Different Species of Alaskan Salmon

BY Kenai,

Alaska is home to five different species of salmon. If you plan your trip during the summer, there should always be at least one species of salmon running to catch. However, depending on which fish you go after, you’ll have to make use of slightly different fishing techniques or fish different streams, so read up and decide which one of these monsters you want to eat for dinner.

King (Chinook) Salmon

This is the mother of all salmon. Successfully reeling in a king salmon requires a significant amount of skill, patience,

King Salmon

and heavy equipment, but the reward is a monster fish and the once in a lifetime excitement that goes along with it. If king salmon is your game, the best place in the world to go is the Kenai Peninsula. The current world record king salmon, weighing in at 97 pounds 4 ounces, was caught here in the Kenai River in 1985 and the river gets two runs of king salmon every year. A typical king salmon ranges in size from 33 to 37 inches and weighs between 10 to 50 pounds.

Pink (Humpy) Salmon

The pink salmon is the smallest, but also most abundant species of salmon. The “humpy” salmon nickname comes from the spawning male who develops a hump and hooked jaw when it is spawning. If the fish isn’t spawning, there’s no hump and the fish has a green body with a white body and silver spots on its sides. They can be found in most rivers and are typically three to five pounds, but the state record is 12 pounds 9 ounces.

Chum (Dog) Salmon

These salmon have the widest range of all the different species of Alaskan salmon. Spawning males grow a distended jaw and teeth resembling those of a dog, giving it its name. Once these fish move from their salt-water habitat to fresh water, they develop red, green, and white bars. They’re especially abundant in Sustina, the Alaskan Peninsula, Bristol Bay, and their surrounding river systems. The average size of the chum salmon is 8-10 pounds and the state record is 26 pounds.

Silver (Coho) Salmon

The silver salmon is roughly the same size at the chum salmon at 8-10 pounds, but it is a much harder fighting fish. They have a bright silver sheen and a dark back. The best action for these fish is in the Kenai Peninsula, Valdez, Cordova, or the Seward areas. State record is 26 pounds.

Red (Sockeye) Salmon

Sockeye Salmon Filets

The sockeye salmon is considered to be the best tasting salmon and is the most common wild caught salmon sold in the US because they make tasty fillets like those on the right. These fish are also considered hard fighters. Their name comes from the bright red tint spawning fish turn, at all other times they are silver in color. Bristol Bay is world renowned for its plentiful stocks of sockeyes, but the Copper, Russian, and Kenai River drainages are also good places to stalk these fish. Depending on where you are the bag limit ranges from three to five fish, so be sure to check regulations. Their average size ranges from 8 to 10 pounds and the state record weighs in at 16 pounds.

Salmon fishing in Alaska offers a unique opportunity to catch many different species of salmon. Decide which one you want to focus on and then check out the run timing charts to figure out when to schedule your trip. Ideally, try to find dates that correspond to more than one run so you can catch different species of fish or have a backup plan if one of them doesn’t work out for some reason.