. (I know internet police fish is out of the water....)But then it's been bugging me.... did I release a keeper sockeye?

So I've  only been salmon fishing the last 2 years with little success, meaning my encounters with the various types in real life has been limited. Never having caught a unmistakable sockeye, I thought it was a steelhead. And the regs just say "...hatchery chinook or sockeye..." so Im assuming I couldve kept a unclipped sockeye?

Here's the picture of it....someone with experience please tell me if I am a idiot and released a keeper or did the right thing and let it go.

[Scvette]

Your an idiot. Not really but that's a sockeye. Bummer.

[Stein]

Looks a bunch like a sockeye.  Schwack it up side the head and if the eye pops out it is a sockeye.  FYI, it's about the size of a pink, but they have big spots on their tail.

[Crunchy]

Yup its a sock for sure. Tasty critters.

[Chinook73]

Sockeye

[Henrydog]

Too bad that was in Wa and not Id, you could be throwing the thing on the BBQ.  Sockeye like everyone else said

[shadowless_nite]

Your an idiot. Not really but that's a sockeye. Bummer.

 

Well, I kinda don't feel as bad, the sockeye in the columbia need all the help they can get at this point. But would be nice to be able to take my first fish of the year home. Let alone the first one on that rod set up. 

[Jake Dogfish]

Nice fish! You did the right thing by releasing a fish you were not sure about.

[Seahawk12]

Nice fish! You did the right thing by releasing a fish you were not sure about.

 

[lokidog]

Bummer.

[boneaddict]

Nice fish! You did the right thing by releasing a fish you were not sure about.

 

x2

[lokidog]

IMO Sockeye have a diamond-like scale pattern making them fairly recognizable after seeing one or two.

[KFhunter]

Nice fish! You did the right thing by releasing a fish you were not sure about.

Best answer in this thread     +1

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Really makes me Hungary seeing that sockeye. Good for you to release it.