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[avid angler]

I was recently reading a discussion on a local facebook group about fall vedder chinook with red meat. One person posted that with the exception of the odd interior Fraser stray that the red flesh chinook are in fact Harrison whites that for whatever reason have red meat. According to my taste buds I have found this comparison to be true. The red meat fall chinook tasted nothing like a red caught upstream of the Harrison. After reading others comments curiosity has got the better of me and I would love to know the truth about these anomalies. I was wondering if someone like Buck or Dave who is in the know could provide some clarity

[CohoJake]

I never hesitate to keep a fairly chrome fall chinook from the Vedder.  I have seen many shades, from pale or creamy white to marble with an white center to marble with an orange center, to pink, or to even nearly completely orange - what many would mistake for a "red" chinook.  I have never seen a fall Vedder chinook that was so red that there was no hint of being a marble if you look toward the edge of the fillet - but on first glance you would call it a red chinook.  The marble fish generally taste better, and the darker marbles can be better than the lighter ones, but honestly the bigger difference is male vs female - the males are almost always tastier.

I've also caught an upriver white chinook up by Hope many years ago - it smelled and tasted nothing like a Vedder (Harrison stock) fish. 

[avid angler]

Upper Fraser stock whites are delicious. They are nothing like a fall run HW

[CohoJake]

Three fish from yesterday, left is an adult buck, middle is a very large jack (61 & 3/4 cm), right is an adult female.  All had adipose fins clipped so all were almost definitely from the Chilliwack hatchery. 



Here is skin sides of the same three fish - notice the adult male is gold-tinted, the other two are pretty chrome.



Finally, top is adult female, bottom is adult male.





I have found that males of this gold color taste better than chrome females - they have actually been the best tasting Chinook I have ever caught from the Vedder, and some of the best Chinook I have ever had period.  A couple of males like this with marble flesh have tasted every bit as fatty and delicious as Atlantic salmon when prepared as sashimi or nigiri.  I love these fish more than most, not least because you never know what you are going to get when you fillet it, but I find them all beautiful and worthy table fare if you care for them right. 

Our Sunday night dinner of broiled fish heads/collars confirmed that the adult male was the fattiest fish, but they were all pretty dang delicious.  The fillets are portioned out and in the deep freeze to be served as sushi - I am planning a party where I serve all three fish side by side for a beautiful contrast of colors and flavors (pardon my American spellings). 

BTW - if anyone has a good use or recipe for the tail sections of these fish, I'd love to know.  I find them tough and rubbery when cooked, but not really good as sushi either.  Ideas?

[bigsnag]

Thanks CJ!  Pictures are worth a thousand words...

[Old Blue]

Good post, thanks CohoJake.

I'd candy the tails.  Flyguys.net has a pretty good recipe on youtube.  I'll see if I can dig it up.

[armytruck]

Did you save these heads  ?

Sport anglers are encouraged to participate in the Salmon Sport Head Recovery
program by labelling and submitting heads from adipose fin-clipped chinook and
coho salmon.  Recovery of coded-wire tags provides critical information for
coast-wide stock assessment.  Contact the Salmon Sport Head Recovery Program
toll free at (866) 483-9994 for further information.

[typhoon]

Nice presentation. Bucks will taste better due to the higher fat content. Does are pulling all their fat stores to produce eggs.

[CohoJake]

Did you save these heads  ?

We actually ate the heads for dinner Sunday night - split and broiled.  And delicious.

[wildmanyeah]

ITs really important to turn in the heads even if you catch them in their natal streams.  Chinook that have been marked will 100% have a CWT in them.  They only mark chinook in canada if they put a CWT in them.

(coded wire tags) CWT's are the internationally agreed way to track ocean survival and exploitment.

Less data means more guessing 

here is an example of reports DFO generates using CWT's.

[clarki]

It would make me giggle if CohoJake ate the CWT. 

[psd1179]

wow 3 chinook on Sunday. I got skunked

I only had white and red chinook jacks. They taste almost same.

[CohoJake]

It would make me giggle if CohoJake ate the CWT. 

I need the iron anyway.   

[armytruck]

It would make me giggle if CohoJake ate the CWT. 

Scan his belly 

[clarki]

Scan his belly 

It would tell us he was spawned 3 or 4 years ago, and likely somewhere in Canada.

No doubt his parents would have some 'splaining to do.