The Facts
Names: Sockeye, red salmon, blueback (rarely used) and kokanee (landlocked)
Range: From the Columbia Rive to Bathurst Inlet in the Canadian Arctic in eastern Pacific. In the western Pacific they range from the Anadyr River in Siberia south to Hokkaido Island in Japan.
Size: Sockeye are usually somewhere between 5 and 9 pounds.
World Record: 15.3 pounds taken in the Kenai River.
Appearance: Sockeye in the ocean have a blue tinge to the back and no spots anywhere on the body or tail. They are quite beautiful – perfect looking. If you’re uncertain about identifying your catch as a sockeye, the best method is to look at their gills. The forward edge of the gills, called gill rakers, are serrated and long, with a count of 30 to 40 per gill arch. These gill rakers are used to filter out zooplankton.
Season: Sockeye aren’t common in sport catches in Southeast Alaska because they aren’t abundant in this part of the state and they primarily feed on zooplankton which
makes them less likely to bite a herring. We do catch them occasionally, mostly in July and early August.
