Why does the fish seem so much bigger when Rico is molesting it?

Coho who spent to much time around the oil rigs' up in AK. Good luck,

SZ

Dorsal fin and anel fin screen chum, and tail. Small female?

Paker texted me with an even better answer.... SOCKEYE! Lake Quinault stray to be more specific!

Everything fits! Size, shape, tail, anal fin, big pupil. Well... except for the lack of scarlet greenhead coloration.

But even that fits because Lake Quinault sox are unique in their drabness of spawning regalia. Unlike AK sox with their brilliant scarlet bodies, the QIN sox simply are simply lacking.

Check out this video I posted a couple years ago

http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/forum...html#Post865728

https://vimeo.com/33266276

[Bleeeeep!]'s getting weird in the fishing world!

Keith

WHOA! an Archer fly-by!

Hope life is treat in' ya well, bud!

From a fish pathologist friend of mine.....


The comparatively narrow anal fin means it is not a Pacific salmon. To me it does not resemble an Atlantic salmon - more likely a rainbow or a hybrid. The black spots are likely an intermediate stage in a digenetic trematode that are encysted in the dermis. The black pigment is a host reaction. The life stages of these parasites involve snails, then fish, then gulls or kingfishers. To become peppered like that, it is likely that this fish lived in or had to pass through a beaver pond full of the snails.

Sockeye indeed. I can certainly see it now though it wasn't apparent at all in the first photo.

Weird shi t is right.

I'm gonna say Colorado Pikeminnow. Mostly because of it's resemblance to the one in this pic:


Weird I know... but it does look an awful lot like it.

These are always great threads. For all the discussion and suggestions, it still seems nobody actually knows what this fish is. Meanwhile, we're all learning some great fish ID tools.

This one stumped a whole lot of people. This was really a fun fish to examine, even if it was just by photos.

I still think it's a Charnookho that crossbred with an Japanese Atlantic-Pacific Western Spotted Leopard Chumpy.

I got it wrong, but was convinced of it being a sockeye by a grad student.



I was informed that because these sockeye enter the rivers as early as Feb/Mar and don't spawn until the following winter/spring, they absorb the spawning color pigments as a means of staying alive. Basically their own survival mechanism is to basically internally eat anything that's not critical to survival. Hence, their boring green coloration and lacking any of the cool spawning colors by the time they actually spawn. This doesn't happen to all of those fish, but some. If you look closely enough at all 3 photos, you will see a very faint horizontal mid-body purpling stripe, which cries out as a sockeye. Add in the features that it is NOT (it's NOT a chum) and that means it can only be a sockeye.

A couple of other salmon-guru's in the state and UW are on the same page - appears to be a diseased up female sockeye. Probably a Lake Quinault stray and probably been in the Hump since the spring.

Also found out that it's not all that uncommon to catch a fresh sockeye or two in the Hump in the spring while looking for steelhead.



Without some DNA samples, we will never 100% know for sure. But, I'd wager it's a sockeye and feel comfortable in knowing I'm winning that bet.

For all you out there, next time you catch a Ricarded Fish, clip a bit of the fin(s) off and pluck a scale or 3. There are folks and agencies willing to do the genetic work on cool fish like this.

As I said, a lot of people saw these photos and a lot of people really want to know what it is. Rico's Richarded Fish perked a ton of interest in the anging, state, and Fisheries Sciences community.

Very fun thread! Thanks Rico!

No ifs ands or buts at this point... it's a sockeye.

I caught two adult male sockeye in Lake Quinault a few years ago trolling spoons, colors were pretty much the same as fish in photos, kypes were pretty pronounced. Other then the black dots they were identical color wise. looked for photos, haven't found them yet. Bob R
P.S. Tribal rules are for releasing all salmon caught while fishing for cutthroat or dollies.

Cool, Parker!

Thanks for spreading it to the folks there. Good stuff for sure,

Here's another... same river.

That's it. I'm twitching for Sockeye next year.

I saw yet another one on FB today, too...three from that river in the last several days...two twitching jigs, one on a spinner.

Fish on...

Todd

That most recent pic Doc posted is most clear to me. Definitely a Sockeye in that pic.

Nice fish Doc!

But it's a boot!!! So I let it go!!!

Did you notice the dorsal and the tail fin both showing signs that particular specimen has been in the river awhile??? Also note the adipose, it almost looks like a miss clip.

Winterun