Fish Identification Photos: Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha: The Chinook Salmon is a member of the Salmonidae Family of salmon. The Chinook Salmon is the largest of the Pacific salmon. The largest specimen collected to date measured 58 inches and 129 pounds; it is commonly found at 3 feet and 30 pounds.

In Mexico, the Chinook Salmon is a true odd-ball because its reported range is from Ventura Country, California, north to Alaskan waters. It is found on rare occasions along the first 300 miles of the Pacific side of the Baja California Peninsula, indicative of its nomadic ways.

The Chinook Salmon has a blue-green back with the coloration extending into the top of the head. It has silver sides, a white belly, and irregular black spots on the upper half of the body, dorsal fins, and both lobes of the tail. The mouth has gray-black coloration. Spawning fish, found in interior rivers, are bright red, and males have hooked snouts.

The Chinook Salmon has a strange life cycle. Spawning occurs in the fall when they return to the fresh water rivers in which they are born, spawn, and then die. The fry remain in the fresh water for up to one full year before migrating to estuaries and tidal creeks.

There they undergo a process known as smolting and gradually move into water with greater salinity and greater depths. They stay at sea for two to five years, with an average life span of 5 to 6 years. Description courtesy of John Snow.

Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha: Baja California salmon catch report, from Castro's Camp, at Erendira, south of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico, by Chris Kugel: "I just got back today from Castro's Camp...Oscar Barrios who is the skipper of the Don Castro, caught the first king salmon of the season...The man on the right, holding the salmon, is Oscar Barrios...There is no real season for salmon, that I know of, but during the winter and up to and through April, salmon are caught at Castro's. I would have to guess on the number, but from what I have seen and what the skippers tell me, about two dozen fish are caught during a season "winter." I caught one last year, throwing a Krocodile at breaking white seabass. It was about the same size as the one pictured, 10 to 12 pounds. I caught that fish in Feb. of 2004. The salmon in the picture and the one I caught where the same, and all the ones I have seen caught at Castro's looked the same. I am not a salmon expert, but was told that these fish are kings. Chinook Salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha: Cutter Clotfelter with a salmon caught midsummer 1998, at San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico halfway between the punta and Isla San Martin. Clotfelter said the rare salmon hit a trolled Rapala, on a windy day while the boat was enroute to the island. Photo courtesy Gregg Stapp.