Originally Posted By: 28 Gage
You were all trained well.

The original sellers of salmon to the masses classified/ renamed / and graded salmon based upon meat Color . Reds to Pinks were classified by thier color with reds paying well, and Pinks not so much.

The original buying public then assumed higher priced red meated salmon must taste better., and after 150 years or more of consuming these fish based upon commercial pricing, the color matters the most to those consumers.

I remember back in the late 60’s when local river gillnet fisherfolk pulled nets, if the kings were white, they were separated from the red /orange kings before sale, and separately disposed of.


There's more to it than meat color. After all, the color is just an expression of carotene retention by the fish, which varies among species and even stocks of fish; i.e., some Chinook stocks are white fleshed even though they eat the same diet as their red meated cousin Chinook. Then there is lipid content. Fish that migrate long distances and or have a long time between river entry and spawn timing have more, in some cases a lot more. This is what places spring Chinook, certain sockeye stocks, and summer steelhead at the top of the podium. And then there is keeping quality. Chinook and coho keep much better than chum and pink salmon. Therefore they fetch a higher price. Pink salmon come in last place on all counts. They have the shortest distance or time between freshwater entry and spawn time and the lowest lipid content, and they are very poor keepers. That is why they fetch the lowest price and why people who are particular about their fish choose pink salmon last.

I haven't fished for pink salmon on purpose since the 1995 run on the Skagit, where we had a "Humpy Holiday" and caught and kept a few. I'm pretty busy the rest of this month, but if I can break away for a day, I just might go fish for them on purpose again. We'll see.