A good friend caught a 15.4 lb Coho at the racetrack last night. He said it was tail walking and definately a silver...square tail,no spots,white gums. He is very experienced and a good fish identifier. When he got home and fileted the fish he was very surprised to find white meat....Has anyone else ever encountered this?
Thanks for you help.

I have dressed out literally hundreds, if not thousands of cohos and chinook. I've never seen a coho with white meat. Doesn't mean it can't happen, though. Pics?

they get them up in alaska not too many

I have never seen or heard of a white meated coho. So I just called a buddy of mine that was a deck hand on a charter boat out of westport for 5 years and asked him. He said the same thing "Has cleaned thousands of coho and never saw a white meated coho"

No Spots on the lower tail or no spots at all ?
If no spots on the body , not a silver.. could be a handicapped fish. Never seen it

Seems like it has to be a coho as it was bonked at the racetrack and the racetrack area is closed to the retention of kings. Could it have been an escaped Atlantic that hadn't gotten it's dose of stuff that makes trhe flesh pink?

Maybe he got lucky and got a Stealhead in the salt???....

Just gave him all of your responses....he saved everything and is going to take it down to the Fisheries Dept at the U. I'll let you know what they say.
It's up at his cabin and he's down here so it may be a while, but I'll post when I find out.

I 'll go with it being a Chum salmon. Ocean bright , no bars. I have caught a few before and at first glance you think "man that's a nice coho" only to look closely and see it's really a chum.

Hey im going with rln and say the same,was asked about fish at DesMoines both wher chum he didnt like my answer

Correct me if I'm wrong (imagine that on this board ) but you said 'white gums'. Coho have a black gum line with just a little bit of white right at the base of their teeth. Also, they do have some spots on their tails, just typically not many below the midpoint and they are usually fairly round, not elongated. What you have described doesn't sound like a silver to me.

Now an atlantic has NO spots on the tail, small x spots on the upper part of their body, and I believe white gums. The tail is basically squared. Sounds like a better match than a silver to the description.

Jeez Jeff...... Where the heck have you been catching your Steelhead?
As far as I know, their flesh is maybe orange at best, but white? Do you eat dead floaters?? LMAO.... sorry, couldn't resist..

My best GUESS would be that possibly there is a net-pen operation somewhere raising coho's and one got out. Flesh color is 90% what the fish has eaten through it's life, and Purina fish chow is not conducive to healthy, rich-meated fish.....

MC

MC

A bright chum out of the salt would look a little like a spotless coho, some silver in the tail but more delineated, a much larger pupil, no teeth to speak of, and a much deeper V to the tail...very easy to pick up by the tail. NOT recommended if you're going to release, by the way.

Atlantics have 3 or 4 BIG spots on the gill plate, right?

Stealhead are in the rainbow trout family, are they not? I agree, its more likely that it was a chrome chum.

Yes Atlantics have spots on the gill plates.

] could be a handicapped fish [

Is it at all possible to post some pic's?

The fish is in Tulalip and my bud is in Seattle. I asked him take some pics when he retrieves the fish from the freezer and I'll post em then.
Thanks for all the opinions. He says no way it's a King or Chum or Steelhead (I brought all those up before posting). My guess after reading the above is Atlantic.....will let you know.
Thanks
Dave

I picked up a couple really funny looking humpies out at Sekiu recently, really large fish and the tails were overlain with silver radience like a coho - was actually releasing the first one as it of course had an adipose fin until I noticed the maxilary, which has a straight edge on humpies, chum, and sockeye and is curved downward on kings and coho. After I got it in the boat and subdued it I was able to finally see the faint tail spots under all the silver radience, but it was really tough to pick up until the fish was dead. Anyway, that maxilary bone is a great indicator - if it was straight it was not a coho.

Spawnout was it a chum/humpy hybrid? I've seen fish that couldn't be anything else (large size, small scales, a few spots on the tail along with the radial silver pattern, and the sharp V angle where the tail starts. What I don't actually know is if this is a scientific possibility.