Here’s a description of each of the salmon species in the Southeast Alaska fishing panhandle.

The king salmon or chinook is the most prized salmon species for the anglers. The name king says it all with it’s importance, taste and value to the Alaskans. It’s the state fish of Alaska and the largest recorded size of a king caught in a fish trap was 126 pounds! The largest sport caught size was 97 pounds. If you try your luck, don’t be surprised with average sizes of over 30 pounds. The king salmon can be distinguished by a blue-green color on the back and top of their heads with black spots, silver on the sides, and white on the belly.

The coho salmon is another popular fish for the Southeast Alaskans. It is often called silver salmon as well due to its bright metallic sides with a blue-black back. The coho is an excellent game fish because of their aggressive runs and acrobatic leaps. Their spirited nature makes the coho salmon pound for pound the best fighting In Southeast Alaskan fishing but the catch is well worth it as the salmon makes excellent table fare.

The pink salmon or humpback salmon actually is not pink but a bright silver fish in the ocean. It does have a hump on the back of spawning males however. The flesh of the pink salmon is… pink due to the shrimp and krill they eat. The pink salmon is vital to the commercial fishing industries for canning, smoking and salting but are also caught by sport anglers.

The sockeye salmon is another fish important to the Alaskan commercial fisheries. It has a blue-green metallic color on the back and head in salt water with a torpedo shaped body. In freshwater, it has a red body with a green head. It’s also a popular sporting fish for Southeast Alaska flyfishing as it is known for being another acrobatic fish who likes to give a good fight.

And the runt of the litter for the salmon species in Alaska has got to be the chum or dog salmon. Neither of the names sound too complimentary. The term chum is actually a local word to mean spotted. Spawning adults get a blotchy appearance and the males acquire an elongated dog-like snout with enlarged teeth . The chum salmon have low commercial value but they do well smoked.

So there you have the salmon species that make up the Southeast Alaska salmon fishing industry.