Hunting Washington Forum
Other Activities => Fishing => Topic started by: Stein on September 27, 2014, 07:18:25 PM
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So, I'm out bobbing around with 300-400 of my closest friends in their boats near Possession bar when the 65' rigger goes off hard. I pick it up, get the line tight and hand it off to my deck hand who is 6. Somehow, he winches the thing in by himself rather quickly while I keep the boat trucking right along hoping for a double. Fish gets to the side of the boat, netted and bonked. Since you can keep any coho, I don't pay much attention other than notice it is a decent fish in the 7-8 pound range - not huge, but a nice fish.
Fast forward to my driveway where I cut it open and am a bit surprised to find flame red-orange meat - like sockeye orange? I have cut more than my share of coho and I have never seen one anywhere near this color.
Anyone ever hook a sockeye out there on coho gear this time of year - hootchie and flasher? I can't wait to cook it up and see what it tastes like.
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I caught one three years ago off San Juan on a hoochie and flasher. Same as you, I figured coho and only realized when I went to filet it. It was earlier in the summer though. Nice score. :tup:
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I pulled it out of the oven and it 100% is not coho. Dang, wish I had a few more.
Fish checker checked it and didn't notice either. After I studied it on the driveway it did look a bit narrower like a sockeye but man you have to look close to tell the difference between a large sockeye and a small coho.
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Seems super late for sockeye, but the gear doesn't surprise me. We caught about 15 this August in the San Juans trolling normal king/coho gear. Mostly green or white flashers with a green needlefish squid or irish cream spoon.
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One way to tell the difference is with the scales. When I filet salmon, I blast the scales off with a hose, that way it doesn't bruise or soften the meat and I can marinate it w/o little scales all over. The sockeye, I caught, held on so tightly to it's scales that I had to scrape them off with a knife, that was the first clue I did not have a coho.
