Chum salmon tend to take a back seat to the other species we find around the lodge. But our guests appreciate the chance to hook a chum because of its combative reputation. You’ll earn dinner after landing one of these large and powerful beauties.

The catch can be especially rewarding for your kids. Watching your child struggle to reel in a chum will lift the spirits of everyone on the boat. Pound for pound, the chum is considered the hardest and strongest fighting salmon out of all five species.

But finding chum isn’t the easiest hunt. They vary in the depth of where they swim depending on the abundance of the food they are eating. The time of the year will also cause them to frequently change depth. That’s why our experienced guides are on hand. They know the spots, the seasons and how the fish are running.

The Name

In the Chinook Indian Tribe’s language, chum translates to Kargon, which means spotted or marked. You might hear chum called dog salmon, silverbriter or keta, which is the Latin term.

Look and Size

In salt water, a thin metallic green and blue colored stripe runs down the fish’s spine. Black dots are splashed along the flanks, similar to the coho and sockeye. The transition to freshwater transforms the coloration to a tiger stripe pattern painted in black and red. Male chum, in particular, are very colorful and have large canine-like fangs.

Chum can grow to be almost four feet long and weight between 30 to 35 pounds, making it one of the largest salmon species. However, the average chum salmon weighs between eight and 15 pounds.

The variance in size and weight make fishing for chum all the more enjoyable because there’s always the chance of hooking a big one and finding yourself in for a memorable struggle.

Enjoying the Catch

Chum salmon is typically considered to have a mild taste due to its lower amount of oil and sodium. You’ll be able to enjoy your catch at home with our complete service of butchering your fish how you want and flash freezing it so it stays fresh. Come for a visit and take your chances at hooking a chum.