Parker and co -

Even for an expert, it ain't always easy to tell what you've just landed.

Case in point - Last Friday (9/10) I was out on the Columbia with two fish bio friends, plus me makes three professional fish biologists with a combined experience of something close to 80+ years. We landed a 10lb salmon (trolling off Frenchman's Bar on a silver Brad's Wobbler). It took us the better part of five minutes to determine what we had just landed. Was it an average size coho or was it a small upriver bright Chinook? We honestly could not tell, even with the fish in our hand and a collective 80 years of fish bio experience.

Before we could make a final determination, the fish died. Since it wasn't clipped, we were "forced" to decide it was a Chinook, and therefore legal to keep. That's not the best method of determing the correct identification but that's what we did. I'm sure I'll get flamed for admitting that.......

My point is that making a positive ID can be difficult, even with a fish in your hand. Trying to make a correct ID from just a picture can be just about impossible. But since your fish is clipped, I'm not sure it really matters whether it was a coho or a Chinook. If it was unclipped, it would be a legal issue. I won't go there.