I talked to a customer of mine Friday and told him it was time to hit the rivers for some salmon action. Last season we went to the Quinault and fished with Robbin Rhoades. What a blast! Robbin put us on some big Kings and Coho. We kept some of the fish and although they looked chrome bright about 3/4 were soft and not really that good for the smoker. My customer actually said he would pass this year and that he preferred ocean fish. I haven't really fished alot of rivers in the fall for salmon so what is the deal? Are the fish we catch in the rivers worth keeping to eat?

Yes grandpa, fall fish are worth keeping!

And yes, there not to bad on the table either!

Lots of fall chinook that enter the Cowlitz, are still in great shape. There are some really nice looking fish and their flesh is still bright pink. Not all are that way, but there is no problem finding enough good ones for the table, canner or smoker! Just ask my niece who caught her first salmon ever last week on the Cowlitz near Toledo. It weighted 33 ½ pounds, and was in perfect condition. They are still eating it! She also said that it was fantastic eating.

If you find the right fish, they are just as good as the ocean. Coho seem to stay silver the longest and are the best eating from rivers, so are the Upper River Bright Kings on the Columbia which stay silver for a long time. I caught a silver out of the Quilliute River that still had one sealice on it and herring in the stomach, that was a good fish.

i've never had a problem with fall salmon, but then again i'm never one to pass up a smoked chum either

Nice pijama's!!

Grandpa, I think it depends. I would never go salmon fishing in the rivers with the primary intent to eat what I catch. My main reason is to get my river chops back in preparation for Winter Steelhead. That's not to say that I haven't had excellent table fare from fish caught in the rivers, but that's never the reason that I go.

It's a crap shoot. I've had really good fall river fish, and I've pulled out some ultra-chromers that have had nasty meat.

I usually don't try to fill my freezer with fall river fish. If I want fish for the freezer, I'll try to go out and get it from the salt. Salt fish are all pretty good.

I can only shake my head in bewilderment at some of the fall river fish I've seen people keep. Ugh. I like to ask them if they plan on eating it with a spoon.

Personally, fall fish are good for their eggs and not the table.

I was told by a guide in the Forks area that the fall salmon (kings) around there hang out in the ocean quite a while before entering the rivers. He said it had to do with there not being a bay or estuary for transition. He also stated that by the time the salmon do enter, they are kind of dark.

I don't know if the coho in that area are the same, however.

harley,
The same is true in many of the small hood canal streams... except they hang out in the salt because there is no water in the creeks to head into.

In the estuary I've been fishing the last few weeks quite a few of the coho are starting to get dark. Although I haven't caught a dark one yet I have seen some pretty dark fish jumping.

Fishingjunkie, I've never seen a stomach in a river salmon. Also was told by a fish biologist that the stomach residualizes and there is nothing but a chord left, but herring I don't know. The Duck

Duck maybe where you're at there aint a stomach left. But out on the coast I've also caught cohos coughing up herring in the river.

I'd imagine that some of it has to do with genetics, also, in relation to the river system.

The migration distance of a penisula stream is much shorter than, say, the Cowlitz or Kalama. Therefore, I'd think the fish are genetically set to stay fresher longer in the rivers they have farther to traverse.

Yes? No? Maybe?