Alaska Red Salmon Are As Colorful As Autumn!

Alaska Outdoor Journal's Photo of the Day!

Spawning Sockeye Challenge Autumn Colors!

9/27....Fall in Alaska is a beautiful time to get out on the rivers and streams for some last minute fishing before winter sets in. And when you get a day like this I guess its called picture perfect. This particular day three of us headed for the outlet of Skilak Lake to try for silver salmon before the season ended Sept. 30. The river was about 4 feet higher than normal for this time of the year and at the top of its banks.

This area is very popular with late summer and fall trout anglers who fish for rainbow and Dolly Varden that move into this salmon spawning area to feed on the abundant loose salmon eggs drifting out of the redds (the term for a depression created by the salmon for depositing their eggs in). The early run coho were thick in the area as well as some late season sockeye salmon. Unfortunately there were no fresh, bright fish to be found and we were "plagued" by agressive male coho and sockeye hitting our baits as they protected their spawning location.

This sockeye salmon was worth a picture mainly due to its "perfect" condition and colors which rivaled the changing leaves on the trees along the river. For those unknowing anglers in the Lower 48, fish in this condition are NOT edible! This is a perfect museum mount as a nice example of typical sockeye spawning coloration and visitors will see mounted fish like this on many lodge walls and area stores....but its just for show.

The angler's prize is the silvery bright salmon when it first enters rivers and streams from the ocean. The meat is in prime condition. But once the fish have been in the stream for a while, their bodies begin to undergo the transformation to spawning mode by changing colors, reabsorbing their scales for additional calcium for the maturing eggs and their flesh gets soft, mushy and flavorless. The males will develop the classic hooked jaw or kype as well as developing a hump on their backs in the case of sockeye and pink salmon.

Readers of the Private Angler Reports may have seen references to "greenheads"....this is one of them (sockeye). Late in the run greenheads may outnumber the fresh fish by 20 to 1 making it a challenge to get your limit. Fish in full spawning mode are agressive but lethargic in their fight, knowing they must conserve energy to complete their mission. So they become a nuisance more than a sport. This one was released after the shot to finish his 'business at hand' and insure future generations of salmon for our resource users.

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