Sk8man

A couple of things of interest in Mikes pic above.....I zoomed in on the adipose fin of each fish and in the first one (definite bow) there are spots on the adipose fin yet on the questionable fish there are none in evidence. Secondly although not much of the anal fin is visible on the fish in question what does show in the pic looks darker than the rainbow taken from the same water (different strains or different species?)

Can't really tell by the dark pectorals I have some bows that appear almost clear to some that are quite dark on the bows. If we could have seen the anal fin extended to count the rays we'd have a much better idea

I went over a whole bunch of pics of rainbows and kings I have caught on the Fingers and Lake O in the past (unfortunately didn't have anything that size though) and I have to admit after looking at all the variations in each species I'm not quite as sure as I was previous to that regarding the ID. The fact that the specimen looks a bit sickly adds to the possible confusion. I'd leave it to the experts on this one.

The flea concentrations seem to vary quite a bit throughout the lakes and within the water column as well. Once the concentrations reach very high levels they will stick to just about anything including 150 lb downrigger wire for several feet sometimes. I know some folks figure that the specific lines they are using may "protect" them but if they glide through real high concentrations there isn't much that will keep them off although some lines are better at it than others (e.g. Sea Flee on riggers). The more vertical your lines (e..g. downriggers) are the more of the water column is covered and the higher the chances of encountering them and they also "seem to "cluster" in the thermocline so about the only thing that can be done is to keep checking and clearing lines and despite it being a PIA it offers a chance to change lures and setups and often while either pulling in or setting out fish may hit them. Trying to look on the "positive" side of it

Thanks for the vote of confidence Mike.....coming from you that is a real compliment but I'm not a fisheries biologist either and it could be some genetically mixed up combo. I know for a while back in time the cohos and kings were cross breeding somehow on Lake O and that was a real question mark at that time until they took a close look at the genetic profiles so stuff like that can occur but the main features that John mentioned and that characteristic black mouth sure strongly suggests king, and full spotting of the tail, and spotting of dorsal (which wouldn't be if coho) and although it is hard to tell from the angle of the pic the head looks somewhat disproportionate to the body suggesting it might be malnourished too so the body could then be more slender too than that of a healthy king for its size throwing off ones perception of its body shape as looking like a rainbow or coho. The anal fin would have been an important marker to have seen too as the fin rays would usually be 15 to 17 for a king (13 to 15 for coho) (As already mentioned the connection to Lake O via the canal system is there as it is to the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific salmon are known to wander thousands of miles in the ocean environment so the trek from Lake O would not be out of the question from a distance standpoint. It certainly is an interesting specimen and it would be good to know what the Cornell folks or DEC biologists think.

Thanks guys.

Small king for all the reasons John said. Never seen a rainbow with a black mouth for starters.

Thanks Jim.

Thanks Brad. Tyee I think you are very correct....that has been my experience as well.

Nice smallie. I wonder if the bass have gone much deeper than usual to get away from the gobies? on the other hand I've also heard that the gobies are on their lunch menu

Nice going Mike and crew

The 9.9 should be fine. The mounting of it is another matter. Unfortunately as I look at the back of the boat I'm drawing a blank in its current configuration. The reach out to the swim platform would be one of the major obstacles so you'd certainly need a remote throttle and steering setup

Congrats and great to see your success Dave... persistence pays off out there and you've paid your dues

The Blood Run Sea Flee is very good but when the fleas are real thick (as they were yesterday) they do adhere even to that but in lesser amounts than say wire etc. Interestingly they didn't cling at all to the 27 lb 10 color lead core I had out.

Sometimes my wife has that same look as she leaves for work.....what a coincidence

That is why I have used single ss hooks since the late 70's. He was hooked real well under the cartilage of the lower jaw and I had a bit of a time getting it out when in the boat

I would have given anything for a video recording....Bob and I would have been laughing for the rest of our lives

Sure looks like a rather sickly king to me too.