| The first ocean year is spent in the surface layers of coastal waters feeding on small food items including small crustaceans, young fish or wind blown insects. By the following spring they will have reached 2 lbs. or more and their diet will increasingly consists of oily fish such as sand lance and small herring. At this time many coho begin moving into deeper water and some will travel up to a thousand miles into the open ocean. By late summer the maturing fish will be moving back towards their home streams, feeding as they go. The voracious appetite of these fish during their final months at sea results in them reaching an average weight of around 8 lbs. by the time they enter fresh water. |
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Daily Limit : 2 Hatchery | Possesion Limit :4 | Annual Limit :0 |
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| Coho favor small waters in which to spawn and will enter tiny coastal creeks as well as river tributaries. Once in fresh water their bright blue-and-silver ocean dress is quickly replaced by spawning colors including greenish-blue back, dark belly and bronze or reddish flanks. The sides of the males often turn crimson and the nose becomes black, elongated and hooked. Unlike other Pacific salmonoids, coho often linger on through the winter before dying. |
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| Male Coho Ready To Spawn |
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| It's great to see that DFO is allowing sport fishermen on Southern Vancouver Island 2 hatchery cohos a day. Finally something good is happening to our shrinking salmon fishery. Strange that the Americans just across the water from Victoria have never had to stop their coho fishery? Why does DFO make such missinformed decisions? They tell us that there is a shortage of coho, then start shutting down fish hatcheries all over Vancouver Island. The government should be putting money back into our salmon, not taking it away! I guess DFO knows that with all the new Atlantic salmon now spawning in all rivers up & down the island it won't take long to start a new run of quicker growing fish? |
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| Bright colors on this male coho! |
