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How to catch Chinook (king) salmon
Chinook (king) salmon feed in 44–60°F water and bite best at 50–56°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 15 waters; in October they are at their peak in The Oregon Coast, Washington fresh water, Oregon fresh water and 2 more.
About
The king: the biggest Pacific salmon, black-gummed, spotted on both tail lobes, feeding on herring and anchovy in the ocean from Monterey to Kodiak before it runs home to its river. A 30-pounder off Sitka or the Columbia mouth is the trophy of the coast.
How to fish it
Troll or mooch bait near the bottom on the bait schools — deeper as the sun climbs — and fish the change of tide at the points. In the bays, troll spinners or herring on the incoming.
What it eats
Live bait for it
What to fish it with
the sizes that fish itThe rule
not confirmed hereRules differ by state — check CDFW, ODFW, WDFW or ADF&G (seasons are set every spring and close on quota) before you keep one.
The current rule →Where it is, month by month
Chinook — king salmon — hatch in a river, go to sea for two to five years, and come back to the same river to spawn and die. Different rivers have different runs: spring kings that come in early and hold all summer, summer runs, and the big fall runs, from the Sacramento and Klamath to the Columbia, the Puget Sound rivers and Alaska's Kenai, home of the biggest kings anywhere. In the ocean, fish feed along the coast from California to Alaska, and summer is the trolling season off Washington, Oregon and northern California, while southeast Alaska sees feeder kings year-round. Many runs are protected — regulations change by river and by week, so check the state before you fish.