Any Pink Sightings or Reports

[South Sound]

I know I am eager, but I was just wondering if anyone has any reports of sightings.

[TomB]

Josh- I asked the same question of the guys reporting about sekiu and it sounds like there are some there but not too many. In terms of puget sound, I stay on lagoon point on western whidbey island during the week and i have been working on the water during the week all up and down west whidbey and I have yet to see any pinks. My bet is that the first schools will start to move by in the next week or two but the run will not get heavy for another month.
-Tom

[Gabriel Burgi]

Hey Tom,

I'll be on the West side the weekend of the 22,23,24 July. If you start to see any Pinks, please post it here. This year's run is supposed to be phenomenal, so keep us Eastsiders up to date if you could!!! Thanks.

- Gabe :ray1:

[TomB]

will do.
-Tom

[Smalma]

Gabriel -
The forecast for the 2005 Puget Sound pink run is only about 1/2 of the 2003. The forecast for the Fraser is huge but those fish don't enter the inner Sound fishery in any significant numbers.

Typically fishable numbers of pinks show up along the Westside of Whidbey in late July-first week of August and at Humpy Hollow (South of Mukiteo) about the 10th of August.

Tight lines
Curt

[Backyard]

I've already seen them in the Snohomish river (snohomish proper) rolling for the last month. Moving in pretty quick. :confused:

[Smalma]

Wow -
Having any number of odd year humpies in the Snohomish in June is at least 6 weeks earlier than normal!

Tight lines
Curt

[ChrisW]

Gabriel -
The forecast for the 2005 Puget Sound pink run is only about 1/2 of the 2003.

Is this due to the big flooding of Oct 2003 right after the pinks had spawned?

If so this should be interesting to see how many fish there are.

Is there much data on the egg survival/ outmigration from that year?
CW

[Smalma]

Chris-
First one needs to put the returns in 2001 and 2003 in some prespective - they were the largest in decades. The Snohomish escapement in 2001 was 1.1 million and in 2003 1.4 million (that is the number of fish that spawned - those that escaped all fisheries). The highest escapement prior to that time going back to the late 1950s was less than 300,000. It is unreasonable to expect stars to continue to align for record type runs.

The October 2003 flood was particularly damaging in the Skagit basin (especially the Sauk) but as one moved away from the center of that strom (Glacier Peak) the flooding was considerably less. Therefore the major impacts on pinks was in the Skagit and Stillaguamish.

In the Skagit the timing of the flooding was such that some of the pink spawning had not occurred - see upper Skagit River spawning well into November. The Sauk fish tend to be earlier and undoubtly took a major hit.

The forecasts for the Stillaguamish, Skagit and Snohomish are based on index counts of fry on the near shore marine beaches in the spring so are a rough measure of the egg to fry survival (those fish that survive the flooding). Thanks to that later spawning on the Skagit the survival hit was not as large as many expected.

The total 2005 pink forecast is for a run around 2,000,000 while in 2003 the escapement after all fishing was nearly that large in the Stillaguamish and Snohomish alone.

Tight lines
Curt

[OPfisher]

If you're up for hoodsport there's been a few out that way

[humpy man]

some one told me pink salmon fishing will be closed in port susan (marine area 8-2). does anyone know anything about that?

[PT]

Thanks Smalma. I always appreciate the great info. :thumb:

[BOBLAWLESS]

A good spot for them is out of Port Angeles at the mid channel marker down about 20 feet or so. Hard to do with flies. But a fly attached to a downrigger works.

Bob, the Yea, but is that fly fishing? :confused:

[Salmo_Gairdneri]

I floated/fished the snohomish from the confluence on down to just above town last night. I didn't see a single fish roll - even in the reliable salmon holes.

I really don't think any pinks have entered the snohomish yet. If they are around, they always show in a few of the holes I hit.

-tony

[South Sound]

I heard Point No Point was a good place. Any suggestions.

[SpeyRodBeBop]

Some fish showing in the Georgia Straight--a week or two ahead of schedule.

[TomB]

Saw my first three today out of west whidbey..not worth fishing yet...ill let you know.
-T

[ibn]

I heard Point No Point was a good place. Any suggestions.

If you have a boat, launch at Salsbury near hood canal, head north and fish foulweather bluff. If you've got a good boat you can go all the way around and hit point no point from there to.

[Bob Triggs]

Beware that saltwater Area 9 (Salmon Fishing) has a different opening date than the already open adjacent areas.

[Florian Leischner]

The fish and fishermen are starting to stack up at Hoodsport. Both groups are still very small.

[Preston]

Humpy Man,
Check your regs. Marine Area 8-2: "Port Susan closed to SALMON fishing Aug. 1-Aug. 31 and closed to the retention of PINK SALMON Sept. 1-Sept. 31." Port Susan is defined as waters north of a line from Camano Head to marker approximately 1.4 miles NW of Hermosa Pt.

[Smalma]

Humpy man -
Preston is corrected!

There reason is that the forecasted run size for the Stillaguamish (132,000) is less than the established escapement goal for the basin (155,000). Thus the closed areas where the focus of the fishery would be targeting Stillaguamish pinks.

Tight lines
Curt

[Salmo_Gairdneri]

18 july 05,

Still no sign of pinks in the Snohomish. I fished the top few salmon pools last night and saw nothing rolling. Hooked nothing. Don't expect to see any for a couple weeks.

-tony

[Banzai]

I'll give Hoodsport a try on Thursday. It's been along time since I've hooked a Pink, and never on a fly. Should be a good excuse to try out the spey rod I just built from a Rainshadow blank. It's a 13 foot 8/9 two hander. I've only a floater and Intermediate clear line for it yet. Do I need something to scrape bottom with?

[Anil]

You will do fine with either the floater or intermediate at Hoodsport.
Anil
www.pugetsoundflyco.com