Silver & Sockeye Salmon

Coho “Silver” Salmon enter our waters in the beginning of August and are one of Talaheim’s most popular fish to catch because, although they’re not feeding, they bite often and are very aggressive. A pink pollywog popped through a resting school of silvers will no doubt draw a vicious strike. As for other silver flies, there’s a famous guide saying: “Start with pink. When that no longer works, switch to pink.”

Sockeye “Red” Salmon enter our waters toward the end of July but since they’re plankton feeders its difficult to trigger a predator-prey response. And unlike the King Salmon run, which can be more variable, this species shows up all at once and stays for several weeks.

Another way the Coho and Sockeye species differ is their lifecycle. The Coho salmon are born in our rivers and as juveniles they swim down and out to sea where they spend approximately two to three years.

Then, all at once, they travel back toward Cook Inlet and up the Susitna, Yetna, and Skwentna Rivers until they’re back on the Talachulitna, or our surrounding tributaries. They’re approximately 8-10 pounds when they arrive back in our area to spawn.

The Sockeye salmon need a lake for their lifecycle. So in the case of sockeyes born on the upper Tal, or surrounding tributaries, they swim to Judd Lake as fry where they spend up to two years before traveling back down river and eventually into the ocean.

Similar to Cohos, Sockeyes arrive all at once and range from 6-8 pounds. But unlike Cohos, they’re hard to catch as they’re on the move and just passing through our tributaries. But if you get lucky they’re great eating. In fact, Sockeye Salmon have the most commercial value of the salmon species.