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Are you planning to go fishing for salmon? If you are and you are one of the beginners or first-timers, there are basic things you need to know to get you started and to help you enjoy this enjoyable outdoor activity.

First off, there are several species of salmon that you should know about before you go fishing for salmon trips. There are Atlantic and Pacific salmons. Atlantic species are from the Atlantic Ocean, as the name implies. Also, you can find a wide variety of salmon in the various lakes that are in the eastern North America areas. They are the kind of salmon that don't immigrate as they prefer fresh water than salt water.

The most popular of all salmons are the Chinook or king salmon or spring salmon, black mouth, however you call them, as they are the biggest among the salmon species, weighing between 25 to 65 pounds, or even more. They are found from southern California coast to the Bering Strait. Alaska has earned its fame in fishing for salmon, since it is where the heaviest ever recorded king salmon, weighing over 96 pounds. Chinook salmon is the state fish of Alaska.

Other types of salmon include the red salmon or sockeye salmon, pink salmon, silver or Coho salmon, chum salmon, and the Atlantic salmon, which are left run wild in the on the Atlantic coast only. Each of the pacific salmon species have different life cycle and each returns to their fresh water spawning grounds at different times. When salmon returns to the rivers where they're from, they are collectively called run that is, in turn, named after the river. So, if you hear the word run or runs, you know what it means.

Due to the fact that salmon always come back to where they hatched, you know when the ideal times are to go fishing for salmon or mostly called fishing season and you know there will always be salmon to catch. This is why many fishermen became fascinated with fishing, whether as hobby, sport or pastime.

Fishing for salmon requires bait. There are various types of baits that you cause in fishing for salmon. There are plugs, worms, lures, and flies in which you can use for fresh water salmon; for salt water, you can go for flies, streamers, crustaceans, and lures.

Fly fishing for salmon will require you to have 12-16 ft. graphite or fiberglass rod, fly reel and line. For bait fishing, you will need a 10 ft. spinning rod and bait caster reel with up to 20 lb. test line. But if you are into fishing for king or Chinook salmon, you will need a boat or a trolling rod. And because Chinook are known to be the biggest and heaviest of its kind, you will 20-40 pound or more test line. Who knows, your simple fishing for salmon trip could land you to catch king salmon?