Monster salmon caught in B.C.
Even in an area renowned as a mystical “lost world” of monster salmon — this salmon was particularly monstrous.
When held aloft by Ted Walkus, a hereditary chief of the Wuikinuxv First Nation, its tail nearly brushed the ground. The animal’s jaws were large enough to encompass a human head. And it weighed in at 50 pounds (22.7 kg) — and that’s after two weeks of crash weight loss due to spawning.
“That salmon would have been even more impressive to see two months prior when it was in the ocean and silver bright,” said Sid Keay with the Percy Walkus Hatchery in Rivers Inlet, B.C.
Its hump, red colouring and hooked mouth are all consequences of spawning. Salmon have one of the most dramatic breeding regimens in the world; an epic upstream journey to the place of their birth that ends with death. During the journey, the animals do not eat and their bodies begin to deform and decay under the strain.
The giant fish was one of 94 Wannock River salmon caught by the hatchery for their seasonal “egg take.” To increase breeding numbers, the hatchery uses a gill net to round up a sample group of spawning salmon, manually mixes their sperm and eggs together and then raises the baby salmon until they’re large enough for release.
It’s a win-win situation for fish and humans. The caught salmon get a guaranteed chance to pass on their genetic material, fishery stocks are boosted and local people can feast on mountains of salmon without disrupting the breeding cycle.
“Pacific salmon are semelparous, meaning they spawn once and die, so by killing the fish we are not doing any harm to the overall population,” said hatchery manager Brydon Peace.
This year, in fact, included some “graduates” of the hatchery. One female caught in the net was found to be missing an adipose fin, a clear sign that she began her life in a hatchery tank.
Incredibly, this year’s 50-pound monster isn’t even close to the largest Chinook caught in the area. That record belongs to an 83.3-pounder caught by an angler in 2012.