Making no judgement on the quality of the meat just that, especially females, being to gorge post spawning and recover condition fast. It is also likely that the lakes do not contain foods that would make the flesh really red.

In my time in the PNW I have not seen an overwhelming consensus on the "best" salmon. I have heard each species praised. In college, Doc Donaldson told of an experiment he ran with his Rainbow. Fed them the identically same feed other than the presence of dyes. People of North American extraction felt the red-fleshed fish tasted better while northern Europeans praised the undyed white fish. They all tasted the same it was just appearance. So, to each his own as you said.