This king was caught by the friend I go to Neah Bay with. It was caught at Canadian Swiftsure on an 8 oz. white Pt. Wilson dart on the drop for halibut. It's not uncommon for us to catch kings when fishing for halibut. Funniest thing was he was telling me for the week before he went that he was having dreams about a big king. This fish weighted 45 lbs. www.piscatorialpursuits.com/uploads/UP3307.jpg
www.piscatorialpursuits.com/uploads/UP3308.jpg
www.piscatorialpursuits.com/uploads/UP3309.jpg

Jerry,

That's a nice fish. White kings should be fairly common out there, as a lot of whites run to the Fraser. The Harrison River is one well known for its run of white kings, but they occur in a number of tributaries. The Skagit also gets some whites, although most of the run is the usual reddish-orange flesh. Yumm, just thinking about it on the BBQ!

BTW, did a blind taste test of BBQd red and white Skagit kings with a large crowd of salmon lovers back in 1979. Not a one, including yours truly, could taste the difference with reliability greater than coincidence.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Could anybody tell me how to tell a white king from a king thats just been holding too long before hitting the river and is starting to get pretty pale.
Had a friend that cought about a #35 last year above bouy10.He was told it was a white king.I thought different.The fish wasnt chrome,but it wasnt dark either.Just looked to me like the meat turned white because it was too long getting to the river.

Nice looking fish. I was bummed we didn't get any white kings on our trips to WCVI this summer. I think they are wonderful eating.

HntnFish - there is a distinct difference in the coloring of a red meat king and white meat king. If your friend caught a king with white meat in the Columbia then it was a white meat king. There is a run that goes up the Columbia and several more on the Oregon Coast. The discoloring your talking about in a spawned out fish is different along with the general texture and smell.

The white Kings of the Columbia are from the Spring Creek National Fish hatchery. The original stock was taken from the White Salmon River on the Columbia (get it...WHITE SALMON!!!!!) The color is a genetic thing and seem to have something to do with how close their spawning grounds are to the ocean.

That is a beautiful fish!

Jerry, did he know about how deep he was when the fish struck the dart?

This is a 45 pound white king I caught last week off Westport, It was 44 inches long.
The one in the pic above looks about 35 pounds



Here is what the meat looks like from that bad boy compared to a regular king that was 32 pounds

The fish was weighed on 2 different scales, including the one at Big Salmon in Neah Bay. The guy holding the fish is about 6'6" and the fish made him look like he was normal size.

Is that salmon burger? :p Chop chop...


Both are nice fish that I would love to bonk in my boat...

Who filleted those kings Helen Keller?

Just kidding, nice fish!



BD

there are lots of white kings that return to the samish too...DJ

Bobber Down - Exactly what I was thinking, use the sharp side next time.

All in fun T.

When you catch fish that size you have to use special techniques to fillet them, I think I did ok using my chainsaw.

I heard awhile back from someone that the minter creek fish from the Purdy area are white. Not 100% of this being true though.

Hey, BobberDown, I was going to comment on the fillet job too, but just didn't have the heart to. Nice fish anyways, BTW, did you get married yet?

Send me an E-mail if you are up to Westport or the CR sometime.

Ng

First I have to say this: I'm just a kid and I fillet better than that!!!

My friend caught a white king at Pt. Difiance. The Game Warden said it was wild. It could have been from Minter Creek like Waterboy said. I could also be wrong...

haha!! you took the words right out of my mouth. All kidding aside. Nice damn fish! es!

Im getting old and I still cant fillet worth a crap! Yet its still fun joshing someone else for it. Hell... those look professional compared to mine.

That "white king" in the Columbia was a tule I bet. I've caught several hens that were chrome bright on the outside and looked like spawned out pinks on the inside. I smoke them all and they come out ok, but if I am getting into kings and can only keep one, I try not to make it a tule. You can tell tule bucks real easy - they look like alligators even when they are chrome. Chrome tule hens are a little tougher to tell from upriver brights - generally they are very gravid looking compared to upriver fish. With the one king limit I hate to waste a punch on a tule if there are upriver fish around, but sometimes that's the way it goes.

I thought the same thing about the filet job, I have a nice long knife for the bigger fish. I didn't say anything because I haven't actually caught a fish in over a month. I have also had a white king, the one in my avitar actually.

Nice Fish!

Steve (wishin' I had a fish to filet right about now!) in Oly