Coho Salmon

Here are a few Coho Salmon shots from this past autumn.

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I just spent quite a bit of time on your website. WOW!!! I am amazed by your salmon imagery - I can only imagine the years and years of hard work and passion that have gone into creating your body of work.

I very much appreciate the writing that you have done on your website, as it helped me to gain a better understanding of both underwater photography and salmon behavior.

If one were ever to travel to Alaska to observe the salmon to learn about them, and perhaps even attempt to photograph them, what would be the best time of year to do so?

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You sure have clear streams. Colorado's streams all seem highly turbid.

Nice work!

Nice pictures ! Am I invited for sushi sashimi ?

The stream where I shot these Coho is quite turbid during the summer with glacial silt. It clears up once things get below freezing. There is some silt in one of the schooling shots. The other which was taken later in the fall is much clearer. The sun was behind some mountains and very low to the horizon so I had to use flash for the later shot.


Here is an old shot taken about a half mile downstream from where I shot the Coho where a lower tributary enters through these culverts. The main-stem which has most of the salmon is pretty much opaque. I do some shooting in the clear trib above these culverts as well as right at their mouths and even a few inside the larger one. The trib though is not as clear as the main stem in the late autumn. I have a couple other clear streams but they have few salmon and take a bit of gas to get to. My primary stream is only 6 to 7 miles from home so I visit it every day I can during the salmon season.

Some really nice work Thomas.

Thank you! I have been shooting salmon for several decades and just over a decade with digital. It is very nice not being stuck with just 36 exposures! As well camera technology especially autofocus and high ISO have improved dramatically.

The salmon spawning season runs from July to November for me and a bit more on each end depending on run size, weather etc. The different species spawn sequentially. Coho Salmon are the last to spawn. There is a lot of overlap among species in July and August and into September. The number of salmon spawning at a given time can be affected by the weather especially rain. Too much or too little is not good. As well rain brings turbidity. There is local variability to what species are present. I have to go on expensive (ferry ticket of $300 plus other costs like gas) road trips to get Chinooks and a few other other species (absent from my web site or only a few there).

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has an on-line catalog of all anadromous fish streams:
https://www.adfg.alask​a.gov/sf/SARR/AWC/
I use this quite a bit for researching places to go. It is more problematic finding when spawning takes place. A useful resource is a book call Highway Angler. It has run-timing by stream as well as stream descriptions such as water clarity (VERY important).

I would not advise eating raw salmon. As well, salmon loose much of their food quality during their spawning migration. All that salmon goodness gets used up fueling the migration as well as for gonad development. Salmon caught in the ocean just prior to their migration are in the best shape of their life and have the highest fat content (good fat of the omega-3 variety). There are limited spots to fish for salmon in freshwater - there are stream-specific regulations. Fishing for salmon on their spawning grounds is illegal for obvious reasons. There is, however, sports fishing for trout and charr. I have chatted with sports fishers during my photography adventures.

Fantastic information. This thread is a great source of information and describes similar conditions in Colorado with stream condition. Summer spawning seem always to be in a highly turbid stream. I have photos of rainbow trout from about 12 inches away where you can hardly see the fish.

I do a lot of astrophotography and find the experience in post processing there to be invaluable when processing underwater shots. However nothing helps remove huge amounts of turbidity. Again the key it seems in freshwater work, find a clear stream.

What is that trout in the second picture lurking alongside the Coho? If it is in a spawning stream it must be a fall spawner?

Maybe that mystery fish is a confused salmon?

I did buy that book by Nick Karas. Thanks for the tip.

WildImages wrote in post #18254145
What is that trout in the second picture lurking alongside the Coho? If it is in a spawning stream it must be a fall spawner?

That is a jack or precotial male. I have a whole gallery of jacks. They may look a bit different from normal adults and are quite a bit smaller. http://www.salmonograp​hy.com/Salmonid-Topic/Jack-Salmon/

Please enlighten me further. Do these Jacks return to the ocean or do the receive the same fate as their kin?

I think young have accompanied trout during their spawn. I may even have pictures of them without realizing what I was looking at.

I have not seen or perhaps not recognized this with Arctic Grayling.

Yes, more on jacks in my gallery description. Males of non-anadromous salmonids can mature at a younger age as well. This is what you may have seen. There are some rather small freshwater resident Dolly Varden participating in some of my spawning shots as well - I assume they are FW resident since they have parr marks.