chinook versus coho

I'm guessing it's a King, since I was the one who took the pic.

Excellent thread. Hope to see live ones someday soon to put this info to use...

Ab, interesting last pic with all those funky pearly colors. 

Nice Juan!!  Chinook it is, I'll give you the photo credit.  That pic is a perfect example of why not to trust tail spotting.  When I have time, I'll write an article about ID'ing adult Chinook vs. coho vs. steelhead as this comes up every year and people debate the best ways to tell them apart. Another reason is that it seems more and more NCKA's are making it up north.

Nice Juan!!  Chinook it is, I'll give you the photo credit.  That pic is a perfect example of why not to trust tail spotting.

Why?  I'd guess nookie due to spots on the lower half.

-Allen

Nice Juan!!  Chinook it is, I'll give you the photo credit.  That pic is a perfect example of why not to trust tail spotting.

Why?  I'd guess nookie due to spots on the lower half.

-Allen

Allen,
Coho often have a few spots (like the picture) on the lower lobe of the caudal fin.  Not always, but enough do.

Nice Juan!!  Chinook it is, I'll give you the photo credit.  That pic is a perfect example of why not to trust tail spotting.

Why?  I'd guess nookie due to spots on the lower half.

-Allen

Allen,
Coho often have a few spots (like the picture) on the lower lobe of the caudal fin.  Not always, but enough do.

There you go!!! CHECK THE GUMLINES!!!   

-Allen

That pic is a perfect example of why not to trust tail spotting.  When I have time, I'll write an article about ID'ing adult Chinook vs. coho vs. steelhead as this comes up every year and people debate the best ways to tell them apart.

Wow, that pic is impressive. Can't believe it would be a chinook. Is it possible that chinook heading down to Cali might have less spots on their tails? The only reason I ask is I've never caught a chinook with so few spots on their tail. I haven't caught a zillion but for the amount I've had on the hook they were all freckled like Howdy Doody.

Another reason is that it seems more and more NCKA's are making it up north.

I take no responsibility for that...

Z

Yeah that fish is one of the Chinook I just caught at the Klamath and I saw maybe 4 or 5 more like that.  But I've also seen that on some blackmouth (what Washingtonians call Chinook that stay in Puget sound instead of making a the normal up to AK migration) when working for WDFW on some very late season gill netting (7pm-7am, yes middle of the night) right outside of Elliott Bay.  Have no idea if its more prevalent north or south.

Here's another two for you guys to guess at. One of them is easy.

Top one, steelhead, although I'm not certain and it's more of a guess.  Bottom one, coho.

-Allen

The trees are budding. Steelhead.

The bottom one is a coho.

Z

First pic is a indeed a steely. Second pic is obviously a coho. The coho was on the Eel, many miles from the ocean. Easy to ID especially when they start to color up and form the facial characteristics (hook jaw). Isn't it called a kype?
Both came out of the same hole, at slightly different times of the year.

I'm looking through some old pics for more fun-with-Salmon-ID's, and I wanted to put this up just because it's cool. 

 

Here's another one from a different winter, different stream.  The big red Chinook is around 30 pounds.  95% or more of what I see there is more like 10-15 pound class and silvery/dark/rotting yellow like the other fish in this shot.  Seeing the big ones is really cool, and seeing uniquely colored fish is a special event in itself.