The tail will have some silvery sheen on the fin rays, but it will generally be much less extensive than on king salmon. Additionally, pink salmon have very small scales in relation to scales of other species of salmon. An ocean-bright chum salmon is often misidentified as a coho salmon. Look for very faint vertical bars on the side of the fish, and then look at the eye and tail of your fish. Few sockeye are caught on sport troll gear, and any sockeye caught might be quickly passed off as a coho salmon.
Sockeyes lack spotting on their back and tail fin and the tail lacks any obviously silvery sheen.
The characters listed above will provide any marine angler with enough basic information to quickly determine the identification of the salmon in our local waters. This will maximize the enjoyment anglers will get from their fishing outings as well as assure compliance with our fishing regulations. Mark Schwan works for the state Department of Fish and Game. Copyright 2000 Morris Digital Works and The Juneau Empire. Please read our Privacy Policy.