Question for the Bio's here.

I've heard most my life that when the Salmon runs start the Bucks come in first with the Girls following. Is this an urban legend or is this accurate ?

I thought it was Ladies first.

As a general rule ( particularly Chinook ) the males start up the parade with jacks in the front. As in all things fish it is proportional as it balances out on the backside of the run.

It's more of an anecdotal observation than a biological fact. Migration patterns vary between species, stocks, gender, and size class. My experience is that jacks are first, while mature males are usually on the spawning grounds before the females. But that doesn't mean they migrated earlier. They just seem to be less cautious than the females. So I would classify my observations as anecdotal, based on seasonal behavioral patterns. But not a biological fact.

My observations on Snohomish coho over the past 20 yrs has been that the ladies show up first with the bucks to follow. Really interested in what the bios have to say.

I'm no Bio. But lots of years on the rivers. Have seen evidence of that, not always the case, more often than not. Even more so, for specific groups of Steelhead runs.

Are your observations based on when the fish show up or when they bite your line? Two different things. As mentioned earlier, fish can be in the stream and hidden. Not active.

To actually know if one sex returns earlier you'd need to look at either trapping data or net catches in the lower river. I know the trap data is out there but haven't ever looked at it that way. In the streams I trapped, if there was a difference it was a day or two at most as when the fish came in, they did.

Show up.

Columbia counts show jacks arrive at the end of the run.

How are measuring "show up". I ask because I was involved in a trap operation where it was claimed that the trap was preventing Chinook passage (the trap was open some of the time). The spawner surveyors had seen no Chinook above the trap. The next week they saw a bunch. The trap had been closed the whole week.

The fish were always there, just not visible.

Also, based on surveying creeks where we knew the number of spawners in the creek we routinely saw 5, 10, 20% of what was actually there.

think the OP was talking bout what sex fish we seem to catch more of early in the run