[salmon slayer]

I have taken 2 female pinks on the fraser this season that were very chrome and with a minimum of spots on the tail and back. Furthermore the meat was unusually pink/red in color and after BBQ-ing one along side a more typical pink salmon I had 6 of 6 guests agree the darker meat was better. My question is has anyone else caught a pink they thought may have been crossed with a sockeye or coho I should also add that the last chromer I caught on sat. fought super ;D Long hard runs and lots of surface action. Very coho-ish in my books. My thoughts are why couldn't there be some half breeds around? They spawn in the same systems at overlapping times. If a few pink eggs drifted into a sockeye Redd or vise versa what would happen? Regardless I have a new found appreciation for pink does :thumbup:

 

[Bent Rod]

Hopefully those were just fresh pinks not another species, got any pics???.

Very fresh PINKS definately have nicer meat than those sporting slight spotting and greening on their backs, even though both can appear chromish.
I find super fresh bucks with zero humpage to be the best eats.

 

[thebrodz]

I took home a few pinks this weekend and found that the bucks meat was much more red in color than the does....got some yummy roe while i was at it too!!!

 

[hotrod]

I believbe that when the pinks are fresh chrome it is hard to tell them apert from coho brcause they look just like thier cousins showing all the same characteristics with the exception of a few more spots on the tail.


Hotrod

 

[Jack Straw]

Never heard of any westcoast salmon hybridization...but I'm not a biologist. I know in some systems rainbows & cuts intermingle (cuttbows) & produce offspring with the more dominant rainbow genes. In the Great Lakes I've heard of Pinooks, an alleged cross between pinks & chinook but I've always been skeptical. The only pics I've seen they really look like jack Chinook. Now how about crossing a Thompson steelie with one of those early Squampton chums. :thumbup:

 

[Guest]

Never heard of any westcoast salmon hybridization...but I'm not a biologist. I know in some systems rainbows & cuts intermingle (cuttbows) & produce offspring with the more dominant rainbow genes. In the Great Lakes I've heard of Pinooks, an alleged cross between pinks & chinook but I've always been skeptical. The only pics I've seen they really look like jack Chinook. Now how about crossing a Thompson steelie with one of those early Squampton chums. :thumbup:

I have caught a few pick that were so fresh they looked like coho and I released them, Today i got a pretty frsh Pink and the meat was red

 

[HOOK]

i have found the bucks to be pretty red and only some of the does have been


HOOK

 

[Rivahman]

I think its highly unlikely that there would be a pink/sockeye hybrid. But think of the possibilities!...you could floss them without having a guilty conscience of flossing a humpie :thumbup:

I think flesh colour in pinks, sockeye and coho are generally dependent on the type of feed (not sure why red springs are an exception). We all know that sockeye and bluebacks have beautiful red flesh.. the predominent feed for them is euphasid shrimp hence the red flesh. Immature coho (ie jacks and jills) returning to native streams also have a rich red flesh. Pinks start out on plankton but eat herring in the last few months of their lives and thats why they grow to such impressive sizes at just 2 years old. I suspect that pinks with red flesh never changed over to herring. Most pinks have a pink flesh but I have caught them with sockeye colour flesh and totally white flesh too. The more 'washed out' the flesh, the higher predominance of baitfish in the diet. Anyone with any other ideas?

 

[Jack Straw]

Rivahman, I agree, the posibilities are endless, we could start a new thread. How about a steelhead/sockeye mix.....a hard biting fish that returns by the millions in the middle of summer.

I believe stomach enzymes dictates the colour of a fishes flesh. White & red chinook quite often are in the same schools, feed on the same anchovies, needlefish & herring yet have completely different flesh. The Harrison whites we are all so familiar with are a fall run that is almost entirely white fleshed, with the odd orange or red exception. Spring run chinook in the Skeena or Kitimat are white or red or orange or marble, very difficult to tell till ya cut em open. A Different run? A different feeding pattern? Can a red doe tell the difference between a red and white male? ???