Are chums in?

[bmstrauch]

Went fishing out of Whittier and caught some reds. Some fish look like chums and the meat is lighter in color, but i thought chums didn't come close to the shore until later in the summer. Do you think these could be chums or just lighter colored reds?

[spoiled one]

I suspect they were chums. The hatchery on Ester has chums showing up now. Chums have a really large pupil. That is what I would look for. Any pictures?

[breausaw]

I caught a couple of chums late May off Perry two years ago, thought they were Silvers. Man how you forget how to ID the species, and I pitched fish off drifters in the Kenai and engineered on a tender back in the 80s.

[potbuilder]

Went fishing out of Whittier and caught some reds. Some fish look like chums and the meat is lighter in color, but i thought chums didn't come close to the shore until later in the summer. Do you think these could be chums or just lighter colored reds?

Did they have silvery tails?? and the large pupils are a dead giveaway. I'm 99.999% you got some of those nice Ester dogs that the gillnetters are paying for!!

[hoose35]

fresh chums also have faint pink stripes on their sides, hard to see sometimes when they are still chrome

[tinboat]

I caught a couple of Chum's last year around the 20th of May at Ester passage. I caught them on a Buzz Bomb. They were jumping all around.

[Ruby D]

The other method to distinguish reds from chums is to look down the gullet. Reds have filamentous gill rakers and chums have very clubby stubby gill rakers. Once you see the difference, you won't be confused again.

[vaaler]

How do you guys fish for them? I catch a few chums and a very few sockeye while fishing for coho in Icy Strait, but I have never targeted them.

Thanks,

Big_E

[aksnowmo]

Troll with hardware or hering. I have alot of fun catching fresh Chums. Have a great under water video catching chum so fresh that I was told, "My husband enjoyed the King you gave us, we grilled it on Saturday." I replied, "That was a Chum!". She says, "We don't eat DOG salmon!" I reply, "You did last Saturday!"

They are in off Ester all the way up to and past the North end of Ester Passage. There are also some fish jumping and being netted near Main Bay and Eshamy...yes the Sockeye are IN!!!

[Doug from Anchorage]

I've never caught a red in the salt. I didn't even knew they would bite. Is this true?

[hoose35]

I've never caught a red in the salt. I didn't even knew they would bite. Is this true?

They will bite on a rare occasion, my cousin caught one on Kalgin Is. with a vibrax. Have also heard about people getting them with just a red octopus style hook, they think it is krill.

[Kardinal_84]

They will bite on a rare occasion, my cousin caught one on Kalgin Is. with a vibrax. Have also heard about people getting them with just a red octopus style hook, they think it is krill.

Been dying to try it. Ran into a boat in Whittier last year just puttering along and asked how the fishing was. They were just beaming and yelled out "Fishing is great! Got a few reds in the past hour." I was like "huh?" Definitely am going to try it the next chance I get. Probably in try it once during the peak of the Kenai Red run off of Deep Creek to see if it works there too.

But here's how they do it in Lake Washington and similar methods in Canada.
http://www.salmonuniversity.com/psn_...ashington.html

and
http://www.tourcanada.com/salmonse.htm

For chums, what few I have caught, my advice would be anything "green".

[Whiskeypeet]

Did they have silvery tails?? and the large pupils are a dead giveaway. I'm 99.999% you got some of those nice Ester dogs that the gillnetters and seiners are paying for!!

Fixed that for you.

[Bernard R Rosenberg]

Chum this...

Almost 11 million chum salmon to the tune of 30 million dollars are netted each year in Alaska. Almost all of it is exported to foreign markets. Chum get a bad view because they deteriorate rapidly they moment they hit fresh water.

Yeah, the snout change in the fresh give them that ferocious canine toothy look, and yes, they are fed to the dogs, thus the nicname Dog Salmon.

They are limited in the US marketplace and are retailed under the name SilverBrite. Is a sea bright chromer worth laying to the blade? Ask one of the 11 million or try one yourself; I have and I can justify that fresh from the salt they ain't dog chow...

Rosenberg/Florida
Kodiak, 10 days...