An extremely strong fighter, it may strip off 200 to 300 yards of line on its initial run. Then, it sounds and refuses to come in. A 30-pounder can easily wage a half-hour battle. Chinooks are extremely wary and sensitive to light. They are not as likely to feed on the surface as cohos. Effective lures include plugs with an erratic action, spoons and trolling flies. Chinooks also bite on whole or cut baitfish, and on spinner-salmon egg combinations.

Chinooks are strong swimmers and excellent leapers, so they move long distances upstream to spawn, sometimes as far as 1500 miles. Many streams have spring and fall runs. Spring chinooks stay in the river through the summer and spawn in early fall. Fall chinooks enter the river later and spawn later.

Table Quality

The flesh is reddish to white, with the reddish flesh commanding a higher price at the market. Considered the most delicious of the Pacific salmon.

Eating Habits

Fish make up most of the diet, but chinooks also eat squid, shrimp, crab larvae and other crustaceans.

Chinook spawn at age 2 to 9, usually age 4. Both sexes, including the jacks, die after spawning. An average adult chinook weighs 15 to 25 pounds with males usually attaining the greatest weights.

1985 - 97 pounds, 4 ounces, caught in the Kenai River, Alaska.

British Columbia

Cordero Lodge
Sailcone Wilderness Fishing