I've caught all the Salmon species on my kayak in the ocean with the exclusion of CHUM Salmon. I've got hundreds of these guys in the river but never in the ocean. Well this trip changed all that and I also got to put the old line that "chum salmon is terrible on the bbq" idea to rest finally.
I got out on the water mid morning, roughly around 9:00 am. This was near the low slack tide in Nanaimo area (tide chart image below). I found the bite picked up around noon so well after the low tide and now incoming tide.
Trolling Gear I was fishing
I was trolling my favorite flasher which is a "Lemon Lime" Gibbs Flasher, with a 6' foot mono leader to a "No Bananas" spoon by Westcoast Fishing Tackle. I'm using a 8# cannon ball on my manual downrigger and the rigger count was at 89 feet. So with a trolling speed of roughly 2.5-3.0 miles an hour, I was probably fishing in the 75 foot area.
I got into a number of bites which included some beautiful wild Coho salmon. Unfortunately in this area we can't keep any wild coho so they had to go back. I was also catching a lot of undersized Chinooks (under 62 cms) near the bottom. These Chinooks are dime bright, fight like heck, and have a beautiful blue sheen across their backs. Locally we'll call them "winter chinooks" as these guys are growing and will likely be retainable come December through to March of this Winter and early Spring.
Chum Bite and Fight
Amongst the number of fish I was catching I got one bite and fight that reminded me of a Coho fight. As soon as I hooked the fish it came to the surface relatively quickly after a number of vicious head shakes. Once the surface I thought I lost the fish 2 separate times but it was simply ripping toward my kayak. I didn't get the entire fight on video, but most of this you can see in the YouTube video at the bottom of this journal.
Anyway, the Chum did some jumps and spins in the water so I initially thought it was a Coho. But once I got a good look at it, I knew immediately it was a Chum because of the faint bars and clean back and tail which has little to no spots (like a Coho would). It also has the white mouth and gums like a Coho so it's easy to mix these guys up in the salt water.
Chum Salmon one of the Most Beautiful Salmon in the Ocean
Near noon the fog really started to roll in so I got off the water earlier than planned, but I had my Chum salmon and new kayak Salmon was unlocked! The more time I looked at this salmon as I got to the shore the more impressed I was with it's beauty. In the river, I've caught "clean chum" but nothing compares to a dime bright ocean Chum. It has this beautiful blue sheen on its back that mimics a winter chinook. It also has these beautiful bright rays on its tail that looks like a forked Winter Steelhead tail! Just an incredible looking fish. In fact, I'd say Chum salmon in the ocean are the most beautiful looking Salmon there are, I'd also say that Chum salmon in the rivers are the most ugly looking Salmon in the fresh water.
"Chum Salmon is a trash fish on the BBQ"
I've heard this so many times, and typically this is spoked toward fresh water Chum Salmon where their meat has started to degrade. The meat goes more pale colored and gets softer. Whereas in the ocean, as you can see in the filleted photo below, the meat is still quite red and the firmness was great!
In seeing this I had to put this old addage to the test and try this fresh Chum on my BBQ with my favorite salmon dry rub. The dry rub is primarily made of brown sugar with some salt, cumin, pepper, chili flakes and a few more spices. But the big idea is brown sugar. Anyway, I usually like to do this rub when the salmon is on a cedar plank. On this particular evening I didn't have any cedar planks so did it on the grill with aluminum foil.
You can review the entire cook on my YouTube video below but the meal was a success!
Creamy Tuscan Chum Salmon Recipe
We didn't eat the entire Chum and had another fillet for a second meal the next day. Well we couldn't have the rub again, so I looked for a recipe online that had more of a sauciness to it, something with cream, sundried tomatoes and something like that. My mother-in-law who was visiting found this this incredible "Creamy Tuscan Salmon" recipe online. And full props to her as she made it for us the next night and it was Incredible! In fact, because Chum salmon has a softer salmon taste, I think a saucier recipe is better than the dry rub. I enjoyed this recipe so much that I'll likely do another article on that recipe alone.
Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble on about my Chum Salmon fishing trip. Feel free to reach out with any questions on my Contact page. And below is a few more details of this fishing trip. Cheers! Jesse
Instagram Post of this trip
Fished the low tide mid-to-late morning.
Video Journal of this Kayak Fishing Trip
If you want to see the full fishing trip along with all the steps in cooking the ocean Chum check out my YouTube video below. And if you like what you see please consider subscribing. Cheers! Jesse