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[Tuckster]

Ok, So I caught a small Coho at the Stave today. I assume a Jack Coho, but when I clean it, It has Milt inside. Is this normal? As far as I know, fish only get that in their spawning year. Thing was about 30 cm long....it couldnt be a mature male could it?

[Dave]

Jacks are sexually mature, including the odd female ... Jills.  They are simply returning a year earlier than their normal life cycle dictates.

[Tuckster]

Jacks are sexually mature, including the odd female ... Jills.  They are simply returning a year earlier than their normal life cycle dictates.

Interesting!!! The more you know!

[firstlight]

Nothing like some chocolate chip cookies and a big glass of Milt.

[Fillibert]

Jacks are a vital part of the system. They diversify DNA so that there are less inbred fish. Often times they do a very good job fertilizing eggs because while the big males fight for territory the jacks slip in and do their thing unnoticed

[RalphH]

Jacks are sexually mature, including the odd female ... Jills.  They are simply returning a year earlier than their normal life cycle dictates.

Dave do you know if some systems have a higher % of Jills than others? I understand this is true for jacks. I never saw a jill coho in over 20 years of killing & cleaning jacks until I fished a small stream up the valley. This was over 30 years ago for those who might get excited in an angry way. Jacks that turned out to be jills were relatively common in that stream as I recall.

[ninez]

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/articles/fish_biology/whats_up_with_jack.html

http://www.fishingwithrod.com/glossary/jack.html

[bunnta]

Dave do you know if some systems have a higher % of Jills than others? I understand this is true for jacks. I never saw a jill coho in over 20 years of killing & cleaning jacks until I fished a small stream up the valley. This was over 30 years ago for those who might get excited in an angry way. Jacks that turned out to be jills were relatively common in that stream as I recall.

darn, i didn't take a picture of my jill caught at vedder last weekend. definitely smaller than 25cm. Also the reg said, jacks are under 25cm, if yours was 30cm....can't be a jack no more but a small adult

[Rodney]

darn, i didn't take a picture of my jill caught at vedder last weekend. definitely smaller than 25cm. Also the reg said, jacks are under 25cm, if yours was 30cm....can't be a jack no more but a small adult

Jacks are not under 25cm.

[bunnta]

er brain fart, i just remembered that you could only retain a jack if its bigger than 25cm and something like 35cm and under was classified as a jack

[Dave]

Dave do you know if some systems have a higher % of Jills than others? I understand this is true for jacks. I never saw a jill coho in over 20 years of killing & cleaning jacks until I fished a small stream up the valley. This was over 30 years ago for those who might get excited in an angry way. Jacks that turned out to be jills were relatively common in that stream as I recall.

Cultus sockeye have a relatively high % of females, high enough they are considered a normal occurrence and are used, as are the jacks, in the hatchery program for these fish.  Over the years I have caught and seen a few Jill coho on the Vedder but can't speak for other species or watersheds.

Interesting side note, back in the 70's, Cultus sockeye jacks (and jills) were routinely killed at the upstream fence on Sweltzer Creek, before they entered Cultus Lake.  The science at the time suggested jacks were not an acceptable gene source and would produce 3 year old sockeye, a fish not really acceptable to the commercial salmon industry.
Amazing how sound science, and time, changes fishing and resource management decisions.