A coworker (one NOT prone to B.S.ing me) told me he heard about a 30 lb.'er being caught under the 522 bridge this weekend in a guide's boat, while fishing for pinks. It took 40 minutes to get to the boat, and it WAS released, although it's condition after that is debatable.

Anyone else hear of this and have an explanation for it? Is there a late run on the Snoqualmie or something? He didn't say if it was clipped or not.

I talked to a guy on the Snohomish last week, that said that his buddy also caught a King under the 522 bridge on Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't remember which day I talked to him. He said that they estimated it at between 30# -40#. He said that they drew quite a crowd as it was carefully released. Said that his buddy was drifting eggs. Thought maybe it was a late springer?

Just about every year you will hear about people getting into Kings this time of the year on the Snoho. glad to hear people releasing them though. Unfortuantly I also see and hear about keeping them just as much as I hear of releasing Just wait till the ho's really start to show I don't think that it's anything unusual??? Got a nice one last year on a plug that I got to see swim back into the depths...

Those fish are most likely the ESA-listed Snoqualmie wild chinook. I saw a few roll in that area Sunday. They were large and dark.

4Salt, thanks, that's why I was asking about the clipping.

I watched a guy snap off a very large (30lb.+), fairly red fish last year down at Cheapskate when I went down to see if the buzz bombers were seeing any silvers. Must have been the same thing.

Hopefully it's a rarity, for the sake of the Snohomish pink and silver fishery.

I see Kings every year at this time. I even see a few hooked from time to time. A freind of mine landed one approx 25lbs on Sunday.

Last year at the end of church school road there was a gang of chinook that people caught all summer. I felt bad for the fish and I'm sure many of them were caught or broke off multiple times. I wouldn't be surprised if some were even yarded out. I have fished the little islands for years and just stay away from that hole. Why catch one that could nab you a monster fine? If we leave them alone, we may even get to king fish there someday

There are always a few in the Snoqualmie and Skykomish. They are closed to fishing, and should be left alone. Over the years, I've seen some that would go over 40 lbs. I love to see them flush out of the riffles as we slide through. It's pretty impressive to see the wake - reminds me of Alaska.

I hooked one about 20# a week from last friday on a dick nite. Was fairly dark. Fought it about 5 min and released carefully. Hooked where the sky and snoqualmie merge.

There is a native run of fall kings that spawn in Tokul Creek that according to the hatchery people and the fish checker who walks the bank and counts spawning beds is doing really well . the past 3-5 years the state has put a wooden barrier in tokul to divert the kings into the hatchery because of the slide area above that in the past has silted over the spawning beds, they then truck them above the slide area so they can spawn naturally. I have seen quite a few in the main river , but there are no hatchery kings released into the Snoqualmie.

Thanks everyone. I was aware that there was a run on the Snoq., but didn't know the timing.

There must be some overlap with the Wallace fish that they're making us fishfor above Lewis Street, I guess.

These are most likely wild fall chinook heading mainly for the Skykomish and its tribs. Last I heard the Sultan River has a pretty good return of fall chinook. The Snoqualmie system's fall chinook returns are still dismal. It should be fairly obvious to you when you incidentally hook one of these chinook while fishing for pinks or coho. If your fishing light gear it would probably be best to sacrifice your gear and break the fish off rather than killing it by over playing it. None of these chinook are legal to keep or to target for C&R.

The Snoqualmie chinook is an interesting population. The fish spawn in the Tolt, Raging, Tokul and main stem Snoqualmie. They are what is typcially called fall chinook. They have some of the last spawning chinook found in Puget Sound with spawning beginning in mid-September and lasting through November with some fish spawning in even December.

Another interesting aspect to the population is the contribution of stream type or yearling smolts to the adult population. Generally 25-30% of each year's spawners have a yearling freshwater life history. It is the only "fall" population in Puget Sound with than a few yearling smolts.

The population contains some large individuals with fish (mostly males) of more than 45 inches seen annually. In recent years the escapement for that portion of the basin has averaged a couple thousand naturally produced fish.

Tight lines
Smalma