Mystery Salmon - Coho or Spring

[Heavyc]

I realize this may seem like a silly question. I took these pictures of the salmon I caught yesterday and we still don't know if its a Coho or Spring. We asked the creel survey person and they thought it was a coho, but to me the jaw doesnt match. You can see it has a square tale, like a coho, but the gums are black like a spring. The spots on the back weren't very apparent yesterday. Help me identify this bad boy. Its either a big coho or a mid size spring.

BTW It weighed 18.5lbs

 

[Stoisy]

spring for sure

 

[Fish Assassin]

It's a spring

 

[RiverBoy]

You should have left it in the freezer like I told you to. I say spring also. I caught a few large coho last summer that I had a tough time identifying. Gums and base of mouth were grayish...ended up being coho. Good thing to cause they were dead as hell. Can't wait till sept long bud. I feel it's gonna be epic

J.B.

 

[scott craven]

Black mouth = Spring

 

[spring time]

spring black gums and spots on back

 

[spring fever]

Spring !! Tough sometimes!

 

[Sitkaspruce]

Hope you recorded it on your licence...........

Cheers

SS

 

[banger17]

black gums and spots on the tail = spring for sure!

 

[finaddict]

No doubt, It unanimous - Chinook.

 

[ReelAffair]

Agree with all the above

 

[lorneparker1]

.org? is that you?

 

[Heavyc]

.org? is that you?

Low blow LP.

 

[SeaWolf]

Heavyc.org, you owe me for a Groupon deal. Msg me.

 

[capt hook]

sometimes even a very experienced grader on the table gets a tricky one.
sometimes a coho can have the odd spot on the tail (but not like this pic which is a chinook) and some fall coho have a black mouth ,
the graders will pull back the gill and look at the gill plate , coho will be lightly grey sand speckles on the white .

 

[Fish Assassin]

.org? is that you?

At least its not a picture of a pink........ Thanks for the laugh

 

[lorneparker1]

Low blow LP.

HAHAHha just playing with yah!

Lorne

 

[SeaWolf]

What ever happened to the melting pot skipper?

 

[Peahead]

I realize this may seem like a silly question. I took these pictures of the salmon I caught yesterday and we still don't know if its a Coho or Spring. We asked the creel survey person and they thought it was a coho, but to me the jaw doesnt match. You can see it has a square tale, like a coho, but the gums are black like a spring. The spots on the back weren't very apparent yesterday. Help me identify this bad boy. Its either a big coho or a mid size spring.

BTW It weighed 18.5lbs

Ok, Heavyc this post has me a bit shocked and quite frankly a little bit frustrated . I was gonna leave this alone but just had to speak up - thats partly what this forum is for too so here it goes - will try to go lightly here but you have hit a 'cord' in me with this post .

A pet peve of mine is those that cannot tell what fish they are bonking when you should know before you even land it ! This particular fish should be obvious to you what it is - especially before you bonked it ! If you cannot tell that this is a Spring in like a 1/2 second peek ( The close ups shots , even left as the tiny thumbnails, its obvious) You should not be bonking chinook or coho or ? until you know your ID better. This is so obviously a chinook - IMHO not even close to being confusing . Black mouth yes but specifically right where the teeth ( base) come out of gums is black. That tail/spots is so obviously chinook its rediculous.

- no question whatsoever for me and I had hope most everyone else would be able to say the same thing. The Creel guy should not be working that job if he could not ID that fish. Coho and Chinook look completely different ( sometimes late season a chinook can have lighter gums and be lacking in spots but still easy to tell)
Also note -If the wide photo of holding the fish is the same chinook as the close ups - it has an adipose. ......well you know where I am going with this ( if you thought it might be a coho, were wild coho retainable where you were fishing ???? )

 

[JuandeOne]

Mmm, the tell tale smell of a chinook salmon...unmistakable!!