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This Is A King Right?

3575 Views 32 Replies 20 Participants Last post by  meh.meh.meh.meh.meh.
2
Swinging flies for steelhead on the Clearwater and hooked into this guy. Broke my 8 weight Sage tcx switch in the process but managed to land him anyways. Wasn't as big as I was expecting based on the fight.
Water Fish Marine biology Fin Electric blue
Fin Underwater Salmon-like fish Fish Sturgeon
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I was pulling him in sideways and making some good headway, then he spun and I pulled the opposite direction and snap! Lucky that the fight was mostly out of him at that point.

Big props to @loganmike for saving the day. Solid dude. Put me in good water, took me out drinking, even gave me a few of his favorite cigars. We weren't able to fish as it was his sons bday this weekend, but he delivered the pontoon to me on the river. As he was pulling in to the parking lot, I was landing the king with the broken 8 weight sage tcx switch.

Mike gave me one of his backup rods to use for the rest of the trip. It's amazing how many solid people I've met here on the forums. I'd be lost without this place.
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Ok stupid question. I've heard the term blackmouth when referring to kings. Is there a difference between kings, Chinook, and blackmouth? This guy had a black mouth.
Same fish
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Ok stupid question. I've heard the term blackmouth when referring to kings. Is there a difference between kings, Chinook, and blackmouth? This guy had a black mouth.
Blackmouth refers to resident chinook in Puget Sound.
SERE -
Yes a Chinook.

There are a number of local names for Chinook salmon. The most common is probably "kings"; typically this name is reserved for mature/maturing fish. A blackmouth is a name usually applied to immature Chinook; fish that are not likely to spawn for a year or more. Blackmouth are also sometimes referred to as "feeder" Chinook. Blackmouth are typically 12 to 30 inches long and are caught in the salt (their feeding grounds). Occasionally those immature Chinook can be pretty large; like in excess of 30#. Other names that one might hear applied to Chinook include springs or tyee; more likely hear those tags in BC and usually it is applied to larger fish; something in excess of 30#.

Chinook can be an excellent fish that when in prime condition can provide strong fight for the fly angler as well as a challenge to get to take the fly. The fish pictured is not an example of a prime fish and you can expect on the whole most Chinook to provide a much stronger fight. It is common for a fly experienced angler to take as much as a minute/# to bring one to hand.

Curt
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@ Smalma. I thought I read a Blackmouth is a Chinook Salmon that A) If reared for an extended period of time, that net result is B) Blackmouth becomes a permanent resident of Puget Sound, never migrating to the Ocean. Unlike that of a "Chinook" which would migrate from River to Puget Sound, then stay in Ocean for 4 or more years (depending on fish stock) before returning to Puget Sound en-route to natal rivers to spawn?
Funny I have caught black mouths off the Queen Charlottes.
All Chinook have black gum lines and tongues throughout there life cycle. Below is cut and pasted from:

http://www.leeroysramblings.com/PS_Blackmouth_history.htm

Puget Sound Fish :
Some of the Puget Sound fish, may have been smarter, or lazy & found enough food in the sound, so they never left for northern waters. In the early 1960s the Dept of Fisheries set out to duplicate by hatchery methods, a fish that would stay as a resident in the sound. If this could be duplicated, we as sport fisherpersons could have a year around salmon fishery in the sound.

Frank Haw was selected for this job. His extensive testing revealed that by releasing the fish from a hatchery facility one year after the normal time, (15 months of age), that a majority of these fish lost their instinct to migrate great distances, if the food chain is available to them. At this time these fish were being raised in Percival Cove, a fresh water impoundment in of Capitol Lake in Olympia.
Good question about Blackmouth, King, or Chinook.... I always figured they are the same fish, much like Coho and Silvers are the same.
that fish is a chinook.
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The blackmouth in my area can be from nearly any river or hatchery. The summer fish too, especially the ones in July can be from nearly anywhere. Kings eat in the islands and the sound at all different stages of life.

Go Sox,
cds
Many old timers down in coastal Oregon use the term blackmouth to describe all chinook however most consider them to be juvenile or jack chinook salmon which usually appear in tidewater in late fall and are sometimes a by-catch when targeting SRC in lower rivers and tidewater in late October generally.... ST
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Other names that one might hear applied to Chinook include springs or tyee; more likely hear those tags in BC and usually it is applied to larger fish; something in excess of 30#.
The term Spring is a ubiquitous term for all chinook in BC while the term Tyee is reserved for any Spring over 30 pounds.... someone once told me that geography dictates what people most generally call their native or local chinook salmon populations.... as follows....

Alaska: kings
BC: springs and tyee (over 30 lbs)
WA: chinook
OR: blackmouth
Alaska: kings
BC: springs and tyee (over 30 lbs)
WA: chinook
OR: blackmouth
Bingo. Location location location.
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So, only slightly off topic. Why do "white Kings" have white flesh, versus pink. I would guess a difference in feed, but don't know for sure. Curt? SG? Preston?

(A quick post Google indicates a lack of crustaceans in the diet.)
Bingo. Location location location.
......and time of year? If memory serves me correctly, when growing up my dad would fish for "winter blackmouth" (location: Sequim/PA) but time of year seemed as if it was after adult Chinook had made their spawning run and the Chinook remaining in the salt were immature. And let's not forget "shakers".
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......and time of year? If memory serves me correctly, when growing up my dad would fish for "winter blackmouth" (location: Sequim/PA) but time of year seemed as if it was after adult Chinook had made their spawning run and the Chinook remaining in the salt were immature. And let's not forget "shakers".
Yes. In Alaska we had a "winter king" season as well. The same fish (chinook) but the flesh was whiter with a lighter taste in the winter than those of the summer run. The coho were called "silvers" and the pinks were "humpies" locally speaking.
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