How to Catch Chinook Salmon

The Chinook salmon, also known as the king salmon as well as a number of other names, is the state fish of Alaska. This powerful Pacific Ocean dweller is among the most prized of all salmon because of its large size and excellent flavor. If you're fishing for Chinook salmon, you had better know the right techniques, lest the fish escape from your hook. Read on to learn more.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Angle for Chinook salmon if you're fishing while the salmon are heading upriver to spawn. Like all salmon species, the Chinook lives in the ocean until it heads inland breed, where it dies. Bait your hooks with salmon eggs or with lures specifically designed for salmon.

2. Cast your lines into slower moving parts of the river when angling. The salmon have a better chance of seeing your bait and going for it. Also, you won't have to fight a powerful current and the salmon are more likely to be interested in food.

3. Hop on a boat to fish for Chinook in the ocean. Locate the salmon using a sonar-type fish locater, then use one of several techniques for catching salmon in the open water, described in the following Steps.

4. Mooch for salmon if you manage to locate a school of Chinook. Allow the boat to drift over the school and drop your waited and baited lines slowly down to the salmons' depth. This technique is very effective, especially if there are many fishermen on the boat. You're also less likely to tangle lines with this technique.

5. Troll for the Chinook salmon if they're spread out. This method of fishing means you let your lines drag out behind the boat while you either hold it stationary within a current or power it slowly along the surface. Use different weights to troll at different depths, keeping your lines from tangling and allowing you to catch fish up near the surface and down below.

6. Use lighter weights if there are not many fishermen on the boat. Heavy weights allow you a lot of control and keep your lines from tangling, but they drop when you have a "fish on." Light weights stay on the line without significantly increasing the overall weight of the hooked fish and line.

7. Fish for Chinook salmon with a heavy-duty fishing rod whether you're angling or fishing on the open ocean. These fish average from 10 to 50 lb., but there have been documented specimens caught weighing 130 lb. Don't lose your prized fish (or rod) because you use the improper tools.

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