SPOTS.... Prevailing dogma says none to few on coho, typically small dot-like, limited to the upper lobe. Conventional wisdom says sparse to dense prominent black spots on kings, both lobes. Large blotchy oval gray-black spots on pinks. None to light peppering of tiny spots on chum/sockeye. This one's got sparse elongated black spots both lobes.
CAUDAL PEDUNCLE... (Tail wrist) Proportionally broad for coho, moderate for kings and sockeye, skinnier for pinks, skinniest for chums. But that's for full grown adult spawners.... all bets are off for immature fish. This one's pretty skinny.
FORK.... least forked in kings, then coho, then sockeye, then pinks, most forked in chum. Again that's in mature spawners.... lots of forked tails among sub-adults. This one's got moderately pronounced fork.
PEARLESCENCE.... (chrome in the tail fin) Broad and diffuse in kings. Radial streaks in coho, most prominent mid-fork region. Very faint (if any) on pinks. Virtually none on sockeye or chum. This one's got the radial streaks mid-fork.
COLOR.... note the aquamarine-blue-purple hues in the dorsal half of the wrist.
Finally there's this astute quote:
Now that you mention it, it does look like a cherry salmon tail, but it also looks like it's on the floor of a sport boat. I'm not so sure Doc would go that far to stir the pot
Yes that's MY boat, so it's a local fish... no cherry's. And since it's physically on board, it must be a legal fish to retain.
And yes it is a recent pic caught this season.... Sept 28 to be exact. Anyone who knows where I was fishing that day knows there was only one species legal for retention in that body of water.
Hey Doc-you have a pic of the whole fish, dont ya?
Don't be holding out on us!
I do have that pic, just not where I'm typing. But at this point it doesn't really matter since I've given enough clues that the correct answer is obvious.
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