Sockeye Salmon were until recently the least understood of the Pacific salmon but also considered the best tasting. While all other species of salmon were studied relatively easily, not much was known about Sockeye salmon. Most of what was known about their life cycle was as small juveniles and as mature salmon, but not much about the rest of their life. It was easy to catch a Chinook or Coho and open them up to see inside their stomachs. Sockeye however, were only caught commercially in nets as mature salmon, so studying these salmon was more difficult.

Sockeye are thought to feed on plankton, however, sports fisherman catch them on many different lures that look nothing like plankton. Personally, I have caught sockeye on large hutchies that look like squid, anchovies and small spoons. When Sockeye near the river, they often bite on small 1-2 inch hutchies that are pink, red or orange. The best action seems to come when the sockeye are all “schooled up” and 4-6 lines are rigged with 4-6 flashers making noise and drawing attention. Read the latest post about the large returns of Sockeye salmon in the Fraser and Stamp river systems in British Columbia.