I feel like a real dummy, but I recently foul-hooked a fish and couldn't figure out what it was. I was hoping the experts on this forum will be able to clue me in.
I hooked the fish in a pod of silvers and chum just above tidewater on a Hood Canal river. It was fair size-- about five pounds, maybe 25 inches long. When I first saw the fish, I thought searun cutt since it was that golden color they get in the salt. The body shape was like a steelhead.
It had a trout tail-- no vee like you'll see in a salmon with no spots on the tail. No red gill slashes, but I've come not to expect those in SRC in the salt.
When I opened its mouth to help ID it, things got strange... it had a white gumline and white tongue, but the tissue on the bottom of the mouth was black.
I thought maybe Atlantic, but I've never seen one of those that wasn't filleted and for sale at Costco. There were no spots on the gill plates, which is supposed to be a point of identification for Atlantics, and besides the spots on the back of the fish were searun/steelhead like.
Was this just a big searun? A late summerrun? A hybrid? An Atlantic? A silver (can't explain the tail and color though)?
Thanks for your help and opinions.
Keith