There's a reason experienced chinook fishermen call their quarry king salmon. They get big . These are the largest of all the pacific salmon species. They spend more time in the ocean than any other pacific salmon, and they feed on baitfish like herring, eulachon, and mackerel--not on tiny shrimp and plankton like some of their smaller cousins.  About a decade ago, a 63-pound king was taken with a fly rod in Oregon. The all- tackle record fish is 97 pounds. Fish weighing 40-50 pounds are still taken quite regularly in Alaska and British Columbia. Tales of broken tippets, broken rods, and broken hearts abound among any group of fly fishers who have fished for them.  The proverbial "there's fishing and there's catching" phrase certainly applies to chinook salmon. Hooking up is no guarantee of bringing this largest of all the Pacific salmon to hand. Their brute strength, especially fresh from the sea, is astounding. Native American boys used to try to wrestle spawners to shore in high mountain creeks -- and usually lost. Chinook Salmon are the largest, most powerful member of the Pacific salmon family. They sometimes travel more than 2,000 miles upriver to reach their spawning grounds, making a fresh "king" hooked at tidewater a formidable quarry.  Mother Nature has used her eons to guarantee the species' survival. Nearly every month of the year, there are some kings in waters between northern California and any ice-free waters in Alaska. Unfortunately, some of mankind's activities in the last 100 years have circumvented the original flow of waters, polluted streams, destroyed spawning habitat and erected impassable dams. Only their original proliferation (which supported entire cultures) has prevented them from becoming extinct. In some streams, too many streams, they already are. In the Columbia River basin alone, chinook salmon have disapeared completely from 95 streams. There are remanant runs of chinook salmon in California, Oregon, and Washington (many are listed as threatened) but the most prolific chinook fisheries remaining today are in British Columbia and especially Alaska. The Kenai, Alagnak, and Kenektok rivers are among the best rivers in the world. Chinook salmon have also been planted in New York state streams with considerable success, and fly fishers in states near the Great Lakes have enjoyed fishing for kings and steelhead for decades.  In their native environs, chinook salmon enter the rivers from June to September to spawn. Fresh-run fish caught close to the ocean on a high tide are the most sought-after fish. These "chromers" will have a dark back, white belly, and be predominantly silver along the sides. As the fish begin to sexually mature and move upstream, they turn dark red, or almost black. Mature chinook salmon have a black coloration around the inside of their mouths and gums, and are often called blackmouth salmon. Chinook salmon have more nicknames than any other species of salmon--perhaps becuase they can be caught over such a wide expanse of territory and their size and appearance is often so diverse. Canadians use three distinct names for chinook based on size. Big chinook, weighing up to 40 pounds or more, are called tyee, or sometimes spring salmon. The smallest chinooks, weighing from two to eight pounds, are called jack salmon. These immature fish are often caught at sea, but sometimes run up the rivers with spawning fish. Chinook weighing less than tyees and more than jacks are called king salmon. King salmon usually seek out the deepest slots on the river for their upstream migrations and resting. The most successful fly anglers use heavy grain lines (300 to 500 grains) and large, heavily weighted flies. To cast these flies and lines, and to play the fish properly, at least an 8-weight rods is required. On many rivers in Alasak, where typical kings runs from 30-50 pounds, a 10-weight is recomended.