by John Kruse, September 16, 2007

As August rolls towards September, salmon anglers throughout the state head to their local sporting goods stores to buy all things pink. The reason – its humpy time! According to the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife the fishing for pink salmon should be outstanding this year. In their own words, “About 3.3 million pink salmon are expected to come back to Puget Sound streams this summer, nearly 1.3 million more fish than forecasted in 2005. The forecast for the Green River this year is 1.3 million pink salmon, while about 800,000 pinks are expected to return to the Snohomish River and 780,000 to the Puyallup River.”

There is one piece of bad news though. Skagit River anglers will likely not get a shot at humpies this year because the WDFW is forecasting a return of only 90,000 fish into the river, far below the 330,000 salmon needed to trigger a recreational fishery.

Knowing the humpies are coming is one thing. Figuring out how to catch them is another. Three guys who are dialed in to catching lots of pink salmon give their thoughts on the subject.

The first is Michael Jamboretz, owner of Jambo’s Sportfishing (Tel. 425-788-5955 – www.jambossportfishing.com). I talked to him in mid-July while he was in the midst of a frantic coho bite in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. When asked about pink salmon he confirmed the WDFW forecasts, stating “There are hordes of pinks here right now in the Strait”. When it comes to saltwater fishing in Puget Sound, he said mid-August to September is the prime time to target pinks. His favorite spot is Humpy Hollow between Mukilteo and the Shipwreck. He’ll be returning to the Everett Marina on September 1st to fish for salmon in this part of the Sound.

Jamboretz says catching pinks in Northern Puget Sound can be quite easy. He generally fishes a small pink hoochie about 16 to 24 inches behind a white flasher. Jamboretz recommends a slow troll, so slow that there is barely an angle in your downrigger wire. Pay attention to your depth sounder and look for schools of these salmon between 40 and 60 feet deep. Once you find them, put your hoochie and flasher just above them. If you aren’t finding them, consider going deeper. Jamboretz says sometimes he’ll fish as deep as 80 feet to get strikes from these fun fish.

Another man in the know is Macks Lure Pro Staffer Russell Johnston (www.mackslure.com). Johnston easily filled his punch card in September of 2005 bank angling for humpies on the Snohomish and Skykomish Rivers all the way to the Lewis Street Bridge at Monroe.

His favorite tactic involves the use of a marabou jig under a bobber to hook into salmon. He prefers to use a pink Mack’s Glo Getter jig some five to six feet under a Canadian dink style float. He drifts this through the deeper portion of the hole and will adjust the leader length to get close to (but not on) the bottom. While some strikes are obvious, other takes are very subtle. Johnston recommends setting the hook whenever you see the dink float move.

Finally, Derek Anderson, owner of Screamin’ Reels Guide Service (Tel. 206-849-2574- www.screaminreels.net) has his own way of slaying pinks on the river. According to Anderson, “When the Snohomish River opens on the 16th of August humpies are already trickling in and by September they’ll be in thick”. The run will remain strong throughout September but anglers looking for bright fish for the dinner table will want to be on the water during the first two weeks of the month. At the height of the season four anglers will often hook between 30 and 40 salmon from his boat.

Anderson starts off fishing the Snohomish River near Everett and as the salmon move upstream he’ll follow them towards the town of Snohomish where the Pilchuck River flows in. Anderson says he’ll anchor up along current seams, especially where gravel bars dump into deeper water. Once there, he recommends casting a Dick Nite spoon with a four foot leader and a ½ oz dropper weight underneath it. He’ll retrieve these spoons “ultra slow”, with the weight dragging the bottom. If the current is running well he may simply reel the weight a couple of turns off the bottom and let the small spoon work in the water until a salmon strikes. Pink and 50/50 (nickel and brass) spoons are his favorites. Anderson recommends using a small Size 0 spoon if the water is low and moving up to a No. 2 spoon if the water rises and becomes off colored.

All of these pros recommend bleeding any pinks you catch immediately and putting them on ice as soon as possible. Jamboretz goes so far to suggest bleeding them in a bucket of saltwater before putting them on ice. Freshly caught pink salmon taste great on the BBQ and are also very good out of the smoker.


Thomas Kruse with a Skagit pink from two years ago (river is closed in 2007).