CHUM SALMON

 

Chum Salmon also known as Dog Salmon average 8 to 12 pounds and have a keen appetite for streamer flies and spinners. Not a targeted salmon at Rainbow King, they don’t have as good a reputation as the other salmon species when it comes to the dinner table, but once hooked on the fly, you will respect Chum Salmon for their fighting endurance. Chum Salmon usually spawn at the mouth, or in the lower sections, of rivers, although in Alaska’s largest river systems, some travel great distances (up to 2,000 miles to the upper Yukon River in Canada) upriver to spawn. After hatching, juvenile chum salmon spend a short time (days to weeks) in freshwater before migrating to the ocean. Once in the ocean, juvenile chum salmon remain near shore, particularly in shallow eelgrass beds, for the first several months before dispersing into the open ocean. Chum Salmon top the scales at 20 pounds and arrive in our rivers in July and early August. Not a targeted salmon at Rainbow King, but no one complains after a fight with a big Chum Salmon on a fly rod.

Quick Facts

• Size
  Average 24-28 inches and 10-13lb; males usually larger than females
• Range/Distribution
  Chum salmon range throughout Alaska, but are scarce north of Kotzebue Sound. While at sea, most of Alaska’s chum salmon remain in the eastern Chukchi and Bering seas and the Gulf of Alaska.
• Diet
  Insect larvae, copepods, tunicates, mollusks and a variety of fishes
• Predators
  Marine mammals, birds, bears, wolves, humans
• Reproduction
  Spawn only once before dying
• Other Names
  dog salmon, calico salmon