Lake Champlain United - Forums

Got the call from John to meet in Pulaski
Friday to spend the weekend chasing staged kings in front of the salmon river. By the time we got there they had worked into 40-70 fow and ate flies and plugs. Ran a spread of 6-7 rods depending on waves and wind. Great to meet Jeff from NH, share camp and fish with him for the 2 days…

We rented a 3 br house in the marina and
Kept the boat on a dock for easy access and Max fishing time.

Highlight of trip was seeing Jason”finsntins”at the Marina with his wife on the 1st night.

Riggers slide divers and 300 copper all produced kings and what looks coho.

Water temps were 65-67 surface and bite was 40 down.

Thanks for the great trip guys! It was a blast…

Gotta love a bonsai run and you guys got some NICE fish!!! Try as I did I just couldn’t make an Ontario trip work this year but no big loss because I suck at catching summer Kings!!
Thanks for schooling me on Coho ID earlier Matt

Great job guys,it was nice getting to chat with you guys for a bit at the marina,see ya in a month or so at the frostbite shootout

Mistress wrote: ↑Sun Sep 21, 2025 6:31 pm Gotta love a bonsai run and you guys got some NICE fish!!! Try as I did I just couldn’t make an Ontario trip work this year but no big loss because I suck at catching summer Kings!!
Thanks for schooling me on Coho ID earlier Matt

Funny thing is that’s most
Likely Just a non colored king. The guys at the fillet station said that with spots all the way to the end of the tail it is NOT a coho…

Who thinks that last fish is a coho vs king?

Excellent pigs guys! Nice going.

For some reason I thought Kings were the only species with black mouth parts and that was the easiest way to identify? No?

You are correct raz, I would say that’s definitely not a king,I’m trying to decide whether it’s a ho or a steelhead????

I'm leaning towards finsntins as I think it's a steelhead. Coho have white mouths, chinook are black. My brother just beat a CA citation for illegal coho, because we had pictures and affidavits showing it was black gummed. Nothing about that last picture looks like a coho to me.

Here is a link to the end if the fight with the 26lb king salmon…

https://youtube.com/shorts/xiCFMnFe5bY? ... PhIyx80weM

Fish on!

Great trip, guys! So glad you were able to get out there and that the fish cooperated!

It looks like a Coho to me. They do sometimes have black lips, but the inside of the mouth will be white. Also, you can't pick a Coho up by the tail. The tail folds up. Steelhead have more rounded noses, don't they? That looks like a pointy salmon nose.

Nicely done Matt.
I haven't been there in years bout definitely would like to go next year.

Michael

What a trip, I’m so thankful for a great crew good times and patience, Saturday was slow, but Sunday offshore blow produced …I know that was a coho no doubt,nice fish Matty!
Jeff caught a couple, he’s a rookie and learning, when 1-8 on Saturday but Sunday morning we landed till we loaded! Great trip and we will be back! I do apologize I didn’t have many pics

I am honored to have one of Champlains best salmon fishermen aboard on our quest for king salmon,means a lot Matty, Thankyou see you at the shoot out .