Trout & salmon · Freshwater
Coho salmon
Oncorhynchus kisutch
Pacific salmon; also established in the Great Lakes.
Also called silver, silvers, coho.
- Flowing water
- Stillwater
- Ordinary target
- 4 of 4 overlays reviewed
- Reviewed 2026-08-27
Take this somewhere
This page is the record. The reading is what happens when you add water, a season and a temperature to it — that is where the families below get ranked against each other instead of just listed.
Those three links carry the fish and nothing else. No conditions were declared on this page, so none travel, and the link says so rather than sending an empty reading.
The half nobody publishes
What this record does not know
Everything else on this page comes from a named agency or peer-reviewed source. This is the other side of that: the questions a reviewer went looking for an answer to and came back without, and the fields the record leaves empty because filling them would mean guessing.
It is here rather than at the bottom because a page that only shows what it knows is easy to read as a page that knows everything. For Coho salmon there are 13 of them.
Named by a reviewer
10Somebody looked for this and wrote down that they did not find it.
- Behaviour
Nobody has sourced:
- species-specific angling-pressure response beyond general cover/light notes
- cold-front / barometric response with primary-source support
- Pacific freshwater-return vs Great Lakes lake feeding as a structured RPC split
- Identification
Nobody has sourced:
- stock-specific mean length tables
- ocean vs Great Lakes appearance as a structured split
- Forage
Nobody has sourced:
- finer month-by-month diet inside a season, which is waterbody-specific
- Pacific vs Great Lakes adult diet as a structured split
- zooplankton fraction in young fish (no catalog forage class here)
- Season
Nobody has sourced:
- month-by-month location changes inside a season, which are waterbody-specific
- Pacific vs Great Lakes calendars as a structured RPC split
Absent from the record
3No reviewer wrote a gap here. The field is simply empty, which is its own answer.
- Water temperature
No agency or peer-reviewed temperature band for Coho salmon was found that a review would accept. The reading runs without one rather than borrowing a number from a related fish.
- Identification
No reviewed image. A photograph is only in this catalog when an agency or a named creator labelled the subject, and nobody has cleared one for this species yet.
- Population context
No regional population profile is registered. The species-level reading stands on its own; it does not silently become a local one.
Where the record puts it
Water and range
Flowing water
5 reviewed holding classes- Run
- Seam
- Pool head
- Current break
- Tributary mouth
Stillwater
4 reviewed holding classes- Thermocline edge
- Suspended / open water
- Point
- Inlet
DepthOften higher in the column than chinook in lakes; river holding is mid to lower.
Moving waterWilling to use upper-column current and tributary plumes more than chinook.
LightLow light and overcast favor higher, more aggressive positioning.
Thermal band
Temperature
No reviewed temperature band
Nobody publishes a preferred or active temperature range for Coho salmon that a review would accept. Borrowing one from a related fish would look like knowledge and behave like a guess, so the reading runs without it and says which parts of the answer that weakens.
How it uses water
Behaviour
Catalog: willing to use upper-column current and tributary plumes more than Chinook. Tributary mouths are a habitat class, not a license to crowd spawning water.
NOAA: young in fresh water feed on plankton and insects; in the ocean they switch to small fishes. Catalog forage does not include larger prey fish. Pacific freshwater adults are interception, not forage matching.
Low light and overcast favor higher positioning. Bright conditions do not convert a spawning adult into a feeding trout.
Seasonal activityNOAA: return generally in fall or early winter after about 1½ years in the ocean. Great Lakes lake feeding and Pacific freshwater return must not be collapsed. NOAA: one ESU endangered and three threatened as of 2025; California DFW lists additional state status. Status is not a location.
Temperature-driven behaviourPreferred band roughly 46–56°F; warm edge near 65°F. Warm travel water is a constraint.
Depth movementOften higher in the column than Chinook in lakes; river holding is mid to lower. Catalog depth, not a contour number.
Facing the currentWilling to use upper-column current more than Chinook. Returning adults still use travel lanes rather than trout feeding lies.
Change in flowFlow pulses can move traveling adults. That is migration mechanics, not a named bottleneck.
ClarityClarity and overcast can alter how high fish sit. They do not imply a surface event.
CoverRuns, seams, pool heads, current breaks, and tributary mouths as classes. Spawning tributaries are excluded from target guidance.
Open waterGreat Lakes and ocean phases are pelagic. Inland lake behavior is not identical to ocean-run fish (catalog).
Predator avoidanceDepth, turbidity, and grouping. Not a wood-ambush trout.
AggressionCatalog light response: low light and overcast favor higher, more aggressive positioning than Chinook. Aggression is a positioning note, not a catch claim.
Spawning (conservation context)NOAA: females dig gravel nests; all coho die after spawning. Fall return. Redds, listed ESUs, and crowded spawning tributaries are invalidators, never target layers.
Where the general rule stops
- Do not treat river-mouth staging as a license to crowd spawning tributaries.
What it can eat
Forage
- Small forage fish
- Aquatic insects
- Terrestrial insects
NOAA: while in fresh water, young coho feed on plankton and insects; in the ocean they switch to small fishes such as herring, sandlance, anchovies, and sardines, and may eat juveniles of other salmon. Zooplankton is not a catalog forage class here. Larger prey fish is not a catalog class on this record — do not import Chinook piscivory. Pacific freshwater adults are interception, not forage matching.
- Feeding style
- Opportunistic
- Feeding zone
- Pelagic
Through the year
- Spring
- Great Lakes and ocean fish on small forage fish where those fish are in open water. Insects remain juvenile/young capacity.
- Summer
- Small fishes in the usable pelagic band. Catalog: often higher in the column than Chinook. Capacity is not a current bait event.
- Fall
- Pacific freshwater adults are interception, not forage matching. Do not treat tributary-mouth habitat as a license to crowd spawning tributaries.
By life stage
- Young of year
- NOAA: plankton and insects in fresh water. Zooplankton stays off the catalog forage list here.
- Juvenile
- Insects and, as gape allows, small fish before ocean or lake entry.
- Adult
- Ocean and Great Lakes adults on small fishes. Freshwater spawning adults are not a feeding-trout model. They do not inherit Chinook larger-prey-fish forage.
Ontogenetic shiftPlankton/insects in freshwater young to small-fish feeding in ocean/lake adults; Pacific freshwater return is not a forage-matching problem.
SubstitutionsGreat Lakes vs Pacific small-fish fields differ. Do not substitute Chinook larger-prey-fish forage, and do not substitute an inland-rainbow hatch match.
Diet capacity is not proof that a hatch or prey event is occurring. Observed current forage still comes from a user observation or Hatch Match.
Through the year
Season
Spring
- Where they sit
- Great Lakes pelagic water — thermocline edges, suspended open water, points, and inlets as classes. Not a Pacific river-return calendar.
- Feeding
- Small forage fish where lake fish are feeding. Insects remain juvenile capacity.
What that changesHorizontal retrieve, Trolling, and Stop-and-go remain the reviewed stillwater families for lake fish that are feeding.
What would count against it
- collapsing Great Lakes feeding into a river-spawn calendar
Summer
- Where they sit
- Lake fish often higher in the column than Chinook. Bright conditions still do not invent a surface event.
- Temperature
- Preferred 46–56°F; warm edge near 65°F.
What that changesHorizontal retrieve, Trolling, and Stop-and-go on the usable lake layer.
What would count against it
- forcing Chinook deep-trolling language onto coho by default
Fall
- Where they sit
- Pacific freshwater travel lanes — runs, seams, pool heads, current breaks, and tributary mouths as classes.
- Feeding
- Pacific freshwater adults are interception, not forage matching.
What that changesSwing, Cross-current retrieve, and Downstream retrieve remain the reviewed flowing families for lawful, non-listed contexts — they do not imply feeding lies.
What would count against it
- treating tributary-mouth habitat as a targeting prescription
- targeting redds
NOAA: females dig redds; all coho die after spawning. Do not crowd spawning tributaries. California and federal listings stay fail-closed where they apply.
Winter
- Where they sit
- NOAA: some returns continue into early winter. Remaining Great Lakes lake fish are a separate job from Pacific freshwater travel.
What that changesSwing, Cross-current retrieve, and Downstream retrieve as interception mechanics only where the fishery is lawful.
What would count against it
- using stillwater families on this flowing return
Early-winter spawning overlap is caution. Listed ESUs remain invalidators.
Spawning · Fall
Fall spawner; nearshore and river-mouth staging precedes the run.
Recorded as conservation context. No spawning site, staging concentration or migration bottleneck is named anywhere in this catalog, because naming one is how a population gets fished out.
Telling it apart
Identification
What to look at
- NOAA: the gumline in the lower jaw has lighter pigment than on Chinook salmon. California DFW: gums of the lower jaw are usually gray except the upper area at the base of the teeth, which is white.
- Oregon DFW: lower jaw shows a distinct banding pattern — dark outside the teeth, white or very light at the base of the teeth, dark inside. Gum line on the LOWER jaw is the enforcement split from Chinook.
- NOAA: small black spots on the back and on the upper lobe of the tail while in the ocean. California DFW: no spots on the lower lobe of the caudal fin.
- Oregon DFW: do not rely on ocean-phase spots or body color alone. All ocean salmon are primarily silver.
- NOAA: adult coho usually weigh 8 to 12 lb and are 24 to 30 in long. They are not a Chinook size class.
- Average adult length
- NOAA: 24–30 in. California DFW (Moyle): spawning adults typically 55–70 cm fork length.
- Common angling size
- 22–30 in in many Pacific and Great Lakes fisheries.
- Typical weight
- NOAA: 8–12 lb. California DFW (Moyle): 3–6 kg for spawning adults.
- Maximum documented
- Oregon DFW notes coho have been observed in the 25–30 lb range. Those fish are not typical and do not convert the record into Chinook.
- Longevity
- NOAA: about 1½ years feeding in the ocean, then return; all die after spawning.
What it gets confused with
- Chinook salmon
- Chinook have a uniform dark lower jaw / black gums and spots on both tail lobes, and are typically much larger. Coho have the dark-light-dark gum band and upper-lobe-only tail spots (Oregon DFW / NOAA / California DFW).
- Sockeye salmon
- Sockeye tails are unspotted and the spawning dress is red body / green head. Coho have upper-lobe tail spots and a white gum line at the tooth base.
- Steelhead
- Steelhead are iteroparous trout (NOAA: they can spawn more than once). Coho are semelparous Pacific salmon with the white-at-tooth-base gum line.
- Pink salmon
- Pink have large oval spots on both tail lobes, very small scales, and no silver on the tail. Coho spots are small and restricted to the upper tail lobe.
What follows from all of that
Presentation families
Flowing water
Swing
Let current carry a bait or fly across a lane so it broadens and lifts at the hang.
- downstream quartering
- controlled belly
- hang-down pause
- slow lift
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Moderate
- Weight range
- Unweighted to 1/4 oz
- Cover resistance
- Low
- Line visibility
- Moderate
- Retie frequency
- Low
Cross-current retrieve
Represent mobile prey crossing or holding near a current boundary.
- horizontal travel
- intermittent pause
- depth retention
- controlled acceleration
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Moderate
- Weight range
- 1/8–3/8 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Downstream retrieve
Move a bait with the current, then add just enough speed to give it a swimming job.
- cast upstream
- recover slack
- match or slightly beat current
- pause in pockets
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Moderate
- Weight range
- 1/16–3/8 oz
- Cover resistance
- Low
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
Stillwater
Horizontal retrieve
Move a swimming bait through a chosen depth band along structure or open water.
- count down
- steady or pulsing retrieve
- keep the band
- cover the edge
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- Moderate
- Sensitivity
- Moderate
- Casting distance
- Moderate to long
- Weight range
- 1/8–1/2 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Low
Trolling
Cover a depth contour or basin at a controlled speed to intercept mobile fish.
- speed control
- depth control
- follow the contour
- turn to change action
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- Low
- Casting distance
- Boat
- Weight range
- Varies with speed and depth
- Cover resistance
- Low
- Line visibility
- Moderate
- Retie frequency
- Low
Stop-and-go
Imitate injured or hesitating prey by mixing travel with pauses that hold the bait in the strike zone.
- travel
- pause
- keep depth on the pause
- restart without jumping the band
What it asks of the tackle
- Depth control
- High
- Sensitivity
- High
- Casting distance
- Moderate
- Weight range
- 1/8–3/8 oz
- Cover resistance
- Moderate
- Line visibility
- Low
- Retie frequency
- Moderate
What moves them for this fish
Reviewed rules that push particular families up when the conditions match. Each one names the conditions it needs and why it exists, so you can disagree with it.
Open-water coho commonly track mobile forage and depth edges; favor mobile families over stationary bottom mechanics.
When
Stillwater · Thermocline edge, Suspended / open water, Point, Inlet
Moves up
Trolling, Horizontal retrieve, Stop-and-go
Reviewed 2026-08-27
Where every sentence came from
Sources
Agency
NOAA Fisheries Coho Salmon species profile
Used for behaviour; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-14.
Agency
California DFW Coho Salmon conservation profile
Used for behaviour; season. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-14.
Agency
NOAA / state coho forecasts
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families. Read 2026-08-27, next check 2026-11-27.
Agency
Used for identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-12-03.
Agency
Used for identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-12-03.
Agency
Used for identification. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-12-03.
Agency
NOAA Fisheries Coho Salmon species profile (young plankton and insects; ocean small fishes)
Used for forage. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
Peer reviewed
Sandercock coho life history
Used for habitat, thermal band and presentation families; identification; behaviour; forage. Read 2026-08-30, next check 2026-11-27.
A source with no link predates the rule that one has to carry a URL. It is still a real citation and still checkable; it just takes a search rather than a click, and that is worth knowing before you rely on it.