Why Salmon Research Matters
Salmon studies help biologists understand fish stocks for management, and salmon anglers get a couple of benefits from these studies.
First, research-based decision-making improves the quality of fish and game management decisions when setting bag limits. Preserving fish stocks for future generations is an exceedingly worthy goal for sportfishing.
Second, research often gives salmon anglers excellent insights into fish behavior that, when understood, make us better fishermen. This second benefit is the ultimate reason for anglers reading salmon research papers.
Spotlight on a Key Study
One research gem is the Diet and Energy Density Assessment of Juvenile Chinook Salmon from Northeastern Bering Sea Trawl Surveys, 2004-2017, by Sabrina Garcia and Fletcher Sewall.
The study was needed to help determine why Chinook salmon stocks in Alaska’s northern rivers have plummeted. The goal of their research was to assess the diet of juvenile Chinook salmon in the northeastern Bering Sea, given the possibility that warming seas would create fewer prey opportunities.
Fewer food sources for young Chinook lead to starvation and death before they mature and return to Alaska rivers.
Healthy returns mean better fishing for anglers, but just as important is an annual food source for subsistence fishing by villagers along these rivers.
The Big Takeaway for Fishermen
Although there are many interesting points to be gleaned from this paper, we will focus on the primary takeaway for salmon anglers.
That point is this: “Juvenile Chinook salmon were primarily piscivorous and 69%-96% of their diet was comprised of fish.”
Said another way, when fishing for salmon, your bait profile should look like a fish. Why? Because Chinook, and likely most salmon, prefer eating them!
A look at one of the study’s tables clearly shows the importance of fish to the salmon’s diet. The table describes the contents of the bellies of juvenile Chinooks captured in the Bering Sea from 2004 through 2017.
Averaging the far right column, you end up with 85% of the time a young Chinook salmon (and likely silvers) chooses to eat a fish over other food choices. That is a powerful preference! It behooves salmon fishermen to pay attention and adjust their baits accordingly.
The adjustment needed is that your bait profile should most often look like a fish.
Real-World Observations
A habit of mine is to look at the belly content when filleting fish. Interestingly, many silvers caught this summer had bellies full of four to five-inch herring in the early part of the season, and an unfamiliar (to me at least) two-inch fish in the late season.
Clearly, other salmon love fish for dinner as well.
Willow Ptarmigan Skirted Vortaks & pink Originals got the job done.