Is this an Atlantic Salmon? (Update- it is a brown trout)

[Boss .300 winmag]

I just want to know how it tasted.🤔

[Rob]

Further from IDFG

Color seems to very widely by location and time of year. In a lake environment, it’s not uncommon to see a very silvery appearance.

[Okanagan]

I'd say Atlantic salmon, but am curious as to what the game department will say.  I caught an Atlantic in the Fraser River several years ago and puzzled over it a bunch before IDing it. The sparse big spots on the cheek are like Atlantic salmon.  It may be an odd color and marking of some other fish of course, but looks like Atlantic to me and does not look like any cutthroat, etc. that I've caught.

Oops:  looks like it got ID'ed as a brown trout while  I was posting above.

[duckmen1]

Very unique color for a brown. Very cool.

[Rob]

I just want to know how it tasted.🤔

It is filleted and sitting in the fridge.  looks really good - much darker red than the rainbow.

[elkinrutdrivemenuts]

I caught some of those Browns last April in Cocolalla and they looked exactly the same.  I was thrown off at first as well.

How is the ice situation?

[Rob]

The ice is 100% gone. 

I am always amazed how fast it goes.  On April first it was probably 95% iced over.  By the 5th or 6th it was down to a 5% iceberg moving around with the prevailing winds.

[jackelope]

The easy way to differentiate between and a trout and a salmon is the tail. Salmon will always have a more pronounced V to the tail.  Top is a salmon. Bottom is a steelhead smolt.



Atlantic salmon on top.

[Bullkllr]

The easy way to differentiate between and a trout and a salmon is the tail. Salmon will always have a more pronounced V to the tail.  Top is a salmon. Bottom is a steelhead smolt.



Atlantic salmon on top.

Generally that works for differentiating Pacific salmon and trout.

It gets more complicated when you bring in Atlantics. The Atlantic is more closely related to brown trout (same genus) than to any Pacific salmon (different genus). Which would partially explain why the fish in the OP looked like an Atlantic salmon. The tail fork appears somewhere between I and II, maybe closer to I, and it is indeed a brown trout.

[metlhead]

One can tell very easy by looking inside to the roof of the mouth. Browns have a wide set of teeth. Atlantics will have one  straight row.