I have some burning questions for you gals and guys out there who obviously fish more than I do and have more experience as a result.
1) How do you tell the difference between the spring fish and the fall fish,other than the time of year?
2) How do you tell the sex of a fish by just looking at it?
3) What is the proper way to bleed a fish?
4) Is it okay to clean your fish on the riverbank,what do you do with the innards?
Spring fish enter the river system in the spring and fall fish enter the system in the fall! :lol: On river systems that have a spring and a fall chinook run might have straggler spring chinook and early fall fish that overlap during the run. Typically a wild chinook is legal to harvest after aug. 1st because they are mostly wild fall fish. My son saw 3 bright wild chinook in the viewing window at Winchester dam just 2 days ago, the Odfw considers these as spring chinook until the end of september but fall chinook have been entering the Umpqua since the end of July. With almost no chinook movement on the North for a month, then all of a sudden bright wild chinook show up....Fall fish for sure!
Hen Salmon and Steelhead tend to have a smaller bullet shaped head, smaller mouth and bottom jaw, and tend to stay a brighter color for longer than the Bucks. A hooked jaw, larger size and color would be characteristics of a buck. Body shape is a good indicator. Fresh summer steelhead are difficult fish to sex, Winter steelhead not so much.
I bleed fish by cutting the gill rakers with a knife or fish skinning shears, if on the bank hold the fish head down and let the heart pump the blood out of the fish, a lot of the time blood will spray out with pressure while holding the fish this way, quick and efficient. If I am in the boat I simply leave the fish in the water in the net while it bleeds out. Never bonk a fish until it is bled, if you stop the heart it defeats the purpose.
I always clean my fish at home, I don't think it is illeagal as long as you don't dispose of fish parts in the waterway.