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Coho or silver, spectacular and verocious........
| The coho or silver salmon is one of the more spectacular Pacific salmon. Coho salmon are bright silver when the enter the fresh water for spawning and the like to take a properly cast fly, so they are a very wanted by fly fisherman. The closer they are to their spawning grounds the more difficult it is to catch a coho on a fly. Their shape and colours are changing slowly from bright silver into pink and finally into a deep reddish black. Male coho develop the well known kype. Fresh coho salmon are also true leaping acrobats and most fly fishermen agree that the drill of a fresh coho is similar to the drill of an Atlantic salmon. The annual run in most rivers of British Columbia starts in August and lasts until the end of November. Although steelhead is of course the main target of this trip, coho salmon are a very welcome catch all the time! Coho spend approximately the first half of their life cycle rearing in streams and small freshwater tributaries. The remainder of the life cycle is spent foraging in estuarine and marine waters of the Pacific Ocean prior to returning to their stream of origin to spawn and die. Most returning adults are three years old. |
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| The coho is present in almost all western rivers of the United States and Canada, as well as in Siberia and Japan. In 1967, smolts were put into some eastern rivers of the United States and into the Great Lakes, where it is one of the most popular game fish. Because their migration to the spawning grounds is not as long, so less hazardous, as from the chinook, and because they often spawn in coastal rivers, the coho has a good survival opportunity. The average weight of the coho is about 12 pounds. The largest rod caught coho weighted 33 pounds however! Coho salmon can be found often grouped in the deeper pools. Coho likes to follow the fly and strike or swim away at the very last moment. Combat fishing for coho and chinook is very popular with the locals. In the weekends they are fishing side by side in the rivers, especially in the southern regions of British Columbia. |
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