Please pardon my ignorance but I'm not sure what a "tule king" is. I was fishing Bouy 10 last weekend and some of the guys on the VHF radio were talking about them. It sounds to me like they are some sort of an inferior grade of salmon........is that true or are folks being finicky about their fish. Where are these fish headed to spawn, or are they scattered in with all of the other "good fish"? And, if they really are nasty fish, how do I tell them apart from the good stuff.


I have fished the Clay Banks in Tacoma all my life and all of the blackmouth and kings that I have taken would rate "mighty fine" as table fare, so I am a little stumped.

thanks

Tules are a strain of salmon that go up the Columbia and to the Spring Creek Hatchery.West of Bingen about 3miles. It is the only Tule Hatchery I know of. As far as table fare they are not as bad as chum but not as edible as up river brights. They do get up to forty pounds but are thin as you look at them from the top down, not much shoulder. I hope this helps. The Duck

There are two races of fall chinook in the Columbia. The upriver brights are heading up to the Hanford Reach area, are less sexually mature, and are brighter silver. They are usually considered to be better eating.

The Tule (pronounced toolee) salmon spawn in lower columbia tributaries, are somewhat dark even as they enter fresh water, and have poorer flesh. Still decent fish, if well cared for, but it's not the best. The silvers coming in at the same time are much better eating.

When I first read this I thought that you were talking about that AirBase up in Greenland. Thank goodness you weren't. I'd of hated to have old memories brought back up.

Jim

From what I understand the flesh or meat is usually white . Because they start sexually maturing earlier because of their shorter run up the columbia to their spawning grouds. I have heard they start turning in the salt.

A good fighter, but not a good table eater, maybe a good smoker.

Sometimes those Tules at B-10 are pretty damn aggressive, making it impossible to get that upriver bright to bite! Then again I can think of worse problems to have. You can usually spot a tule by their enormous adipose fins when compared to other nooks.

Taking off early sunday morning for 3 days of B-10 chovie fishing, can't wait!

Hey Bobber Down, I'll be showing up at Ilwaco Sunday afternoon, staying for the week. Maybe I'll bump into you (knowing B10 that could be literally!) I'm in a 21' Wellcraft, white with a green top.....getting excited!!

Good luck

I caught a Tule last year down at bouy 10. It was around 25 pounds and had a little color. It cut just fine. I eat it both fresh and smoked and it tasted great. If I had my choice I would definately pick the URB over a Tule but that was the only bite I had that day and I'm glad I kept him.

Thanks everybody, that helps a lot. Every nook we landed earlier this week seemed to be in fine shape and had beautiful meat in them so I guess I got lucky and missed out on the tule's.

I appreciate the info

The Tule comes from the original white salmon river stock (get it.....WHITE SALMON river, ie white meated salmon river!!!!)

Like metioned. The Tules are maturing earlier because they are headed to the lower river. There is a Tule hatchery as high as Bonneville Dam. By the time they get to Longview their meat is smoker quality, HOWEVER any Tule caught at Buoy 10 (or the Astoria bridge) will be just fine on the BBQ. These are the same fish that they call 'Columbia River Footballs' up in Canada. They are shorter and fatter than the average Chinook. They are pretty prized up there in the salt. You can always tell when you have one because they are tall and fat. They also have nice eggs.

Not a great pic but it its tule.