Identification - Best identifying characteristic is teeth set in black gums. The base of the tail flares like the handle of a canoe paddle, offering the angler a grip sufficient to lift the fish. Like the coho, the interior of the mouth will also be gray or black. Tail spots are usually restricted to the top half of the tail, but may also appear on the lower half. The anal fin usually has 15 to 17 rays. Chinook do not jump and roll as much as coho, but have tremendous power and make long reel-screaming runs.

Habits - Open-water fishing is the best in spring and summer, as with coho. Migration to parent streams begin in late summer, with heavy concentration at stream mouths. Stream fishing peaks sometime in September, at the onset of spawning runs.