I think it is hard to judge the "saltness" of a fish by its weight, as there are so many other variables that can come into play. It's probably easier with hatchery fish, but any difficulties are magnified with wild fish, in addition to some difficulties that are probably more exclusive to wild fish than hatchery fish.

Fast growth, due to exceptional marine conditions, may manifest itself more in girth than length.

For example, I caught a clipped winter run a couple of years ago on the Skykomish that was twelve pounds and a couple of ounces.

That sounds like a typical three salt fish, to me.

However, that fish was 28.5" long...and shaped like a football.

Your average 28.5" fish would probably weigh eight, eight and a half pounds...which sounds an awful lot like a two salt fish.

My unscientific analysis makes that fish a really fat two salt, as one that spends three years in the salt ought to be several inches longer than that.

I'm thinking that if ocean conditions were poor, then a snaky two salt might weigh six pounds, and if the conditions were optimal, the same fish might weigh...well, as much as twelve pounds (like the fish above).

Who knows? Maybe the fish was just a mutant...

Hatchery fish, of course, don't have nearly the genetic drive to come back in various shapes and sizes...there's not really a size or shape that works better to have some dude in a hatchery hold them by the gills and slit their bellies open!

Plus, the random mixing of milt and eggs will lead to fish that are more homogenous within an age class...hence the "cookie cutter" phenomenon.

For wild fish, a three salt that enters the river in January and spawns on the Skagit up in Bacon Creek might only weigh ten pounds, as it is genetically geared to spawn well up in a small creek.

A three salt fish that enters the Skagit in mid-April, on the other hand, might weigh 15 or 16 pounds, as it is genetically geared to spawn in the mainstem Skagit or mainstem lower Sauk, where larger size is preferred.

I think some gross generalizations could be made, as a four or five pound fish is probably always a two-salt (or a one salt), while a twenty five pound fish is probably always a big four salt, or a five salt.

It's the middle ranges that would get a little sloppy. I'll try it here...

Two salt:

A fish that enters the river early and spawns in a small tributary...four to nine pounds.

A fish that enters the river late and spawns in the main channel, or side channel, or larger tributary...seven to ten pounds.

Three salt:

A fish that enters the river early and spawns in a small tributary...seven to twelve pounds.

A fish that enters the river later and spawns in the main channel, side channel, or larger tributary...ten to seventeen pounds.

Four salt:

Not likely to spawn in small tribs...too big.

Enters late, main channel spawner...fifteen to twenty four or twenty five pounds.

Five salt:

Not likely to spawn in small tribs...too big.

Enters early or late, main channel spawner...fifteen to thirty pounds.

Repeat spawners?

Repeat spawning fish are almost always female, and if they weigh any more than they did the first time, it is very little, and is attributed to greater egg production rather than to greater overall size. They don't grow any bigger because they utilize the entire growing season to replace all the weight loss due to growing last year's eggs.

The very rare repeat spawning male, on the other hand, can continue to grow larger for the second trip. For example, the broodstock fish caught on the Coquille a few years ago (clipped fish...27#) was shown through scale samples to have intially been a three salt fish, probably weighing in around twelve or thirteen pounds.

By the time he was bonked, he was on his third trip up the river, was now seven years old, and had obviously grown larger each trip out to the salt.

Salmo, could you do your own scale anaylsis with just a magnifying glass, or do you need a microscope? Any pictures, or hand drawings, by any chance? Any resources to look at so that I could figure out what it is that I am seeing?

I've thought about informally doing it myself just to see what I could see with the fish I catch.

Fish on...

Todd