West Coast Salmon!!!!

[reelscreamer2]

Went out of Santa Cruz, CA. and fished Monterey Bay for salmon. Trolled downriggers at 140 -180 feet for 3 nice king salmon weighing 18,19 and 41 pounds. Also caught 3 silver salmon which are endangered and are protected. Very subtle differences between the species of salmon make them hard to tell apart unless you know what you are looking for. The silvers have whitish grey gums right around their teeth while the king's have mostly black gums around their teeth. Other than that, they are pretty much identical. I was met at the ramp by a game warden who said he had fined three fisherman so far that day for keeping silvers. Beautiful day on the water with grey whales breaching and a rare endangerd leatherback sea turtle making appearances around the bay. Great to fill the fish box with some great eating fish!

Pete

 

[greyg8r]

Very sweeeeeeeet!

 

[megabytes]

Nice fish. We love to eat salmon but don't catch then on the "right" coast.

Pretty boat.

 

[Saltwater Cowboy]

The easiest way to tell kings from silvers is the spots on the tail. The kings have lot's of spots and the silvers have no spots or at most one or two incidental spots. Not hard to tell aprat at all especially considering the size difference in species. Although I live on Vancouver Island and have fished them my whole life so a little easier for me I guess.

SWC