I have a guide friend in Alaska who is writing an article about giant kings.... pretty much have the scoop on the top ten fish to come out of the Kenai. They range from 89.06 to 97.25 pounds.

There is a Skeena fish that weighed 92# that could dethrone one of those Kenai top ten. Anyone out there know of any other documented sport-caught Skeena or Kalum fish that surpass the 89# mark? Predator Dawg are you out there?

The other place for giant kings is the Rivers Inlet area. Dave Vedder, are you aware of any Rivers Inlet, Chuckwalla, or Kilbella fish that top the 89# mark?

Check out http://www.riversinletresort.com
I think there is info there on rivers inlet record fish.I know they had a picture of a huge hatchery fish on that site.I think it was in the 80's but cant remember exact weight.

There is actually a picture of a sport caught chinook down on the naselle river that was in the low to mid 80's. It must have never been officially weighed as it's not noted as a state record. But it sure looks to be a monster, the pic was from the 30's though...

I know the run no longer exists but the elwah and columbia basin used to get summer run chinook that topped 100 pounds in the late 1800's and early 1900's before the dams.. Of course there are no sport caught records for them though..

Keith

Ahh, "BIG KINGS" a topic thats close to my heart!
Been trying to intercept 1 of those "BIG" Skeena river fish for 12 of the past 14 seasons, maybe this year will be "my year".
Back in '89 the resort I work for had the 1st and 2nd largest recorded non-Kenai kings, 78.8lbs. and 73.5lbs. I'm guessing Skeena fish.

Is there any documentation that exists on the kings that used to go in to the Elwa? I heard that they were monsters also.

Washington at one time had it share of exceptional large kings!

Reportly the hatchery on the Elwha has collected brood stock that were as large as 100# - though haven't heard of any close to that large in several decades.

As mentioned the Columbia summer fish were hogs as well - remember reading some reports about the fish trapped when Grand Coulee shut off the upper river with fish in excess of 90 pounds being captured.

The Skagit in Puget Sound also had some very large fish. As recently as 25 years ago several fish in the 80+# range were reported. About the same time I found a spawned out male carcass that was about 66 inches long and wider than my shoulders - guessed its weight at ~75# - scary to think what it may have weighted in its prime.

While habitat problems (example the Columbia dams) have affected these giants the major problem has been the ocean fisheries. Fishing on these fish's feeding grounds (Canadian waters, SE Alaska, Washington Coast, Neah Bay) severely selects against these old fish (6 to 8 years old). While at one time it was commerical troll fisheries that accounted for much of the impacts now sport fisheries are a major source of impacts on these stocks and selection against old/large fish.

Tight lines
S malma

Smalma, did you mean 56" Skagit fish? for a 66" fish to only weigh 75lbs. it would have a 30" girth, extremely anorexic for a fish or that length!

2 or 3 seasons ago a skeena lodge released a fish that was 99lbs using the lenght times girth. There is a picture of a 107lb broodstock fish that was beach seined from the kalum in either Northcoast Anglers or Fish Tales tackle shop in Terrace (Fish Tales I think). The Kalum river in terrace gets chinooks every bit as big as the Kenai , just not as many. The net cught record from Rivers Inlet is 126lbs, sport caught is 89lbs.

Hey there Doc,

My input was going to be what rln just commented on. C&R the world record fish, that's pretty awesome. Rivers inlet gets some big ones but I've never heard of one topping 90, although plenty in the eighties. The Kilbella has been held pretty tightly for news/reports coming out of there for good reason, I doubt you will find a documented monster king from there. The Skeena has definitely kicked out some 90+ fish. I remember seeing a picture of one back in 95 at one of the tackle shops in Terrace. It was a football shaped (very, very large football) king that was ridiculous in size. As you know, both the mainstem and the Kalum are the place to hunt. The released fish came from a couple miles below the mouth of the Kalum if memory serves me.

Only other place I know of would be Kamchatka.

This summer on the Elwha my dad and I were walking up above the mouth and we were on a log jam when down below us was a chrome king that was at least 60 pounds. I've seen big kings and this was definitely the largest I've ever layed eyes on. The big kings are in the Elwha and even though its closed people still fish it. They still seemed proud of themselves too.

I myself have seen fish in the 80lb plus category in the elwha. I hooked and landed some in the 40 to 50 lb. class on accident during the silver season, early. I tied into one one time that was probably 70 plus, but kicked my butt. There out there in Washington to, just not as much traffic as Alaska by far, so you don't see them as much. just 2 cents, tight lines everyone

A couple years ago at Fred's tackle in Chilliwack they told me they weighed a Vedder fish that was 80 plus lbs earlier in that week.

Not the largest fish (I'm sure) but last fall a fellow on the lower Rogue landed a 71.5 # fall king on a fly rod .... and 7# leader!!!

He was fishing for summer runs and hooked something a tad larger than expected. Fellow down stream from him (both were in prams) netted the fish as it came up and rolled on the surface.

However it got in the boat, that's a lot of fish!

Does anyone remember the mounted king that sat in the meat market just before you went into Westport? Was 125-130# king that was pulled out of a net circa 1920 I do believe. Was one helluva fish. I know when it was bought out (the market that is) the fish disappeared. Wonder whatever happened to it?

Hey 69, I stopped by the meat market to show the Fish to clients this last Oct. It is now in a Westport Motel or restaurant. 126# Hog.

Ok, thanks. My Dad and I had admired that fish for years going out that way. We'd always stop off there to buy some cranberry sausage and a few other meats. Glad to know it's still viewable in public.

AKKings -
Remember that the fish was a spawned out carcass that had probably been in the river for 3 months prior to spawning. While fishing I had seen the monster spawning the week before and returned to the same area on the off chance of finding the carcass. It was about 1/4 mile downstream in a couple feet of water. When I liftted the fish up to get an idea of its weight I was looking eyeball to eyeball and its tail tips were still touching the ground - since I'm 5 -11 I always figured that it was about 5 and 1/2 feet long! It was a snaky fish. Even if I'm several inches off in its length still one heck of a fish - never seen anything like it. The same year the tribal nets reportedly caught an 86#er.

Steelheader -
I believe that the 126#er was caught in Alaska near Petersburg in a commerical fishery. Have seen several replicas of the fish as well as pictures of it. Had an incredible girth.

Tight lines
S malma

I can remeber seeing a lot of 40-50# fish at Sekiu...

Last month's Reel News had a quick blurb about prehistoric salmon weighing as much as 250# !!!

Smalma... I heard the eggs from the Elwha were frozen. Any truth to that? Wonder if someone will attempt to bring those monsters back

When and if they remove the elwah dams, i believe salmonn runs will grealy increse on that river to rival what we get on the other OP rivers due to the fact that most of the river is still in pristeen condition. We might just see more of thouse huge monsters again on this river.

There are obviously more "big king" fans on this board than on I-fish where I posted the same question... more than 3 times as many responses here!

Doesn't sound like any documented sport catches exceeding 89# have come out of OR, WA, or Rivers Inlet. The Skeena/Kalum drainage seems to be the top contender. It held the world record at 92# until Alaska reclaimed it with a 93# slab caught in the salt in Southeast. I know about the 99# king caught by a lady from Germany that was released in 2001. There was a picture of it on Noel Gyger's website. Anyone have a contact for Terrace and District Guide Association? These guys might have the river's biggest kings documented somewhere.