Here in one place find images of the major gamefish found in Alaska’s Goodnews River.
Of the anadramous fishes, the first to appear are the king salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Kings reach weights in excess of 50 pounds on the Goodnews, making them the largest type of fish found in the river.
Your average "nice" Goodnews River king, a fish of about 25 pounds.
King salmon get quite large.
You'll also find king salmon jacks, precocious males that, despite their small size, are sexually mature.
Sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) come in next. When they come into the river they are bright silver (see the photo of the silver salmon below). As they prepare to spawn they become bright red with a green head. The males develop a hump.
Sockeyes, hard to catch when they first appear, become aggressive once colored up.
Chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) come into the river a few days after the sockeyes start. Like the sockeyes, they come in by the tens of thousands. Unlike the sockeyes they strike flies aggressively.
This chum shows some color.
Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) come into the river every year, although alternate years have a larger then a smaller run. When they’re thick they almost become a nuisance.
This pink salmon threw mud all over Calene.
The last salmon specie in are the silver salmon, (Oncorhynchus kisutch). They may be the most popular fish among anglers coming to Goodnews River Lodge.
A bright silver salmon, early in the run.
Later in the run some of the silvers color up. This phenomenon happens to all the salmon.
The Dolly varden char follow the salmon up the river, hoping to gorge on their eggs. They range in size from little “micro” Dollies to fish over ten pounds. They also color up once in the river.
This nice Dolly varden is still quite bright.
This Dolly varden shows lots of color.
We also have two resident species in the river. The Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) is a lovely, delicate fish. A big one is three or four pounds, and could be in excess of 20 years old.
The Arctic grayling sports a showy dorsal fin.
Finally, the river hosts a population of beautiful leopard rainbow trout, (Oncorhynchus mykiss). These are also very popular among Goodnews River Lodge anglers. We release every trout we catch here.
An average sized Goodnews River rainbow trout. A big one will push 30 inches.
a detail of a pectoral fin, rainbow trout
That completes my pictorial roundup of Goodnews River gamefish.
John Kumiski
All content in this blog, including writing and photos, copyright John Kumiski 2011. All rights are reserved.
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