The Mighty Chum Salmon.
It only happens once a year, the Chum salmon migration in the Pacific Northwest. Chum are the most underated of all the salmon. They are tyically low river spawing fish, so thier meat decomposes quickly, making them marginal tablefare. However, what they lack in taste, they more than compensate for with thier ferocious fight, beautiful fall coloring and gnarly teeth. The Chum migration only happens in a few select rivers of Pacific NW and it happens in late October and early November. It is a great opportunity to get out and enjoy the fall weather and tangle with the ferocious "Dog" salmon. In addition to the great fishing, I really wanted to keep one chum to make a fish print of its beautiful colors, so I was hoping for just one really pretty fish.
I drove up to the Seattle area and met my good friend Kenny along the bank of the Greeen River. The Green was having an excellent Chum run this year, and Kenny had saved me a spot along the crowed river bank next to him. Kenny was fishing a small pink jig under a float tipped with a chunk of brined prawn, and as I was getting rigged up Kenny landed two beautiful chum.
Kenny "G" fighting a big Chum!
I rigged up my rod using a Steelhead float, and a Steelhead Scampi and Jig from B & R tackle. I had used this jig successfully on Oregon Chum, and figured it should work on these Washington Chum as well. I tipped my jig with a piece of prawn and slathered on some Krill flavored Pautzke Fire Gel to top off my presentation. It did not take long to confirm that this set up worked great on these Green River Chum.
Beautiful Colors of the Chum Salmon
The fish were pretty close to shore so I casted up river a few yards and let my float drift down in front of me about 25 feet off the bank. It only took a few cast to hook into a big beautiful chum. As expected it put up a tremendous fight before it finally came in to shore. I grabbed it by the tail, unhooked my jig and sent it back into the river.
From that point on the action was fast and furious. Kenny and I hooked 20 or 30 fish in a couple of hours and had a great time. It was great to fish with my good friend again, and I am grateful that once again fishing was the conduit that brought us together.
Chum Fish Print
I kept one of the best looking Chum for my fish print, and it turned out great!
It only happens once a year, so mark your calendar for late Ocotober 2025, and plan on getting on the water next year and tangle with the Mighty Chum.
Thanks for reading
Bill