Addict,

Wild chinook (unmarked)in the Lewis River are listed as threatened species under the ESA. I don't have a copy of the state fishing regs at the moment, but the federal listing should be enough to place them off limits for harvest. That would include jack chinook.

Jack chinook that mature sexually at age 2 or 3 instead of the usual age 4. With fewer seasons of ocean growth, they are small fish. They are fully capable of spawning with large female chinook, but the large males do try to keep them away from the spawning redds. It must be one of those "all's fair in love and war" things. The jacks, like other salmon, die after spawning - or attempting to spawn.

I don't know how much enforcement effort is out, but it doesn't seem like a good time to not be able to tell the difference between jack chinook and silvers. It'd be a shame for some poor sot to get a hefty ticket for a fish that is worth more in the river than on the table.

Determined poachers don't want our advice, but we'd be doing ignorant anglers, and the fish, a favor to remind them of what is legal to keep and what isn't.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.