Alaska King Salmon

The Alaska king salmon or chinook salmon is Alaska's state fish. The largest sport-caught chinook salmon was a 97 lb 4 oz fish taken in the Kenai River in 1986 by Lester Anderson of Soldotna, AK. It is the largest of all the Alaska salmon, with weights of individual fish commonly exceeding 30 pounds. In prime waters, such as the Kenai River, it is not uncommon for anglers to pull in fish of 50 – 60 lbs.

It is arguably the most important sport fish native to the waters of Alaska. Trolling with rigged herring is the most popular method of ocean angling, while lures and salmon eggs are used by anglers in the freshwater streams. The sport fishing harvest of Alaska king salmon is over 76,000 annually.

Generally speaking, because of their size, fishing for kings is usually limited to boat/float fishing. Their runs occur in the deepest parts of the rivers which are usually not accessible to bank fishermen in the larger rivers. This doesn’t mean that it cannot happen, but for the first time angler on a budget, fishing for kings is probably not the best use of your valuable and limited time while in Alaska.

While in the ocean, the chinook salmon has a bluish-green coloration on the back which fades to a silvery color on the sides and white on the belly. When spawning in fresh water, Alaska king salmon range from red to almost black, depending usually on the age of the fish. Males are more deeply colored than the females and also are distinguished by their hooked upper jaw. Adults are distinguished by the black irregular spotting on the back and dorsal fins and on both lobes of the caudal or tail fin. Alaska king salmon also have black gums if you care to get that close.

Like all species of Alaska salmon, they hatch in fresh water, spend part of their life in the ocean, and then spawn in fresh water. All kings die after spawning. King salmon may become sexually mature from their second through seventh year, and as a result, fish in any spawning run may vary greatly in size. Alaska streams normally receive a single run of chinook salmon in the period from May through July.

Each female deposits from 3,000 to 14,000 eggs in several gravel nests, or redds, which she excavates in relatively deep, moving water. In Alaska, the eggs usually hatch in late winter or early spring, depending on time of spawning and water temperature. The newly hatched fish, called alevins, live in the gravel for several weeks until they gradually absorb the food in the attached yolk sac. These juveniles, called fry, wiggle up through the gravel by early spring. In Alaska, most juvenile chinook salmon remain in fresh water until the following spring when they migrate to the ocean in their second year of life. These sea-bound migrants are called smolts.

If you do intend to fish for kings, there are some special considerations. They are heavily regulated by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and require an additional fee to fish for them. There are also periodic shut downs of king salmon fishing as dictated by emergency orders. All of this vital information on the Alaska king salmon can be easily obtained at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website.

Nutritional Information: One ½ lb. fillet of King Salmon has 354.4 calories, 39.4 grams of protein, 20.6 grams of fat, 6.1 grams of saturated fat and 93 milligrams of sodium. Note: Nutritional information provided by Ed's Kasilof Seafoods at http://www.kasilofseafoods.com.

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