Help with Trask River fish ID

[fishnjack]

Hi there,

I'm new to the area as of about Feb of this year and picked up fishing, but I've been out of the game for a while. Snagged something decently large on the Trask river today, but wasn't sure if I could harvest it/if it was legal. It had the adipose fin, so I had to assume it was wild. I've looked at pics of all the river fish around here but haven't found something that matches exactly, and it seems a lot of the fish can have subtle differences. Didn't get around to measuring it in time, but by eye it seemed around 16". Thanks for the help

 

[Echskech]

Looks like a Coho Salmon to me. If any fish is snag caught then it has to be released regardless. Wild Coho are to be released as well. Nice fish tho

 

[fishnjack]

Cool, and thanks This was after a good couple hours of nothing with spinners and flies, and a couple snags including a cannonball steelhead drift rig with a bobber

Got this one with a simple drift with split shot and floating Power Eggs. Those things do me good.

You should educate me on 'snag caught' - I just used it to mean I caught the fish, sounds like you might mean something else.

Thanks again!

 

[Echskech]

Sometimes salmon season will equate to long days on the water with nothing to show for it. Glad you got into a biter though .
Well, I think got confused by the OP wording. Oregon takes a pretty serious stance against "Snagging" while fishing. Ill attach a screenshot of the Oregon state fishing regulations but if you care to read more, it was pg.16 that I found this.

Keep at the fishing bud, sounds like you're doing it right.

 

[fishnjack]

Ahh, gotcha. Thanks for that info! So, reading the eRegulations, if I'm understanding it right given all the conditions they have listed (not super easy reading, lol), it seems only wild Chinook and hatchery fish are legal at the moment? And wild Chinook are most easily identified by their all-dark mouths?

 

[rogerdodger]

C

Ahh, gotcha. Thanks for that info! So, reading the eRegulations, if I'm understanding it right given all the conditions they have listed (not super easy reading, lol), it seems only wild Chinook and hatchery fish are legal at the moment? And wild Chinook are most easily identified by their all-dark mouths?

Correct, Chinook will have black at the base of their teeth.

Coho can have some black around their mouth/jaw but as you go into their mouth, where the teeth attach, it will not be black.

 

[troutdude]

Snagging essentially means foul-hooked. A legally caught fish is one with the hook inside of it's mouth. Anywhere outside of the mouth is "snagged" or "foul hooked".

You were also correct in that having an adipose fin, is indicative of a wild fish. Those fins are clipped on hatchery stock.

 

[fishnjack]

Awesome, thanks for all the help folks.

And wild Chinook are legal at this time?

 

[Fred]

Awesome, thanks for all the help folks.

And wild Chinook are legal at this time?

Yes

 

[fishnjack]

Thanks, Fred