Chum Salmon are a hardy fish that can be found nearly everywhere in Alaska’s fresh and saltwater.  They’ve been nicknamed “dog salmon” because of their age-old use as a subsistence food for both Native Alaskans and their sled dog teams.  Chums are easily caught and are often an unexpected byproduct of fishing for other species.  If you accidentally hook into one while fishing for grayling, get ready for an exciting fight.

Color: Dark metallic blue on top with silvery sides, white belly in ocean. Spawning colors are a deep red with dark green bars and purple blotches

Size: 7 -18 lbs 20 – 30 inches, Up to 30 lbs

Method: Trolling with herring or artificial lures in salt water. Cast and retrieve tackle / flies, drift eggs in current,

Gear: Medium- to light-action spinning and fly rods

Range: Fresh and saltwater nearly statewide

Season: Peak June to October, ocean year-round

Table fare: Edible near saltwater, traditionally an oily subsistence fish, good smoked

Record: 32 lbs., Camano Point, 1985

Appearance

Chum in or near saltwater are a dark-metallic blue on top with silvery sides and white belly.  When spawning, the colors are of complete contrast.  Both sexes turn a deep, muddy red with irregular dark green bars and purple blotches throughout.  Males are the most colorful and also developed a hooked nose, called a kype, which resembles a toothy snarl.

Location

Chums are prevalent throughout the state; the only exception is a portion of inland northeast Alaska.  Otherwise, they can be found from the Arctic Coast, south through the Interior to the Aleutians, Kodiak Island, and west to Southcentral and Southeast.

Diet

In the ocean, chums eat fish, squid, tunicates, copepods, mollusks and crustaceans.  Upon entering freshwater, the salmon stops feeding altogether and will live off stores of body fat.

Angling Method

Light to medium-action spinning and fly rods offer the most excitement.  Chum will readily hit spinners, spoons, streamers and jigs.  Casting and retrieving directly in front of a chum’s nose will usually trigger a strike.  Drifting salmon eggs downriver will also work.  Chums are instinctively driven to pick up loose eggs and carry them back to a redd or other protected area.

Life History

The life cycle of a chum is very similar to other anadromous salmon species. Adult fish enter freshwater rivers during the summer months and arrive at their natal spawning grounds in the fall.  The female digs pit, known as a redd, which is in the shape of a ditch and is usually a little longer than the fish itself.  Attracted males will join the female in the redd; where she will deposit up to 4,000 eggs.  The fertilized eggs nestle into the gravel bottom of the redd and will hatch in the winter.  Adult chums instinctively choose nesting areas near ground springs where river ice will not disturb the eggs.  All chums die after spawning.

Upon hatching, the young salmon, called alevins in this undeveloped stage, will remain underneath the gravel and subsist from attached yolk sacs.  Between 60 and 90 days later they emerge as fry and almost immediately begin a downstream migration towards the ocean.  Like pink salmon, young chums are less tolerable of warm freshwater and will reach either the Bering Sea or Gulf of Alaska by autumn.  In the ocean, the small fish will feed on zooplankton and small crustaceans before preying on other fish, such as herring.  Chum mature between 4 and 6 years of age, at which time they, too, will join the annual spawning migrations. 

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