Landlubber,

These are very good questions. Alot of folks think if a fish is very dark (spawning coloration) in December it must be a summer-run, not necessarily so. When I made my earlier reply I mentioned that wild winter-runs spawn later than summers. That is true, but hatchery winters are spawned at the hatcheries before they spawn the summers and therefore winters are often more colored. It is hard to explain in words how to tell one from the other. Generally, summer-runs are shaped like a tube steak since they have been living on fat reserves for 6 to 8 months. The females are not much more than skin and eggs.