Anyone seen the pinks yet?

[DIXIESTEELHOUND]

Hello All,

I am coming out to fish with tightline for pinks in sept. and have yet to make my plans because the pinks seem to be a bit late this year coming into the Skagit and Sky. Has anyone had any luck running into them? My plans were to come the weekend of the 8th, too early this year? Any thoughts or reports would be great. thanks isaac

[WT]

It will be interesting to see how many pink redds survived the big flood two years ago.
DT

[Steve Rohrbach]

There are lots of reports of Pinks in the south sound. The Seattle Times Sports page this morning listed lots of Pinks caught in the Where Their Bitting section. North sound fish seem a little slow. I would start looking for them in the mentioned rivers right now.

[slowsliprun]

The Skagit is not just off but it is out below the Sauk. However, while fishing for dollies at about mile marker 99 on hwy 20 at Rockport atop a large wood pile -can't miss it- I hooked a couple of Pinks. They're -some- higher than I would have thought.
Good luck,
slowsliprun

[Scott Behn]

I have had several customers come into the shop in last few days and talk about the herds of pinks they see going through some of the holes in the lower stretches of the snohomish system.

The thing that pisses me off is the number of individuals that I hear are out there fishing them (yesterday and earlier) claiming they are steelheading.
:mad:

[Old Man]

Hey Scott,it is kind of hard not to catch then if you are using pink flies for steelhead as they all seem to hit that color. I was over at the Stilly the other day and I didn't see anything in the way of fish or car theives. :clown:

Jim

Also as I was paging thru the regs,I notice that not to many rivers are open for Pinks this year as there have been in the past. That is the "S" rivers. unless there is a change at the WDFW site.

Jim

[shgrier]

So, if I'm reading the regs correctly, starting today, I can fish the Sky/Snohomish (up to the Lewis St. Bridge), and on Sept 1st, I can start fishing above the Lewis St. Bridge.

Also starting Sept 1, I can fish the Stilly (above Marine Dr), but can't bonk any Pinks.

I looked for emergency closures that further restrict my assumptions above, but didn't see any. Am I off base?

If I'm not, then the Stilly (starting 9/1) up around Stanwood might be fun for C&R, as there won't be the elbow-to-elbow crowds out to murder as much salmon-meat as they can get away with.

Straighten me out if I've got it wrong :o ...

Sean
Sultan

[BobA]

I went on a recon mission last night on the Sky from Monroe south. I saw a couple of gear tossers working down by the Prison; however, did not see any sign of pinks. The water level is extremely low which may be impacting the return of the pinks.

[hedburner]

I was going to go out this morning, but got involved in housecleaning instead. Crap, that sounds lame.

[shgrier]

I went on a recon mission last night on the Sky from Monroe south. I saw a couple of gear tossers working down by the Prison; however, did not see any sign of pinks. The water level is extremely low which may be impacting the return of the pinks.

Well, as I was driving into work this morning, I crossed over the LSB and saw a large splash, and a smaller swirl just downstream of the bridge. Might be worth a shot early in the morning. :thumb:

Sean
Sultan

[sportsman]

I also did a little 'recon' Saturday and Monday on both sides of the river between Snohomish and Monroe. The only large pockets of fish seemed to be below 522 bridge and were holding in the deeper pools [saw a couple dozen jump in a half hour yesterday, but they would turn and go deep]. Talked to a couple of 'skunked' gear guys and they pointed out a Fly fisherman downstream that had landed [and to their dismay] RELEASED 4 Pinks! :rofl: SEAN, I read the regs the same as you, but the Snoqualmie opens on Sept.1. You have to release all Pinks. QUESTION: we all remember the floods 2 years ago, so why wouldn't Fish and Game CLOSE the season until they were assured of an adequate return??!! They know how to have emergency closures; they should be able to do the reverse!

[Smalma]

Sportsman -
The pink forecasts in the North Puget Sound area are based on the abundances of fry on the marine beaches - in this case in the spring of 2004. The fry would have survived the flood of October 2003. The fry counts in the Snohomish area was the third highest in the last 35 years. If there is any kind of marine survival there should be lots of them. You can see that the flood had some impact as the escapement was 1.4 million but the forecast was for a little less than a million.

An aside was that of 1.4 million pinks that spawned in the Snohomish system less than 5% were in the Snoqualmie which is why that portion of the basin is not open for pinks.

As a practical matter there is no way to know with any certainity what the run size is on the Snohomish until the fish spawn. I suppose that any pink fishery could be closed until say mid-October when there would be a good indication on what the run size was but it would be a little late for much of a fishery.


Tight lines
Curt

[Scott Salzer]

There are a S#^&&%* of pinks in AK. Just got back, and the are hugging the shore, heading up rivers, just waiting to get hooked. I didn't fish, I know, stupid, stupid of me. Trying to make up for the eight weeks in a row that I fished inthe spring. Aah, but Sept. / Oct. / Nov. is getting close and there may be another eight weeks in a row...

Off this weekend with TM to find some fish - not in the warm waters, though.

Tight lines, MB

[Salmo_Gairdneri]

How about the WDFW considering the impact of the crazy hot water temperatures and low water levels as a reason for an emergency closure. Last wednesday night I launched my sled at the snoqualmie high bridge launch. Temp =>72F. Seriously. At the confluence the temp was 65F. With these low waters & high temps, the fish are very stressed. Don't we expect to see pretty significant kills? How about the survival rate of a C&R'd humpy... Surely lots will die.

I was flyfishing a skykomish riffle for steelhead, landed a small humpy (quickly) and had a very abnormal time reviving it.

-tony

[Smalma]

Salmo -
Given your concern about the stream temperatures why are you fishing?

How about anglers take responsibility for our own actions? Do we need WDFW to legislate our ethics?

Hopefull by the time the block of the fish enter the system (early September) temperature will be more favorable.

Tight lines
Curt

[WT]

Salmo -
Given your concern about the stream temperatures why are you fishing?

How about anglers take responsibility for our own actions? Do we need WDFW to legislate our ethics?

Tight lines
Curt

Nicley done.
So how were the fry counts for the Skagit System?
WT

[Islander]

A friend of mine picked up a couple of smaller ones off the beach on Whidbey on Monday. I'll be out early Thurs. if I see or get anything I'll post.

[Smalma]

With the rain this AM and the forecast for cooler weather the next few days and the days becoming shorter hopefully our warm stream temperatures are behind us and we can enjoy a productive fall of salmon, sea-run, and steelhead fishing.

Have my fingers crossed that run sizes and timing for the fall salmon populations will be "normal" rather than what we have seen to date with the spring/summer returns of chinook.

Deep Trout -
The fry counts while down consideably from the last several cycles were much higher the expected given the devasting floods of October 2003. The thinking was that the flood was so early that a significant portion of the run spawned after the flood, especially in some of the tribs which obivously had more water than normal. The forecast is for a run of 475,000 pinks or about 1/4 to 1/3 of the 2003 run size. The Skagit escapement goal is 330,000 so you can see that there should be enough for limited fisheries.

Islander -
The pinks I have seen to date as well as the average size reported in the Canadian test fisheries have been normal size for pinks that is about a 4 pound average with fish ranging from 2 to 6 #s or so. The last couple of cycles (espeically 2001) the pinks were exceptionally large and I think we have gotten an unrealistic expectation of what size they should be . Prior to 2001 in 40 years of fishing them my personal best was less than 8 #s however in 2001 I got 8#ers daily and rarely the best fish of the day was less than 10#s - an unbelieveable year.

Tight lines
Curt

[Salmo_Gairdneri]

Salmo -
Given your concern about the stream temperatures why are you fishing?

How about anglers take responsibility for our own actions? Do we need WDFW to legislate our ethics?

Hopefull by the time the block of the fish enter the system (early September) temperature will be more favorable.

Tight lines
Curt

Why I was fishing is a fair question. I learned the water temperature by being on the river and to be honest, I quit fishing after I released that fish. That humpy was holding in really fast steelhead water. I haven't been out since.

The skykomish has been running at 75-year low levels. Probably the bit of rain will help and none of this is an issue, but I don't think it is a stupid idea to shut down a river when it is that abnormally low and hot.

From my point of view, this really has nothing to do with "legislating ethics".

-tony

[salt dog]

Good response Tony.

I know at times when the passion for pursuing a planned fishing trip outstrips my mental ability to process anything other than the mantra rodreelflysbootssunscreenhatglassescamera.... It takes the reality of being in the water, then having a fish being hard to resucitate, to make me stop and finally think, shit, the water is to warm for these guys to recover well. The responsible thing to do at that point is to reel in kick back and enjoy the scenery and beautiful day.

I gotta get me a stream thermometer. Anybody use those thermometers you put on your boot laces, and are they any good?

[Scott Behn]

Yeah Jim I understand that and it has happened to me a few times...that being said I have never heard of, seen, or practised myself the art of "plunking" for steelhead and that's what some of these folks were doing. In the huge area of Thomas Eddy. Unless I'm clueless I don't associate "plunking" with steelhead fishing.

That's just me.

I'm heading out this Friday with the wife and we are going to hit the lower middle stretches of the Snoho.

[chadk]

Scott, are you serious? Plunking is HUGE with steelheaders. That's where they get the winter plunking shacks along the lower rivers. Plunkers bars and holes are on all rivers I've fished - usually in the lower stretches where drift fishing isn't so good. They build their little fire, sit back in their lawn chairs and drink beer or whatever, BS with eachother, while their huge 4oz pyramid lead weight holds their spin n glow and shrimp just right in the traveling lane of approaching steelhead. Of course they do it for other fish too (salmon), but plunking for steelhead is huge around here...


Yeah Jim I understand that and it has happened to me a few times...that being said I have never heard of, seen, or practised myself the art of "plunking" for steelhead and that's what some of these folks were doing. In the huge area of Thomas Eddy. Unless I'm clueless I don't associate "plunking" with steelhead fishing.

That's just me.

I'm heading out this Friday with the wife and we are going to hit the lower middle stretches of the Snoho.

[Scott Behn]

Well like I've always said, I learn something new everyday... :beathead:

[luv2fly2]

i caught 2 on flies at sekiu this morning and lost 2 others. the guys with me caught 6 and 1 coho. the traffic in seattle was insane. way too many people. mike w

[Old Man]

Chad,you have it all wrong on the sinkers. They use 8 oz ones, a 4 oz wouldn't hold a size 2 spin and glow with a big gob of eggs attached in the faster water.

[Mike Etgen]

Am I the only one who noticed that chadk hit the 2000-post milestone?

ptyd

[fish-on]

Am I the only one who noticed that chadk hit the 2000-post milestone?

ptyd


I noticed that yesterday too . I have a looooong way to go.
I need a different job.

John

[chadk]

I didn't notice. What a lame post for my 2000th one...

[Old Man]

I didn't notice. What a lame post for my 2000th one...

Yeah,about as lame as my 6000th one :p :p :p :p :p

Jim