Ugly??? I think chum are beautiful in their spawning colors. Not when they are totally dark and mush(all salmon are ugly then), but when they finally get their stripes I think they are the most beautiful out of all the salmon species. As for taste, never had one off the BBQ(heard they were no good for that), but smoked I think they are great. As has been said in this post already, be selective and you shouldn't have a problem.